Andre Morois biography read. André Morois - letters to a stranger

French writer, classic of the genre of the biographical novel Andre Maurois; real name - Emil Herzog (Emil Herzog) was born on July 26, 1885 in the town of Elbeuf near Rouen. Morois came from a wealthy Jewish family from Alsace that converted to Catholicism. After 1871, having received French citizenship, the family moved to Normandy. Father André Maurois owned a textile factory. Andre attended the gymnasium of Elbeuf and Rouen. A significant role in shaping Mauroy's views on the world, society, art was played by his school teacher Emile Chartier, a French philosopher, moralist and writer known as Alain.

In 1897, Morois entered the Lycée Corneille in Rouen, after which he entered the University of Cannes. At the same time, he began working at his father's factory, where from 1903 to 1911 he worked. served as an administrator.

During the First World War, André Maurois was a liaison officer with the British forces in France and served as a military interpreter for the British Expeditionary Force. Military impressions served as material for Mauroy's first novels, The Silent Colonel Bramble, 1918, and The Talkative Doctor O'Grady. After the death of his father in 1925, Maurois sold the factory and devoted himself entirely to literary work. In the 1920-1930s. André Maurois created a trilogy from the life of English romantics: "Ariel, or the Life of Shelley", "The Life of Disraeli" and "Byron", which was later published under the general title "Romantic England", and released several novels: "Bernard Quesnay", "The Vicissitudes love", "Family circle".

In 1938 André Maurois was elected a member of the French Academy.

When the Second World War began, the writer signed up as a volunteer in the army, and after the occupation of France by German troops, he emigrated to the United States. He taught at the University of Kansas. In 1943 he served with the Allied Forces in North Africa. In 1946 Maurois returned to France.

Close ties of friendship connected Maurois with the pilot and writer Antoine Saint-Exupery. In the autumn of 1939, both left the Ministry of Information to serve in the army. Fate brought them together again in exile in the United States, then in Algeria, liberated from the Germans.

After returning to his homeland, Morois published collections of short stories, the book In Search of Marcel Proust (A la recherche de Marcel Proust, 1949).

Morua's creative heritage is truly enormous - 200 books, more than a thousand articles. Among his works are psychological novels and stories, fantasy novels and travel essays, biographies of great people and literary portraits, historical works and philosophical essays - "Senses and Customs", "Paul Verlaine. Caliban, who was Ariel", popular science works - "History of England" and "History of France".

In the early 50s. 20th century The collected works of André Maurois were published in 16 volumes.

Literary portraits are devoted to French writers, which made up four books by Andre Maurois: "From La Bruyère to Proust" (1964), "From Proust to Camus" (1963), "From Gide to Sartre" (1965), "From Aragon to Monterlant" (1967) ).

In 1956, "Letters to a Stranger" were published in Paris by the publishing house "La Jeune Park". They appeared in Russian in 1974 in an abbreviated form in the journal Foreign Literature.

But, above all, Morois is a master of the biographical genre, where, on the basis of accurate documentation, he draws living images of great people. He won worldwide fame with biographical works "Byron" (1930), "Turgenev" (1931), "Lelia, or the Life of George Sand" (Lelia ou la Vie de George Sand, 1952), "Olympio, or the Life of Victor Hugo", " Three Dumas", "The Life of Alexander Fleming" (1959).

In the year of Mauroy's 80th birthday, he wrote his last biographical work, Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac.

In 1970, Andre Mauroy's book "Memoirs" was published in France, in which the writer spoke about his life, about meetings with such great contemporaries as Roosevelt and Churchill, de Gaulle and Clemenceau, Kipling and Saint-Exupery.

Many of the writer's works have been translated into Russian, including The Vicissitudes of Love, The Family Circle, The Life of Alexander Fleming, Disraeli's Career, Byron, Olympio, or the Life of Victor Hugo, Three Dumas, "Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac", etc.

