Romain Gary (1914–1980)
Author of The Life before Us
About the Author
Series
Works by Romain Gary
ליידי L : רומן 17 copies
Éducation européenne - Les Racines du ciel - La Promesse de l'aube - Lady L. (1945) — Author — 6 copies
Europäische Erziehung 3 copies
Momo by Emile Ajar (1978-03-01) 3 copies
زندگی در پیش رو 3 copies
חרדתו של המלך סלומון 2 copies
Le grand vestiaire 2 copies
עצור! כאן פג תוקף כרטיסך 2 copies
Forest of Anger 2 copies
Decadence 1 copy
Czternaście głów Stefanii 1 copy
Vanderputte och jag roman 1 copy
כל החיים לפניו 1 copy
לאור אשה 1 copy
Η ΖΩΗ ΜΠΡΟΣΤΑ ΣΟΥ 1 copy
Elttem az let 1 copy
Giáo dục châu Âu 1 copy
A Humanist [short story] 1 copy
Nas sombras do Vaticano 1 copy
הבטחה עם שחר 1 copy
Βίπερ 236: Ευρωπαϊκή θητεία 1 copy
כלב לבן 1 copy
Обещание на рассвете 1 copy
Fiche de lecture Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (2018) 1 copy
Cuộc sống ở trước mặt 1 copy
ליידי ל' 1 copy
Promisiunea zorilor 1 copy
Pas belac 1 copy
Сияние на жена 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Gary, Romain
- Legal name
- Kacew, Roman
- Other names
- Ajar, Émile (pseudonym)
Bogat, Shatan (pseudonym)
Sinibaldi, Fosco (pseudonym)
Deville, René (pseudonym) - Birthdate
- 1914-05-08
- Date of death
- 1980-12-02
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Lycée Masséna, Nice
Reçu au Baccalauréat Philosophie en juillet 1933 avec la mention "Passable"
Etudes de droit à Aix-en-Provence (1933)
Obtient la Licence de Droit en 1938
Préparation militaire supérieure au fort de Montrouge en 1938 - Occupations
- novelist
diplomat
film director
aviator
screenwriter - Organizations
- Free French Forces (WWII)
- Awards and honors
- Prix Goncourt (1956, 1975)
Légion d'Honneur (Commandeur)
Compagnon de la Libération
L'institut français de Jérusalem, porte également le nom de Romain Gary
La bibliothèque patrimoniale de Nice porte le nom Romain Gary
Place Romain Gary à Paris dans le XVe arrondissement (2006) (show all 9)
Le nom de Romain Gary a été attribué à une promotion de l'institut d'études politiques de Lille (2013)
Le nom de Romain Gary a été attribué à une promotion de l'école normale d'administration (2003-2005)
Le nom de Romain Gary a été attribué à une promotion de l'institut d'études politiques de Strasbourg (2001-2002) - Relationships
- Blanch, Lesley (wife)
Seberg, Jean (wife) - Short biography
- Romain Gary, né Roman Kacew à Vilnius en 1914, est élevé par sa mère qui place en lui de grandes espérances, comme il le racontera dans La promesse de l’aube.
Pauvre, «cosaque un peu tartare mâtiné de juif», il arrive en France à l’âge de quatorze ans et s’installe avec sa mère à Nice.
Après des études de droit, il s’engage dans l’aviation et rejoint le général de Gaulle en 1940. Son premier roman, Éducation européenne, paraît avec succès en 1945 et révèle un grand conteur au style rude et poétique. La même année, il entre au Quai d’Orsay. Grâce à son métier de diplomate, il séjourne à Sofia, New York, Los Angeles, La Paz. En 1948, il publie Le grand vestiaire, et reçoit le prix Goncourt en 1956 pour Les racines du ciel.
Consul à Los Angeles, il quitte la diplomatie en 1960, écrit Les oiseaux vont mourir au Pérou (Gloire à nos illustres pionniers) et épouse l’actrice Jean Seberg en 1963.
Il fait paraître un roman humoristique, Lady L., se lance dans de vastes sagas : La comédie américaine et Frère Océan, rédige des scénarios et réalise deux films. Peu à peu les romans de Gary laissent percer son angoisse du déclin et de la vieillesse : Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n’est plus valable, Clair de femme.
Jean Seberg se donne la mort en 1979. En 1980, Romain Gary fait paraître son dernier roman, Les cerfs-volants, avant de se suicider à Paris en décembre.
Il laisse un document posthume où il révèle qu’il se dissimulait sous le nom d’Émile Ajar, auteur d’ouvrages majeurs : Gros-Câlin, La vie devant soi, qui a reçu le prix Goncourt en 1975, Pseudo et L’angoisse du roi Salomon. - Cause of death
- suicide
- Nationality
- Lithuania (birth)
France (naturalised) - Birthplace
- Vilnius, Lithuania, Russian Empire
- Places of residence
- Vilnius, Lithuania, Russian Empire
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Nice, France - Place of death
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Burial location
- Cremated in Père Lachaise Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean Sea near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
- Associated Place (for map)
- France
Members
Discussions
Group Read, September 2021: Promise at Dawn in 1001 Books to read before you die (September 2021)
1914: Romain Gary - Resources and General Discussion in Literary Centennials (September 2014)
Group Read, December 2013: The Roots of Heaven in 1001 Books to read before you die (January 2014)
Reviews
It seems to me that only a few writers still write this way. That is, this book is a masterpiece of ideas that are woven precisely to the right extent and places.
