Romain Gary

Author profile

born

May 08, 1914 in Vilnius , Lithuania

died

December 02, 1980

gender

male

website

http://www.romaingary.org/

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Romain Gary was a Jewish-French novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat.

Born Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Кацев), Romain Gary grew up in Vilnius to a family of Lithuanian Jews. He changed his name to Romain Gary when he escaped occupied France to fight with Great Britain against Germany in WWII. His father, Arieh-Leib Kacew, abandoned his family in 1925 and remarried. From this time Gary was raised by his mother, Nina Owczinski. When he was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his father's origin, parents, occupation and childhood.

He later studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the...more Romain Gary was a Jewish-French novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat.

Born Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Кацев), Romain Gary grew up in Vilnius to a family of Lithuanian Jews. He changed his name to Romain Gary when he escaped occupied France to fight with Great Britain against Germany in WWII. His father, Arieh-Leib Kacew, abandoned his family in 1925 and remarried. From this time Gary was raised by his mother, Nina Owczinski. When he was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his father's origin, parents, occupation and childhood.

He later studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence and in Avord Air Base, near Bourges. Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. As a pilot, he took part in over 25 successful offensives logging over 65 hours of air time.

He was greatly decorated for his bravery in the war, receiving many medals and honours.

After the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service and in 1945 published his first novel. He would become one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and memoirs, some of which he wrote under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar. He also wrote one novel under the pseudonym of Fosco Sinibaldi and another as Shatan Bogat.

In 1952, he became secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations in New York, and later in London (in 1955).

In 1956, he became Consul General of France in Los Angeles.

He is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize for French language literature is awarded only once to an author. Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956 for Les racines du ciel, published La vie devant soi under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar in 1975. The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to the author of this book without knowing his real identity. A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's little cousin Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar.

Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and Vogue editor Lesley Blanch (author of The Wilder Shores of Love). They married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to the American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary.

He also co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture, The Longest Day and co-wrote and directed the 1971 film Kill!, starring his now ex-wife Seberg.

Suffering from depression after Seberg's 1979 suicide, Gary died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 2, 1980 in Paris, France though he left a note which said specifically that his death had no relation with Seberg's suicide.

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Average rating: 3.93 · 5,861 ratings · 469 reviews · 58 distinct works

	خداحافظ گاری کوپر by Romain Gary, سروش حبیبی (translator) 4.08 avg rating — 1,691 ratings — published 1965 — 11 editions	My rating:
	زندگی در پیش رو by Romain Gary, لیلی گلستان (Translator) 4.04 avg rating — 1,642 ratings — published 1975 — 42 editions	My rating:
	Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary, John M. Beach (Translator) 4.11 avg rating — 431 ratings — published 1960 — 20 editions	My rating:
	Lady L 3.35 avg rating — 462 ratings — published 1957 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Les cerfs-volants 4.10 avg rating — 188 ratings — published 87 — 5 editions	My rating:
	White Dog 3.51 avg rating — 196 ratings — published 1970 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Clair de Femme 3.94 avg rating — 121 ratings — published 1977 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Gros-Câlin by Romain Gary, Émile Ajar 3.84 avg rating — 105 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	Roots Of Heaven 4.02 avg rating — 159 ratings — published 1956 — 9 editions	My rating:
	پرندگان می‌روند در پرو می‌میرند 3.80 avg rating — 131 ratings — published 1352 — 6 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Romain Gary

“از همین می ترسم. به یه چیزی یا کسی عادت می کنی، اونوقت اون چیز یا اون کس قالت می گذاره. اون وقت دیگه چیزی برات باقی نمی مونه. می فهمی چی می خوام بگم؟.... اونهایی رو که می گذارن و می رن دوست ندارم. اینه که اول خودم می گذارم می رم.این جوری خاطر جمع تره.

خداحافظ گاری کوپر”
― Romain Gary

84 people liked it

“هیچ چیز، سفید سفید یا سیاه سیاه نیست. سفید گاهی همان سیاه است که خودش را جور دیگری نشان داده و سیاه هم گاهی سفید است که سرش کلاه رفته”
― Romain Gary

26 people liked it

“ای کاش:
ابرازمحبت ها یمان از سر اجبار به تنهایی نباشد و ای کاش اگر از سر اجبار به تنهایی ست هیچگاه به آن روشن بینی نرسیم که ذهن کنجکاومان برای هر علتی به دنبال معلولی خاص باشد.
«وقتی ما به هر دلیلی ذهنمان روشن می شود حتی درک محبت دیگران نیز به سختی و به ندرت بر ما چهره می نمایانند”
― Romain Gary

22 people liked it

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Romain Gary

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