Romain Gary
Romain Gary: A Literary Chameleon
Full Name and Common Aliases
Romain Gary, born Roman Kacew, was a man of many names and identities. Throughout his life, he adopted several pseudonyms, the most famous being Émile Ajar. This multiplicity of identities was not just a literary device but a reflection of his complex personality and life experiences.
Birth and Death Dates
Romain Gary was born on May 8, 1914, and passed away on December 2, 1980. His life spanned a tumultuous period in history, and his works often reflect the upheavals of the 20th century.
Nationality and Profession(s)
Gary was a French novelist, diplomat, and film director. Although born in Vilnius, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time, he became a naturalized French citizen. His career was as diverse as his identities, encompassing roles as a writer, aviator, and diplomat.
Early Life and Background
Romain Gary's early life was marked by displacement and reinvention. Born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, he moved to Warsaw with his mother after his parents' separation. His mother, Nina Owczinski, was a significant influence, instilling in him a sense of ambition and a love for French culture. In 1928, they relocated to Nice, France, where Gary embraced his new nationality and began his education. He studied law at the University of Aix-en-Provence and later at the University of Paris, but his true passion lay in writing and storytelling.
Major Accomplishments
Gary's life was a tapestry of remarkable achievements. During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Free French Air Forces, earning the Croix de Guerre for his bravery. After the war, he embarked on a diplomatic career, serving in various capacities, including as the French Consul General in Los Angeles. However, it was his literary career that truly defined him. Gary is the only author to have won the prestigious Prix Goncourt twice, a feat made possible by his use of the pseudonym Émile Ajar. This literary deception was only revealed posthumously, adding a layer of intrigue to his legacy.
Notable Works or Actions
Romain Gary's bibliography is extensive and varied, reflecting his multifaceted life. His first major success came with "Les Racines du ciel" (The Roots of Heaven), which won the Prix Goncourt in 1956. This novel, a profound exploration of humanism and environmentalism, established him as a significant literary figure. Under the pseudonym Émile Ajar, he published "La Vie devant soi" (The Life Before Us), which also won the Prix Goncourt in 1975. This novel, a poignant tale of an orphaned Arab boy and a Jewish Holocaust survivor, is celebrated for its empathy and insight into the human condition.
Impact and Legacy
Romain Gary's impact on literature and culture is profound. His works, characterized by their wit, depth, and humanism, continue to resonate with readers worldwide. Gary's exploration of identity, belonging, and the human spirit transcends cultural and temporal boundaries. His ability to write under different personas challenges the notion of authorship and identity, making him a subject of enduring fascination and study.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Romain Gary is widely quoted and remembered for his incisive observations on life, identity, and the human experience. His quotes often reflect his wit, wisdom, and the complexity of his character. Gary's life and works offer a rich tapestry of themes that continue to inspire and provoke thought. His ability to capture the essence of the human condition in a few words makes his quotes timeless. Moreover, his unique life story, marked by reinvention and resilience, adds a layer of intrigue and admiration, ensuring that his words and legacy endure.
In conclusion, Romain Gary's life and works are a testament to the power of storytelling and the complexity of human identity. His legacy as a writer, diplomat, and thinker continues to inspire and challenge, making him a figure of enduring significance in the literary world.
Quotes by Romain Gary
Romain Gary's insights on:
The difference between the English and the rest of mankind is that the English have long known the truth about themselves – which makes them always able to evade it discreetly, to slip round it.
Racism is when it doesn’t count. When they don’t count. When one can do anything with them, it doesn’t matter what, because they are not people like us. Do you see? Not our kind. When we can make use of them as we please, without losing face, dignity, honor. Without embarrassment, without making a moral judgement – that’s it. When we can make them do no matter what degrading work, service, because their opinion of us doesn’t count, because it cannot tarnish us. That’s what racism is.
Bruno, someday you will die of kindness, tolerance and gentleness. Well, given the options, it isn’t a bad way to go.
My hints had, undoubtedly and unintentionally, made her feel insecure, guilty, inadequate, afraid that she was losing whatever it was that turned me on; in short, it aroused all the self-doubt so readily awakened in women after thousands of years of servitude. Hence my zeal in denying the effects of time was abetted by Laura’s complicity.
The inhumanity of it is what makes Nazism so horrible – that’s what people always say. Sure. But there’s no denying the obvious: part of being human is the inhumanity of it. As long as we refuse to admit that inhumanity is completely human, we’ll just be telling ourselves pious lies.
I too have often felt the need to understand it all; but I know my limits. In my life I’ve done more suffering than thinking – though I believe one understands better that way.
Je n’avais encore jamais vu un sourire aussi immuable et je me demandais si elle l’enlevait pour dormir.
It’s absolutely essential that man should manage to preserve something other than what helps to make soles for shoes or sewing machines, that he should leave a margin, a sanctuary, where some of life’s beauty can take refuge and where he himself can feel safe from his own cleverness and folly. Only then will it be possible to begin talking of civilization.
I don’t consider myself to be definite, but in waiting position and eventual appearance.
Printing mistakes adds value because of the probability calculus, which makes their intrusion into something problematic and almost impossible, even when everything’s conceived, precisely, to avoid the intrusion of human error.