In the 1960s, Morois willingly appeared on the pages of the Soviet press. He established friendly ties with Soviet writers.

Morua was a member of a number of public organizations, collaborated in democratic publications. He signed the protests of cultural figures against the arrests of the Mexican artist David Siqueiros, the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos.

André Maurois was married twice. After the death of his first wife, Janina de Szimkiewicz, he married Simone de Caive, Marcel Proust's niece.

André Maurois

Letters to a stranger

LETTRES A L'INCONNUE

© Héritiers André Maurois, Anne-Mary Charrier, Marseille, France, 2006

© Translation. Y. Lesyuk, 2015

© Russian edition AST Publishers, 2015

Letters to a stranger

You exist, and yet you are not. When a friend of mine suggested that I write to you once a week, I mentally drew an image of you. I created you beautiful - both in face and in mind. I knew that you would not be slow to emerge alive from my dreams and begin to read my messages, and answer them, and tell me everything that the author longs to hear.

From the very first day, I gave you a certain look - the look of an extremely beautiful and young woman that I saw in the theater. No, not on stage - in the hall. None of those who were with me knew her. Since then, you have gained eyes and lips, a voice and become, but, as befits, you still remained a Stranger.

Two or three of my letters appeared in the press, and, as expected, I began to receive answers from you. Here "you" is a collective person. You are many different strangers: one is naive, the other is absurd, and the third is a minx and a mocker. I was impatient to start a correspondence with you, but I restrained myself: you had to remain all, it was impossible for you to become one.

You reproach me for my restraint, for my invariable sentimental moralism. But what can you do? And the most patient of people will remain faithful to a stranger only on the condition that one day she opens up to him. Merimee quickly learned that his stranger's name was Jenny Daken, and soon he was allowed to kiss her lovely legs. Yes, our idol must have both legs and everything else, because we get tired of contemplating the incorporeal goddess.

I promised that I would continue this game as long as I derive pleasure from it. More than a year has passed, I put an end to our correspondence, there were no objections. An imaginary break is not difficult at all. I will keep a wonderful, unclouded memory of you. Farewell.

About one meeting

That evening I was not alone at the Comédie Francaise. “They gave only Molière,” but with great success. The mistress of Iran laughed heartily; Robert Kemp seemed to be in bliss; Paul Leotaut drew attention to himself.

The lady sitting next to us whispered to her husband: “I’ll tell Aunt Clemence by phone that I saw Leoto, she will be delighted.”

You sat in front, wrapped in fox furs, and, as in Musset's time, a picked up “black braid on a marvelous flexible neck” swayed in front of me. During the intermission, you leaned over to your friend and asked animatedly: “How to become loved?” I, in turn, wanted to bend down to you and answer with the words of one of Molière's contemporaries: “In order to please others, you need to talk with them about what pleases them and what interests them, evade disputes about unimportant subjects, rarely ask questions and in no way case, do not let them suspect that it is possible to be more reasonable than they are.

Here are the advice of a man who knew people! Yes, if we want to be loved, we need to talk to others about something other than what matters. us, but about what takes them. What occupies them? They are themselves. We will never get bored of a woman if we start talking to her about her character and beauty, if we ask her about childhood, about tastes, about what makes her sad. You will also never bore a man if you ask him to talk about himself. How many women have earned themselves the fame of skillful listeners! However, there is no need to listen, it is enough just to pretend that you are listening.

"Avoid arguing about unimportant subjects." Arguments, stated in a sharp tone, infuriate the interlocutor. Especially when the truth is on your side. “Every sensible remark hurts,” said Stendhal. Your interlocutor may have to admit the irrefutability of your arguments, but he will never forgive you for this. In love, a man strives not for war, but for peace. Blessed are the tender and meek women, they will be loved more. Nothing infuriates a man like the aggressiveness of a woman. Amazons are deified, but not adored.

Another, quite worthy way to please is to speak flatteringly about people. If this is told to them, it will give them pleasure and they will feel good for you in return.

