ANDREÏ MAKINE. Member of the French Academy
Languages: French, siultaneous translation into Russian
On 21 February the Russian House in Brussels invites to a creative meeting with Andreï Makin, a member of the French Academy and a famous writer of Russian origin.
Andrei Makine’s new novel, «Prisonnier du reve écarlate» , traces half a century of history between the Soviet Union and France through the intense life story of Lucien Baer, a young French communist.
Arriving in Moscow in 1939 to discover a paradise on earth, he encounters a starkly different reality from his “crimson dreams”—the brutality of Stalin’s regime and the horrors of war. Yet, he also finds kindred spirits and the love of a woman, Darya, with whom he could rebuild their shattered lives.
Almost three decades later, Lucien manages to cross the “Iron Curtain” in an attempt to find his loved ones. However, this returnee from the distant north no longer recognizes his homeland. How could he settle into the comfort of a “society of happy stomachs” and take the 1968 revolution seriously? Will he have to renounce himself, erasing his past? Or will he attempt an unthinkable return to the past to reclaim his dream of brotherhood and lost love?
A powerful work about the brutal Stalinist era and the rejection of Western hypocrisy, which at the same time expresses faith in humanity.
ANDREÏ MAKINE
Born in 1957 in Krasnoyarsk, he is the author of numerous works that have been translated worldwide and have received several awards.
The Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis for the novel “The French Testament”
The Grand Prix RTL-Lire for the novel “The Music of a Life”
The Prince Pierre of Monaco Prize for his entire body of work
The Casanova Prize for the novel “A Woman Loved”
Recent works by Andreï Makine published by Grasset:
The Armenian Friend (recipient of the Women Novelists’ Prize)
The Old Calendar of Love
