Romain Gary

Romain Gary

Romain Gary. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1914, the son of a Russian father and a French mother, under the pseudonym Romain Gary is one of the most peculiar creators of 20th century French literature. The Second World War, which marked the lives of two generations of Europeans, was also a turning point for Gary: in addition to joining the French Air Force as a pilot, he found in those events the source of inspiration for what would be his first novel , The Forest of Hate (1944), the first major post-war bestseller. After the war, Gary returned to France, adopted what would be his definitive pseudonym, although not his only one, since he also signed as Émile Ajar or Fosco Sinibaldi and became part of the French diplomatic corps. During this stage of his life, he combined his service to his country with his passion, books, which he wrote in both English and French and which make up a work that combines social criticism, an acid and fine humor and a sense of tragedy that they involve the reader in the meanders of writing. The roots of heaven, 1956 Goncourt award; Lady L. (1959); The promise of dawn (1960); White dog (1970); Europe (1972) or Life before him (1975), also winner of the Goncourt Prize, are some examples of his unique bibliography. In 1962 he remarried actress Jean Seberg. Romain Gary shot himself to death on December 2, 1980 in Paris.