I don’t like Madame de ... - someone said.

What a pity! And she finds you simply charming and tells everyone she meets about it.

Really? .. It turns out that I was mistaken about her.

The reverse is also true. One caustic phrase, moreover, retold unkindly, gives rise to the worst enemies. “If we all knew everything that is said about all of us, no one would talk to anyone.” The trouble is that sooner or later everyone will find out what everyone says about everyone.

To return to La Rochefoucauld: "On no account let them suspect that it is possible to be more intelligent than they are." Isn't it possible to love and admire someone at the same time? Of course, it is possible, but only if he does not express his superiority with arrogance and it is balanced by small weaknesses that allow others in turn to patronize him. The smartest man I knew, Paul Valéry, showed his intelligence with great ease. He clothed deep thoughts in a playful form; he had both childishness and cute pranks, which made him unusually charming. The other most intelligent person is both serious and important, and yet amuses his friends with his unconscious arrogance, absent-mindedness or whims. They forgive him for being talented, because he can be funny; and you will be forgiven for being beautiful, because you keep yourself simple. A woman will never get tired of even a great man if she remembers that he is also a man.

How to become loved? Giving those you want to captivate a good reason to be pleased with yourself. Love begins with a joyful feeling of one's own strength, combined with the happiness of another person. To like means both to give and to receive. That's what, stranger of my soul (as the Spaniards say), I would like to answer you. I will add one more - the last - advice, it was given by Merimee his to a stranger: “Never say anything bad about yourself. Your friends will do it." Farewell.

About the limits of tenderness

Paul Valéry spoke admirably of many things, and in particular of love; he liked to talk about passions in mathematical terms: he quite reasonably believed that the contrast between the precision of expressions and the elusiveness of feelings gives rise to a disturbing inconsistency. I especially liked one of his formulas, which I dubbed Valéry's theorem: "The amount of tenderness radiated and absorbed every day has a limit."

In other words, not a single person is able to live all day, and even more so for weeks or years, in an atmosphere of tender passion. Everything tires, even the fact that you are loved. It is useful to remind this truth, because many young people, as well as old people, apparently do not suspect it. The woman revels in the first delights of love; she is overwhelmed with joy when they tell her from morning to evening how pretty she is, how witty, what a bliss to have her, how wonderful her speeches are; she echoes these praises and assures her partner that he is the best and smartest man in the world, an incomparable lover, a wonderful conversationalist. Both of them are much more enjoyable. But what's next? The possibilities of the language are not unlimited. “At first, it is easy for lovers to talk to each other ... - said the Englishman Stevenson. “I am me, you are you, and all others are of no interest.”

You can repeat in a hundred ways: "I am me, you are you." But not a hundred thousand! And ahead - an endless string of days.

What is the name of such a marriage union, when a man is content with one woman? - a certain examiner asked an American student.

Monotonous, she replied.

So that monogamy does not turn into monotony, one must vigilantly monitor that tenderness and forms of its expression alternate with something else. A love couple should be refreshed by “winds from the sea”: communication with other people, common work, spectacles. Praise touches, born as if by chance, involuntarily - from mutual understanding, shared pleasure; becoming an indispensable rite, it becomes boring.

Octave Mirbeau has a novella written in the form of a dialogue between two lovers who meet every evening in a park by the light of the moon. The sensitive lover whispers in a voice even softer than a moonlit night: "Look ... That is that bench, oh kind bench!" The beloved sighs in despair: “This bench again!” Let us beware of benches that have become places of worship. Tender words that appear and pour out at the very moment of manifestation of feelings are charming. Tenderness in hardened expressions is annoying.

André Maurois is a French writer and member of the Académie française. He came from a wealthy family of Jews who converted to Catholicism from Alsace, who after 1871 chose French citizenship and moved to Normandy. A master of the genre of a novelized biography and a short ironic psychological story. Among the main works of Morois are the psychological novels The Vicissitudes of Love, The Family Circle (1932), the book Memoirs, and Letters to a Stranger, which embodied all the charm of the writer's subtle, ironic talent.

