The Counterfeiters

In Les Faux-monnayeurs André Gide examines the lives of several individuals and families in the Paris of 1925, following their interrelationships and travels to reveal a cross-section of French society at a particular moment in history. Although the characters affect one another by their choices and some significant story lines do reach closure, there is no actual plot. The counterfeiting of the title enters the plot eventually, and it has a double function: to provide a climactic point at which to end the novel (by no means a “conclusion”) and also to declare the author’s integrity. A character speaking of literature in general says, “In a world in which everyone cheats, it’s the honest man who passes for a charlatan.” Here the author implies that his novel depicts his world as it truly is and will therefore be criticized for misrepresenting it, the true coin being perceived as counterfeit. Very likely he recognized that including atheist characters and a homosexual romance as merely variations of normality would scandalize his critics. (Summary by T. A. Copeland)