ABSTRACT
“Normandy and Bas-Languedoc,” which Andre Gide grouped with the Barres articles in his Pretextes, appeared in July 1902 in the monthly L’Occident as the first of a series of articles by various hands devoted to the French provinces. It was inevitable that his views should clash with those of the popular and slightly older Barres and that on the question of nationalism Barres and Gide should carry on a debate for many years. But the professor is pulling our leg. M. Barres has only to ask him at what moment a poplar tree, of whatever elevation, can be subjected to uprooting. Gide’s review of Les Deracines, which appeared in L’Ermitage for December 1897, first clearly marked the opposition between the two minds. There is danger as soon as there is no longer benefit; and Les Deracines shows us that the weak succumb in the process.
