Translated material
Maurice Druon has died
He began to study literature during the Second World War, when he, a participant in the battles on the Loire, a member of the Resistance, spoke with “Letters to a European” on the radio from London, wrote, together with his paternal uncle, the famous “Song of the Partisans” for the Maquis troops, and worked war correspondent in North Africa. His first book, “The Last Detachment,” published in 1940, was a documentary sketch of military life and was not successful. Only in 1948, with the release of the first part of the trilogy “The End of People” (in our country, its first part was published under the title “The Powers of This World”), fame came to him. Druon received the Prix Goncourt, and his novel was adapted into a very popular film at the time with Jean Gabin in the title role. After the publication of the entire trilogy about the collapse of the once powerful and wealthy families of Schudler and de la Monnerie, Druon’s reputation as a tendentious, anti-bourgeois writer, prone to hypertrophied naturalism, and a follower of the Zola method was strengthened. He sympathizes with the communists, calls for rapprochement with them, but does not join the party, is criticized from both the right and the left, advocates renewal, which should lead to “collectivism and abundance,” calls on artists to leave the ivory tower and take part in the social movement .
In 1952, Druon came to the USSR for the first time as a journalist and participant in an economic forum. At that time, the Soviet press did not yet know about his Russian roots (his father, actor Lazar Kessel, left his native Orenburg back in 1908, at the age of 11), but the public knew about his progressive views.
In 1961, Druon again came to the Soviet Union, traveled throughout the country and announced his intention to write “The Saga of Russia,” a book about the formation of the Russian nation and Russian statehood, but this plan remained unrealized.
True, of his main trilogy, only the first part of his main trilogy would be published in the USSR in 1965; the other two seemed then too naturalistic, dark and, most likely, most importantly, erotic. The denunciation of the bourgeoisie took forms too radical for the prim Soviet society.
But Druon’s historical novels from the “Cursed Kings” series were in great circulation among us, one of the most popular currencies along with Dumas and “The Woman in White.”
In 1967, Druon was elected a member of the French Academy. And since then, he almost stops writing novels, engaging in journalism, defending the purity of the French language.
His main activity is politics, he is one of the closest associates of Charles de Gaulle, in 1973-1974, under President Georges Pompidou, he holds the post of Minister of Culture of France, becomes a deputy of the National Assembly of the country and the European Parliament...
Druon comes to Russia regularly under Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Yeltsin. Either he travels to Orenburg with Viktor Chernomyrdin, or he meets with Vladimir Putin, whose ardent and consistent supporter he remains until the end of his life, calling him his “main Russian friend.”
He had peculiar views. Druon admitted that the main Russian writer for him had always been Leo Tolstoy, while he admired Ivan the Terrible, spoke of his respect for Stalin, called him “a good politician”, “useful for Russia.” He had the quality of a true diplomat - he knew how to find reasons for sincere admiration. Until the end of his life, he retained his love for good coffee, horseback riding (“If you put me on a horse,” he said, “then I’ll be happy to ride it”), smart clothes and bright speech patterns. Wrote memoirs.
He died nine days before his birthday; on April 23 he would have turned 91 years old.