The book tells about the Second World War, about what it did to its creators and especially those to whom the violence directed. This time the Holocaust is only in the background while occupied France is at the center of the story. The true heroes are the spirit of the man who seeks freedom. Love and loyalty to good and dreams are show more the burning engines of this book — the love of a woman and the love of the homeland mix. The love of man as such is the source of power for living. In Gary's book, there is no clear distinction between good and evil. Man is a complex creature and what separates good from evil is what he does at a given time. There is something to learn from Gary (and if not to learn then refresh what we once knew and maybe lost or eroded). There is also quite a bit of humor that makes reading very enjoyable. show less
The book tells about the Second World War, about what it did to its creators and especially those to whom the violence directed. This time the Holocaust is only in the background while occupied France is at the center of the story. The true heroes are the spirit of the man who seeks freedom. Love and loyalty to good and dreams are show more the burning engines of this book — the love of a woman and the love of the homeland mix. The love of man as such is the source of power for living. In Gary's book, there is no clear distinction between good and evil. Man is a complex creature and what separates good from evil is what he does at a given time. There is something to learn from Gary (and if not to learn then refresh what we once knew and maybe lost or eroded). There is also quite a bit of humor that makes reading very enjoyable. show less
Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary is a memoir of his coming-of-age years. It stands as a tribute to his mother, a unique and remarkable woman, who shaped Gary into both the man and the artist he became. She was an independent, fierce woman who fought to give her son everything she could. Gary recounts his childhood in Russia, Poland and France.
Gary and his mother were poor Russians. His father abandoned them soon after Gary was born, but his mother decided that her son was meant for greatness show more and that his future lay in France. She put all her energies into ensuring that they reached this promised country and that Gary was prepared for the glorious future she envisioned for him. The successes of his career as a prize-winning novelist as well as a decorated officer who fought in WW II, and a diplomat for the French government, were all planned by his mother from his early childhood.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning the details of Gary’s early life. From how they fought the bailiffs to his torture at the hands of his first love at the ripe age of ten, he recounts episodes and adventures in a wry and at times, amusing way. He readily admits that there were many times when his mother embarrassed him but his admiration and love for her shines through each page. I was touched by the bond between these two, she in her single-handed determination to shape his future and he, who appreciated this motherly love and actually strove to fulfill her expectations. I found Promise At Dawn to be a humorous, charming and poignant story. show less
Gary and his mother were poor Russians. His father abandoned them soon after Gary was born, but his mother decided that her son was meant for greatness show more and that his future lay in France. She put all her energies into ensuring that they reached this promised country and that Gary was prepared for the glorious future she envisioned for him. The successes of his career as a prize-winning novelist as well as a decorated officer who fought in WW II, and a diplomat for the French government, were all planned by his mother from his early childhood.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning the details of Gary’s early life. From how they fought the bailiffs to his torture at the hands of his first love at the ripe age of ten, he recounts episodes and adventures in a wry and at times, amusing way. He readily admits that there were many times when his mother embarrassed him but his admiration and love for her shines through each page. I was touched by the bond between these two, she in her single-handed determination to shape his future and he, who appreciated this motherly love and actually strove to fulfill her expectations. I found Promise At Dawn to be a humorous, charming and poignant story. show less
Đây chính là cuộc sống, trần trụi khổ đau mà lớn lao qua lời một thằng bé mười ba già trước tuổi. Bên ngoài những 'cuộc sống' hùng hục nihilistic ngoài kia, bên ngoài những quyển sách triết lý nhiều lời hay dò dẫm từng vụn vặt cảm xúc, đây là tình yêu, là lòng ngây thơ và niềm tin không chết, để làm ta cũng tiếp tục tin và giữ được hi vọng. Vẫn biết những gì ông viết nhiều show more phần dựa vào kí ức bản thân, nhưng Romain Gary quả thực xứng đáng với 2 lần Prix Goncourt khi ông hoàn toàn làm chủ được giọng văn của mình, bắt người đọc phải phá lên cười từ đầu đến cuối để rồi chết lặng cắn chặt môi xót xa. Những quyển sách thế này là lý do tôi luôn tin rằng chỉ có văn Nga với Pháp mới là văn học đích thực :D show less
Romain Gary was a French writer, diplomat and husband of American actress “probably one of the most scorned because the most envied of human beings” Jean Seberg. An animal lover, he befriends a lost dog that turns out to have been trained to attack black people – a white dog. The dog comes to assume “symbolic proportions” for Gary.
Samuel Fuller’s 1982 film based very loosely on this book focuses tightly on the dog itself, and his fate. The book is mainly a view of American race show more relations from an outsider who lived in the U.S. too long to consider himself an outsider. It also discusses Seberg’s (and much of Hollywood’s) flirtation with the Black Panthers, for which she was targeted and surveilled by the FBI. Gary even describes a probable approach by the CIA by an “oriental” Prince at JFK airport.
Gary was a skilled and witty writer: “Alienation, today, as you probably know, is the greatest problem of all. How to achieve it, I mean.” “There are hundreds of people in the world who have nothing in common except Walter Goetz.” But beneath the wit is a sharp eye for detail and meaning. show less
Samuel Fuller’s 1982 film based very loosely on this book focuses tightly on the dog itself, and his fate. The book is mainly a view of American race show more relations from an outsider who lived in the U.S. too long to consider himself an outsider. It also discusses Seberg’s (and much of Hollywood’s) flirtation with the Black Panthers, for which she was targeted and surveilled by the FBI. Gary even describes a probable approach by the CIA by an “oriental” Prince at JFK airport.
Gary was a skilled and witty writer: “Alienation, today, as you probably know, is the greatest problem of all. How to achieve it, I mean.” “There are hundreds of people in the world who have nothing in common except Walter Goetz.” But beneath the wit is a sharp eye for detail and meaning. show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 124
- Also by
- 16
- Members
- 6,244
- Popularity
- #3,927
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 162
- ISBNs
- 533
- Languages
- 26
- Favorited
- 25
