Outrageously Real

This chapter dismantles the common distinction between modernist aestheticism and documentary reference by studying André Gide’s factual writings. In his recollections of his experiences as a juror (Souvenirs de la cour d’assises, 1914) and his reports on court cases in the Nouvelle Revue Française series “Ne jugez pas” (“Judge Not,” 1930), Gide’s ostensibly impersonal organization of testimonial evidence produces a complex polyphonic construction that claims to let documents speak for themselves, while in fact articulating them within a larger discourse. In Voyage au Congo (1927) and Le Retour du Tchad (1928) Gide’s politically engaged writing on French Equatorial Africa enters into dialogue with the largely apolitical documentary film-making practices of his travelling companion Marc Allégret. Commenting on Allégret’s cinematic practices, Gide both reflects on the limitations of documentary and attempts to rival film’s visual capture of living gesture.