Good Grounds

Last week the Swedish Academy bestowed the Nobel Prize for Literature on Andre Gide, dean of French letters (The Counterfeiters; If It Die). In his 78 years Gide has, at various times, defended Communism, homosexuality, and "pure" Christianity divested of Pauline glosses. Most of all he has defended individualism.

Of four final candidates for the Prize, Gide had been longest on the Academy's list. Runners-up: Benedetto Croce (81), Italian historian, philosopher and estheticist; T. S. Eliot (59), Anglo-Catholic poet and critic, who, unlike Gide, is an exponent of traditionalism; and Franc,ois Mauriac (62), French novelist.

Gide's individualism led him to reject Communism (after a visit to the U.S.S.R. in 1936), and to scorn vulgar popularity. He once wrote: "I have passionately desired fame . . . [but] I like to be liked on good grounds." Apparently Gide, who thinks membership in the French Academy is beneath him, thought the Swedish Academy liked him on good grounds. He said the Nobel award made him "very happy." He was also richer by 146,115 Swedish crowns ($40,693).

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