<p>Considered by Gide to be the most important of his books, this slim, exquisitely crafted volume consists of four dialogues on the subject of homosexuality and its place in society. Published anonymously in bits and pieces between 1911 and 1920, "Corydon" first appeared in a signed, commercial edition in France in 1924 and in the United States in 1950, the year before Gide's death. This present edition features the impeccable translation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Howard. In spirited dialogue with his bigoted, boorish interviewer, "Corydon" marshals evidence from naturalists, historians, poets, and philosophers to support his contention that homosexuality pervaded the most culturally and artistically advanced civilizations, from Greece in the age of Pericles to Renaissance Italy and England in the age of Shakespeare. Although obscured by later critics, literature and art from Homer to Titian proclaim the true nature of relationships between such lovers as Achilles and Patrocles - not to mention Virgil's mythical 'Corydon' and his shepherd, Alexis. The evidence, "Corydon" suggests, points to heterosexuality as a socially constructed union, while the more fundamental, natural relation is the homosexual one. 'My friends insist that this little book is of the kind which will do me the greatest harm', Gide wrote of his "Corydon". In these pages, contemporary readers will find a prescient and courageous treatment of a topic that has scarcely become less controversial.</p>

Corydon

Self-Help

ANDRE; HOWARD RICHARD (TRANSLATED AND PREFACE BY). GIDE

Farrar/Straus/Giroux, New York

Dust jacket notes: "Don Camillo Meets the Flower Children is the story of a clash between young and old, change and tradition, skeptics and believers. First, in a gesture of unmitigated perversity, the Vatican sends Don Camillo a young priest, ostensibly to help out, but actually to make innovations (i.e., trouble) in his parish. Don Chichi, as the newcomer is nicknamed, determines to install the entirety of the recent Ecumenical Council's reforms in twenty-four hours. The effect of Don Chichi's efforts might be compared to the forced installation of an electronic computer in a family of Scottish handweavers. But Don Chichi is the least of Don Camillo's worries. His young niece Flora, whom he has not seen since infancy and who has blossomed into a flower child, appears on the rectory doorstep with a clutch of Italian Hell's Angels. Don Camillo needs all the help he can get from Divine Providence and from his own cleverness to save his church, his town, and his own job from the onslaught of Don Chichi, Flora, Flora's friends, and other insidious influences of the sixties. This last Don Camillo book is charming, heartwarming, and as memorable as sthe other five best-selling stories about the crafty country priest."

Don Camillo Meets the Flower Children

Literature & Fiction

Giovanni Guareschi

L.K. Conrad, translator

Contemporary

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