The Counterfeiters (French: Les Faux-Monnayeurs) was published by Gallimard in 1925. Gide called it his only “novel” — his other fiction he classified as “récits” (narratives) or “soties” (satirical tales) — and the distinction reflects the book’s ambition. Where the récits are focused, intense, and short, The Counterfeiters is sprawling, polyphonic, and deliberately inconclusive. It follows a large cast of characters — schoolboys, writers, pastors, counterfeiters (literal and metaphorical) — through intersecting plots that refuse to resolve into conventional narrative.
The novel’s central figure is Édouard, a novelist who is writing a book called The Counterfeiters — creating a mise en abyme that was radical in 1925 and has since become a standard technique of postmodern fiction. Édouard’s journal, which is interspersed with the main narrative, discusses the theory of the novel he is writing, the problems of representation, and the impossibility of capturing reality in fiction. The “counterfeiting” of the title operates on multiple levels: the schoolboys are involved in a literal counterfeiting scheme (passing fake coins), the adults are engaged in emotional and moral counterfeiting (performing feelings they do not have, professing beliefs they do not hold), and the novelist is counterfeiting reality itself.
Gide’s treatment of homosexuality — Édouard’s relationship with his nephew Olivier is clearly erotic, though never physically consummated in the text — was daring for 1925 and reflects Gide’s own lifelong engagement with questions of sexual identity. The novel does not advocate or condemn; it observes, with the detachment of a novelist who believes that the highest moral duty is honesty.
Collecting The Counterfeiters
First edition (Gallimard, Paris, 1925, in French): Paperback wrappers.
Market values:
- French first edition, fine: $500–$1,500
- English first edition (Knopf, 1927): $200–$500
- Very good: $80–$200