ABSTRACT
In addition to a doctoral thesis on the theme of childhood in Gide's work, David Steel is the author of numerous studies on Gide, several of which -among them articles on the conception of the bastard in Gide's fiction, on his anticipation of and reactions to the work of Freud - have proved seminal. His analysis of Gide's writing shows the author moving readily between these spheres, producing texts in which the discourse of economics, facilitating numerous monetary metaphors, generates sets of themes and character types hinging on a contrast between avarice and prodigality. This chapter examines the idea of expenditure as the driving syndrome behind a number of Gide's prominent fictional figures, as a key to his concept of the acte gratuit, the motiveless act, and as an expression of his concern about his own great personal wealth. It explores the links between the economic, psychological and moral aspects of human behavior.
