A landmark in world literature, Strait is the Gate describes a love affair between an acutely sensitive boy growing up in Paris and his cousin from the Normandy countryside that erupts into a soul-endangering passion. A devastating exploration of aestheticism taken to extremes, Strait is the Gate is a novel of haunting beauty that stimulates the mind and the emotions. A serious purpose underlies the work of Gide, and it is from such purposes that great novelists arise. - The New York Times A little masterpiece.... as fine as a spire on Notre Dame. - James Joyce