Strait Is the Gate

Name: Strait Is the Gate
ISBN: 9787532767533

André GideShanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaFeb 2017

4.4

Word count: 64K words
Chapters: 10
ISBN: 9787532767533

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Summary

Strait Is the Gate pushes the mystical experience of love to its extreme, telling the story of a pure and passionate love that is nonetheless steeped in boundless loneliness and inexhaustible bitterness: Jérôme and his cousin Alissa have been companions since childhood, kindred spirits drawn to each other. When love first stirs, each secretly cherishes the other, and with all their innocence and ardor they long only to become better people for each other's sake. The two willingly don the ascetic's robe, each taking the beloved as their sole guide, striving to climb the steep, narrow path toward the summit of virtue. Yet the more their souls commune, the more their bodies are kept apart: her mother's infidelity and her sister's ordinary marriage fill Alissa with doubt and revulsion toward earthly happiness and the element of desire in love. She is intoxicated by the endless approach toward happiness and shrinks from its actual arrival; in a kind of ecstatic religious fervor she even comes to see her own existence as the greatest obstacle preventing Jérôme from passing through the "narrow gate" and drawing near to God. To set her beloved freer to reach the shores of heaven and attain something "better" than the ordinary happiness love can offer, she makes her own decision...

Editor's review

Strait Is the Gate is one of the most representative works of the French writer André Gide and an important cornerstone of his Nobel Prize in Literature. With an exquisitely delicate and restrained touch, the novel depicts the tragic love story of two childhood sweethearts, Jerome and Alissa, driven toward ruin by their extreme pursuit of religious faith and moral perfection. Through a wealth of letters, diaries, and inner monologues, Gide constructs a textual world charged with spiritual tension and moral dilemma.

As an editor, I believe the classic status of this work lies in its timeless questioning that transcends its era: when love encounters faith, when desire faces discipline, how does the individual find a way out between "the sacred" and "the human"? Gide offers no simple answer; instead he renders this tearing and struggle with full intensity, letting readers experience alongside the protagonists that almost suffocating spiritual mortification.

This edition from Shanghai Translation Publishing House offers an accurate and fluent translation that does good justice to Gide's cool, concise yet inwardly passionate style. For modern readers, Strait Is the Gate is not merely a love tragedy but a mirror reflecting the obsession with "purity" and "perfection" that may exist in every heart, and the self-imprisonment and waste of life such obsession can bring. Reading it requires patience and reflection, but its spiritual resonance will be profound and lasting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Serious literary readers who value literary classics and psychologically deep writing
Readers interested in themes of conflict between religion, morality, and human nature
Readers hoping to appreciate the delicate, introspective style and beautiful prose of French literature
Thinkers reflecting on the relationship between love, faith, and personal freedom

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment and fast-paced plots
Readers impatient with extensive inner monologue and religious-philosophical discussion

Reading tips

Read immersively in a quiet setting, following the protagonist's diaries and letters into his inner world.
Consider Gide's life and intellectual background (such as his Puritan upbringing and his rebellion against it) to understand the work's deeper meanings.
After reading, reflect: what does the metaphor of the "narrow gate" suggest for modern spiritual life? Do we too set up various "narrow gates" for ourselves?

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

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阿莉莎日记

FAQ

Is Strait Is the Gate a love story?

On the surface it tells a love story, but its core goes far beyond that. It is more a philosophical novel about faith, morality, freedom, and the meaning of life, with love serving as the vehicle and catalyst for exploring these ultimate questions.

Why is the book titled "Strait Is the Gate"?

The phrase "strait is the gate" comes from the Bible, meaning that the road to eternal life and salvation is narrow. In the novel it symbolizes the extreme moral and spiritual purity pursued by the protagonist Alissa; this path demands a strict renunciation of worldly pleasures and is therefore extraordinarily difficult, like passing through a narrow gate.

What is Gide's writing style in this work?

The style is extremely concise, subtle, and introspective. The narrative pace is unhurried, making extensive use of epistolary form and diary form, with emphasis on portraying the characters' inner conflicts and spiritual trajectories. Emotional expression is highly restrained, yet the inner tension is full, creating a distinctive artistic power.

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About the author

André Gide Author · France · 1869–1951

André Gide was a French writer, born in Paris in 1869 and died in Paris in 1951. His work spans novels, essays, and literary criticism, with representative titles including The Immoralist, Strait Is the Gate, La Symphonie pastorale, The Counterfeiters, and The Fruits of the Earth. These works often trace the moral struggles of their characters, written in restrained yet reflective prose. In 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which brought his literary standing wider international recognition. Gide is regarded as an important figure in twentieth-century French literature and has had a lasting influence on the psychological depiction and narrative forms of the modern novel. The library holds 70 of his works, spanning categories such as foreign literature, classic works, and social fiction, showing that his writing has long circulated among Chinese readers.