by Professor Zhu Jing,
Docteur-ès-LettresFudan University
A Story within a Story:André Gide’s The Counterfeiters André Gide was an explorative and entrepreneurial writer, with a solid foundation in traditional culture at his disposal. At the same time, he constantly endeavoured to renew his conceptual framework, always searching for new creative means and approaches. As Chinese people enjoy a deeper and deeper appreciation of Gide’s works, our studies of his work must also delve new depths. The research findings of Western scholars can serve as a mirror and reference point for Chinese readers, for they help us to broaden our vision as well as to discover new ideas, new perspectives and new approaches.
After I have finished reading Artur Wardega’s book titled “The Technique of mise en abyme (story within story) as employed in André Gide’s Les Faux-Monnayeurs (The Counterfeiters)”, I became enthralled. Wardega, a Polish scholar, possesses profound knowledge and is a meticulous thinker. While focusing on the ideological side of Gide’s works, he has also devoted a lot of his efforts to the careful analysis of the internal structure of his novels, especially the mise en abyme in The Counterfeiters.
By tracing the origin of mise en abyme in great detail and by expounding its unique structure and significance, Artur Wardega has found something new and fresh. By borrowing the repeated image of the “reflexive mirror”, he guides us as readers into the Gidean world of mise en abyme before he shows us how Gide organically combined the technique of “external narration” with that of “inserted narration”. It is a fascinating experience to read Wardega’s exposition of these themes.
In addition, Artur Wardega has vividly illustrated mise en abyme in Gide’s novel from the perspective of musicology. By comparing the novel to a multi-part musical composition featuring the technique of counterpoint, he guides the readers in their appreciation of “the story within the story” as created by André Gide. He goes on to say that all the events and characters in the novel are interrelated and juxtaposed; he thus helps the readers to experience the faithful duplication of mise en abyme of the main theme in Gide’s novel.