André Maurois

André Maurois (real name Emil Salomon Wilhelm Erzog; 1885-1967) - French writer, prose writer, essayist and member of the French Academy. Subsequently, the pseudonym became his official name.

Member of the First and Second World Wars. Master of the genre of a novelized biography and a short ironic psychological story.

There are many interesting facts in the biography of André Maurois, which we will talk about in this article.

So, before you is a short biography of André Maurois.

Biography of Andre Maurois

André Maurois was born on July 26, 1885 in the small French town of Elbeuf in Normandy. He grew up and was raised in a wealthy Jewish family that converted to Catholicism.

Andre's father, Ernest Erzog, and his paternal grandfather owned a textile factory in Alsace. Thanks to their efforts, not only the whole family moved to Normandy, but also many workers. As a result, the government awarded Maurois' grandfather the Order of the French Legion for saving the national industry.

When Andre was about 12 years old, he entered the Rouen Lyceum, where he studied for 4 years. After graduation, the young man got a job at his father's factory. Everything went well until the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918).

André Maurois went to the front at the age of 29. He served as a military translator and liaison officer. At that time in his biography, he was already engaged in writing. An interesting fact is that the years spent in the war will be reflected in his first novel The Silent Colonel Bramble.

Literature

After the publication of The Silent Colonel Bramble, world fame came to Andre Maurois. This work was a great success in many countries, including France, Great Britain and the USA.

Inspired by his first success, Maurois began writing another novel, Speeches of Dr. O'Grady, which was published in 1921 and had no less success.

Soon Andre began to cooperate with the publication "Croix-de-feu", and after the death of his father decides to sell the factory and engage exclusively in writing. He collects material for the first biographical trilogy.

In 1923, Morua publishes the book "Ariel, or the Life of Shelley", and 4 years later presents a biographical work about the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

In 1930, another work of the writer was published, which describes a detailed biography of Byron. This series of books was later printed under the title Romantic England.

At the same time, new novels came out from the pen of André Maurois, including "Bernard Quene". The book tells the story of a young soldier who, against his will, was forced to work in a family business. It is not difficult to trace the autobiography of the storyline.

In the summer of 1938, the 53-year-old writer was elected to the French Academy. The next year, when the Second World War (1939-1945) began, André Maurois again went to the front with the rank of captain.

After Hitler's army occupied France in just a few weeks, the writer left for the United States. In America, Maurois taught for a time at the University of Kansas. In 1943 he, together with the soldiers of the allied forces, went to St. Africa.

There, André met his friend and colleague Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who was a first-class military pilot. In 1946 he returned home where he continued to publish new books.

By that time, André Maurois was the author of biographies of Chopin, Franklin and Washington. He also presented collections of short stories, including "Hotel" and "Thanatos". An interesting fact is that it was during that period that he decided to make his pseudonym an official name, as a result of which he had to change all the documents.

In 1947, The History of France appeared on the bookshelves - the first of a series of books on the history of countries. A few years later, Maurois publishes a collection of works that fit in 16 volumes.

At the same time, the writer began working on the world famous "Letters to a Stranger", which were saturated with deep meaning, humor and practical wisdom. He also continued to publish biographies of famous personalities, including Georges Sand, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Honore de Balzac, and others.

Autobiography André Maurois - "Memoirs", published in 1970, 3 years after the death of the author. It described various interesting facts from the life of the writer, as well as his conversations with famous officials, artists, writers, thinkers and art workers.

Personal life

The first wife of Andre Maurois was Jeanne-Marie Shimkiewicz. In this marriage, a girl Michelle and 2 boys, Gerald and Olivier, were born. After 11 years of marriage, the man became a widow. Jeanne-Marie died of sepsis.

Then the writer married a woman named Simon Kayave. The spouses had a fairly loose relationship. Andre lived separately from Simon for a while.

At this time, Maurois had close ties with other women, which his legal wife knew about. The couple never had children in this marriage.

Death

André Maurois died on October 9, 1967 at the age of 82. He left behind a huge legacy. He wrote about two hundred books and more than a thousand articles and essays.

In addition, he is the author of many aphorisms, which still do not lose their relevance.