Forgiveness must be silent - otherwise what kind of forgiveness is it.

When success comes to us, one can only be surprised at the number of people who suddenly turn out to be our friends.

We are only natural with those we love.

There is nothing more beautiful in the world than a marriage in which everything is in common: love, spiritual interests, victories and defeats - in a word, and deeds, and feelings.

Nothing infuriates a man like the aggressiveness of a woman.

To love the good people around me, to avoid the bad ones, to rejoice in the good, to endure evil with dignity, to be able to forget - that is my optimism.

Loving a woman means thinking not about what you get from her, but about what you give to her.

A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short.

If you want to really get to know the city, you have to walk.

The most striking memory is the memory of a woman in love.

Blessed are the tender and meek women, they will be loved more.

Cynicism is dangerous primarily because it elevates malice into virtue.

You need to have remarkable willpower in order to maintain qualities in yourself that are not valued in the environment.

Make gifts a little more expensive than you can afford.

All your life you will meet people about whom you will say with surprise: “Why did he dislike me? I didn't do anything to him."
Wrong! You have inflicted on him the gravest insult: you are a living negation of his nature...

People tend to despise what comes into their hands,and cling to what slips away.

There are no petty betrayals.

In the absence of love itself, women want to feel its aromas, hear its echoes, see its reflection.

"Happiness is not in conquering a woman's body, but in becoming her chosen one."

Life is too short to afford not to take it seriously.

fr. André Maurois; real name , Emile-Salomon-Wilhelm Herzog

French writer and member of the French Academy

short biography

The real name of the person whom readers around the world know as - Emil Salomon Wilhelm Erzog. This is a famous French writer, literary critic, historian; he is recognized as an unsurpassed master of writing biographies of famous people in the form of a novel. The creative pseudonym after some time turned into his official name.

Morois was born in Elphebe, a town near Rouen, on July 26, 1885. His family were Alsatian Jews who converted to the Catholic faith, moved to Normandy after 1871 and became French subjects. In 1897, Andre was a student at the Rouen Lyceum, at the age of 16 he became the owner of a licentiate degree. After completing his studies at the Lyceum, he enters the University of Cannes. Almost simultaneously, his career path begins: the young man gets a job at his father's factory and works there as an administrator during 1903-1911.

When the First World War broke out, André Mauroy took part in the hostilities as a liaison officer and military translator. The impressions received in the war helped Morois try his hand at the literary field and became the basis for his first novel, The Silent Colonel Bramble. After its publication in 1918, Maurois learned what success was, and his fame immediately went beyond the borders of his native country, the work was warmly received in Great Britain and America.

After the end of the war, André Maurois worked at the editorial office of the Croix de Feu magazine. Inspired by the success of his first novel, the aspiring writer dreamed not of a magazine career, but of a professional literary career. Already in 1921, his new novel, The Speeches of Dr. O'Grady, saw the light of day. When his father died, Morois, having sold the production, from 1925 gave all his strength to the creation of literary works. For 20-30 years. he wrote a trilogy about the lives of the famous English representatives of romanticism - Shelley, Disraeli and Byron. He also wrote a number of other novels. On June 23, 1938, a significant event took place in the life of Maurois: his literary merits were recognized by his election to the French Academy.

When the Second World War began, the writer volunteered for the active French army, served with the rank of captain; then he was 54 years old. When France was occupied by Nazi troops, Maurois moved to the United States, where he worked as a teacher at the University of Kansas. 1943 was marked by a departure to North Africa; homecoming took place in 1946. During this period, Maurois wrote the book In Search of Marcel Proust (1949), collections of short stories.

The writer worked to a ripe old age. In the year of his 80th birthday, he wrote a novel, which became the last in a series of biographical works - Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac (1965). Literally a few days before his death, the last point was put in his memoirs.

