Prometheus Illbound

In this dazzling philosophical fantasy, André Gide turns the Prometheus myth inside out. What if humanity's greatest benefactor grew weary of his gift? What if fire itself became a burden rather than a blessing? Gide's brilliant, witty novel follows Prometheus through a surreal landscape of humanity's delusions and small-mindedness, as he grapples with the consequences of having given humanity the tool that would shape civilization. This is intellectual fantasy at its finest: playful, probing, and wickedly funny. As Gide himself wrote, 'The work of art is the exaggeration of an idea', and here he amplifies the myth's central tensions into something that operates simultaneously as satire, philosophy, and dark comedy. For readers who love literature that asks questions rather than provides comfortable answers, who appreciate wit wielded like a scalpel, this is Gide at his most playful and provocative.