The lesson I take from La Symphonie Pastorale is
probably different from what André Gide intended -
the selfishness of a protagonist bringing a stranger
into his 5-children house, expecting his wife to cope
while lost to his own joy and pleasure in teaching a
lost child to read, all at a cost of time spent with his
Own family - he acted just like my granddad, who
brought strangers home expecting Grandma Alice
to cope, provide extra food on a tiny budget, cook
and clean, such largesse towards outsiders while
his wife suffered was touted by deceit as Christian
duty - in Gide's story the pastor prevented his son
From marrying the girl the married pastor wanted to
keep for himself, she discovered she loved the son
also but the young idiot became a Catholic priest &
she committed suicide; the lesson is selfishness and
presumption destroys the most precious things such
as relationships with one's own wife and kids
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem