Paludes and the Subversion of the moral Subject

This article is a reading of André Gide's early text Paludes . I try to show how the text, by staging a series of thought experiments, carries out a reflection on the concept of subjectivity. The text subverts a conception of the subject based on the puritan morality of Gide's family. As an alternative to this moral subject the text imagines a purely aesthetic subject detached from moral and social obligations. This movement towards an aesthetic concept of subjectivity mirrors Gide's development as a writer during the 1890s. Je m'inquiète de ne savoir qui je serai; je ne sais même pas celui que je veux être; mais je sais bien qu'il faut choisir. Je voudrais cheminer sur des routes sûres, qui mènent seulement où j'aurais résolu d'aller; mais je ne sais pas; je ne sais pas ce qu'il faut que je veuille. 1 The self becomes an abstract possibility which tries itself out with floundering in the possible, but does not budge from the spot, nor get to any spot, for precisely the necessary is the spot; to become oneself is precisely a movement at the spot. 2