The contribution of Andre Maurois to national literature is truly great - two hundred books, as well as more than a thousand articles. He was a multi-genre writer, from his pen came out not only biographies of great people that glorified him, but also fantastic novels, psychological stories, novels, philosophical essays, historical works, popular science writings. Morois was elected an honorary doctor of the Oxford and Edinburgh universities, was a Knight of the Legion of Honor (1937). The writer also led a fairly active social life, was a member of several public organizations, collaborated with publications of a democratic orientation.

Death overtook Andre Maurois in his own house, located in one of the suburbs of Paris, on October 9, 1967.

Biography from Wikipedia

Andre Maurois(fr. André Maurois, real name Emil Salomon Wilhelm Erzog, Émile-Salomon-Wilhelm Herzog, 1885-1967), French writer and member of the French Academy. Subsequently, the pseudonym became his official name.

Master of the genre of novelized biography (books about Shelley, Byron, Balzac, Turgenev, George Sand, Dumas the father and Dumas the son, Hugo) and a short ironic psychological story. Among the main works of Morois are the psychological novels The Vicissitudes of Love (1928), The Family Circle (1932), the book Memoirs (published in 1970) and embodied all the charm of the subtle, ironic talent of the writer Letters to a Stranger (Lettres à l'inconnue", 1956).

He came from a wealthy family of Jews who converted to Catholicism from Alsace, who after 1871 chose French citizenship and moved to Normandy. In 1897, Emil Erzog entered the Rouen Lyceum. At the age of sixteen he was awarded a licentiate degree. On the advice of one of his teachers, Emile Chartier, after completing the course, instead of continuing his studies at Ecole, Normal entered an employee at his father's cloth factory. During the First World War he served as a military translator and liaison officer. In 1918, Maurois published the novel The Silent Colonel Bramble (French: Les Silences du colonel Bramble), which was successfully received both in France and in Great Britain and the USA. In 1921, the novel The Speeches of Dr. O'Grady (French: Discours du docteur O'Grady) was published. After the war, he worked as an employee of the editorial office of the Croix-de-feu magazine. June 23, 1938 was elected to the French Academy.

Member of the French Resistance.

During the outbreak of World War II, Morois serves as a captain in the French army. After the occupation of France by German troops, he left for the United States. Worked as a lecturer at the University of Kansas. During this time he wrote biographies of Frédéric Chopin (1942), General Eisenhower (1945), Franklin (1945) and Washington (1946). In 1943, Morois left for North Africa, and in 1946 he returned to France.

Morois argued that "time spent with a woman cannot be called lost."

A family

Was married twice. The first marriage was Jeanne-Marie Wanda Shimkevich, from whom three children were born - Gerald (1920), Olivier and daughter Michelle (1914). Soon after the early death of his first wife (1924) from sepsis, he entered into a second marriage with Simon Cayave, granddaughter of Leontine Armand de Cayyave (née Lippmann), Anatole France's mistress. Relations with his second wife were relatively free, for some time Morois lived separately from her, and his wife knew that he had other mistresses.

