André Gide - Thésée [EO sur alfa vergé, cartonnage Paul Bonet] - 1946

André Gide. Theseus

Gallimard, Paris, 1946, (18 x 12 cm), 116 pages, decorated publisher's binding, rhodoïd dust jacket.

Original edition printed in 1,370 copies, this one 1/1,040 numbered copies on Navarre alfa paper, bound according to the model by Paul Bonet.

Volume in very good condition, minor signs of use on the cardboard, excellent interior, still protected by its rhodoid cover.

Theseus is a fictional autobiographical account written by André Gide and published in 1946, a year before his death. Considered his last work published during his lifetime, this book is often seen as a literary and philosophical testament.

Write in the first person; the narrative features the mythological hero Theseus, who recounts his life—from his childhood in Trézène, through the Cretan adventure, the labyrinth, Ariadne, Phaedra, the founding of Athens, to his final encounter with Oedipus. Gide uses this myth not to restore its historical truth but to serve as an allegory for the quest for identity and artistic creation.

The character of Theseus embodies for Gide the idea of the liberated creator, of the builder of a city as well as a work. The narrative explores central themes in Gide's work: freedom, transgression, responsibility, and the construction of the self. The famous concluding phrase — 'I have done my work, I have lived' — resonates as a synthesis of the author's life and thought.

Gide spent over twenty years developing this text, which he ultimately wrote in a few weeks. He introduces elements absent from the classic versions of the myth, such as the encounter with Oedipus, thus highlighting a humanist and existential dimension.