Editions in Russian

• Morua A. Three Dumas. - M.: Young Guard, 1962. - 544 p. 1965 ("ZhZL").
• Morua A. The life of Alexander Fleming. Per. from fr. I. Ehrenburg, after I. Kassirsky M .: Young Guard, 1964. - 336 p. ("ZhZL").
• Morua A. Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac. - M.: Progress, 1967. - 640 p.
• Morua A. George Sand. - M.: Young Guard, 1968. - 416 p. ("ZhZL").
• Morua A. Paris. - M.: Art, 1970. - ("Cities and museums of the world").
• Morua A. From Montaigne to Aragon / Per. from fr. Comp. and foreword. F. S. Narkiriera. Comm. S. N. Zenkina. Ed. Z. V. Fedotova. - M.: Raduga, 1983. - 678 p.
• Morua A. The vicissitudes of love. Three novels. Letters to a stranger. - Minsk: Mastatskaya literature, 1988. - 351 p.
• Morua A. Byron. - M.: Young Guard, 2000. - 422 p. ("ZhZL").
• Morua A. France. - St. Petersburg: B. S. G.-Press, 2007. - 272 p.
• Morua A. Holland. - St. Petersburg: B. S. G.-Press, 2007. - 224 p.-7.
• Morua A. History of France. - St. Petersburg: Humanitarian Academy, 2008. - 352 p.
• Morua A. Three Dumas. - M.: AST, AST Moscow, VKT, 2010. - 512 p.-6-2.
• Morua A. Olympio, or the Life of Victor Hugo. - M.: Russia-Cyrillic, 1992. - 528 p.
• Morua A. Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac. - M.: Raduga, 1983. - 672 p.
• Morua A. An open letter to a young man about the science of living
• Morua A. Life of Disraeli. - M.: Politizdat, 1991. - 254 p.
• Morua A. September roses. - St. Petersburg: ABC. 2015 - 220 p.

The real name of the man known to readers all over the world as André Maurois is Emil Solomon Wilhelm Erzog. This is a famous French writer, literary critic, historian; he is recognized as an unsurpassed master of writing biographies of famous people in the form of a novel. The creative pseudonym after some time turned into his official name.

Morois was born in Elphebe, a town near Rouen, on July 26, 1885. His family were Alsatian Jews who converted to the Catholic faith, moved to Normandy after 1871 and became French subjects. In 1897, Andre was a student at the Rouen Lyceum, at the age of 16 he became the owner of a licentiate degree. After completing his studies at the Lyceum, he enters the University of Cannes. Almost simultaneously, his career path begins: the young man gets a job at his father's factory and works there as an administrator during 1903-1911.

When the First World War broke out, André Mauroy took part in the hostilities as a liaison officer and military translator. The impressions received in the war helped Morois try his hand at the literary field and became the basis for his first novel, The Silent Colonel Bramble. After its publication in 1918, Maurois learned what success was, and his fame immediately went beyond the borders of his native country, the work was warmly received in Great Britain and America.

After the end of the war, André Maurois worked at the editorial office of the Croix de Feu magazine. Inspired by the success of his first novel, the aspiring writer dreamed not of a magazine career, but of a professional literary career. Already in 1921, his new novel, The Speeches of Dr. O'Grady, saw the light of day. When his father died, Morois, having sold the production, from 1925 gave all his strength to the creation of literary works. For 20-30 years. he wrote a trilogy about the lives of the famous English representatives of romanticism - Shelley, Disraeli and Byron. He also wrote a number of other novels. On June 23, 1938, a significant event took place in the life of Maurois: his literary merits were recognized by his election to the French Academy.

When the Second World War began, the writer volunteered for the active French army, served with the rank of captain; then he was 54 years old. When France was occupied by Nazi troops, Maurois moved to the United States, where he worked as a teacher at the University of Kansas. 1943 was marked by a departure to North Africa; homecoming took place in 1946. During this period, Maurois wrote the book In Search of Marcel Proust (1949), collections of short stories.

The writer worked to a ripe old age. In the year of his 80th birthday, he wrote a novel, which became the last in a series of biographical works - Prometheus, or the Life of Balzac (1965). Literally a few days before his death, the last point was put in his memoirs.

The contribution of Andre Maurois to national literature is truly great - two hundred books, as well as more than a thousand articles. He was a multi-genre writer, from his pen came out not only biographies of great people that glorified him, but also fantastic novels, psychological stories, novels, philosophical essays, historical works, popular science writings. Morois was elected an honorary doctor of the Oxford and Edinburgh universities, was a Knight of the Legion of Honor (1937). The writer also led a fairly active social life, was a member of several public organizations, collaborated with publications of a democratic orientation.

Death overtook Andre Maurois in his own house, located in one of the suburbs of Paris, on October 9, 1967.