Andreï Sergueïevitch Makine (russian: Андрей Серге́евич Макин; born 10 September 1957) is a French novelist. He also publishes under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Gabriel Osmonde."Who is Gabriel Osmonde? A French Literary Mystery is Solved"
New York Times, April 1, 2011 Makine's novels include ''

Dreams of My Russian Summers ''Dreams of My Russian Summers'' (French: ''Le Testament français'') is a French novel by Andrei Makine, originally published in 1995. It won two top French awards, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis. The novel is told from the first-person p ...

'' (1995) which won two top French awards, the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

and the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

. He was elected to seat 5 of the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

on 3 March 2016, succeeding

Assia Djebar Fatima-Zohra Imalayen (30 June 1936 – 6 February 2015), known by her pen name Assia Djebar ( ar, آسيا جبار), was an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with obstacles faced by women, and she is noted fo ...

Biography

Andreï Makine was born in

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Y ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

on 10 September 1957 and grew up in the city of

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...

about 700 kilometres (435 mi) south-east of Moscow. As a boy, having acquired familiarity with France and its language from his French-born grandmother (it is not certain whether Makine had a French grandmother; in later interviews he claimed to have learned French from a friend), he wrote poems in both French and his native Russian. In 1987, he went to France as a member of a teacher's exchange program and decided to stay.Christopher W. Lemelin, "Andrei Makine" in ''Multicultural Authors Since 1945''(Amoia, Alba, and Bettina L Knapp, eds.). Oxford and Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004. He was granted

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another entit ...

and was determined to make a living as a writer in French. However, Makine had to present his first manuscripts as translations from Russian to overcome publishers' skepticism that a newly arrived exile could write so fluently in a second language."Torn Between Two Languages"
Victor Brombert, New York Times, August 17, 1997 After disappointing reactions to his first two novels, it took eight months to find a publisher for his fourth, ''Dreams of My Russian Summers''. Finally published in 1995 in France, the novel became the first in history to win both the

and the

plus the

Prix Goncourt des Lycéens The Prix Goncourt des Lycéens is a French literary award created in 1987 as a sort of younger sibling of Prix Goncourt, a prestigious prize for French language literature. The ten members of the Académie Goncourt select twelve literary works as ...

. In 2001 Makine began secretively publishing as "Gabriel Osmonde", a total of four novels over ten years, the last appearing in 2011. It was a French literary mystery and many speculated about who Osmonde might be. Finally in 2011 a scholar noticed Osmonde's book ''20,000 femmes dans la vie d'un homme'' had been inspired by Makine's ''Dreams of My Russian Summers'' and Makine confirmed that he was the author. Explaining why he used a

he said, "I wanted to create someone who lived far from the hurly-burly of the world".

Translations

All of Makine's novels have been translated into English by

Geoffrey Strachan Geoffrey Strachan is a noted translator of French and German literature into English. He is best known for his renderings of the novels of French-Russian writer Andreï Makine. In addition, he has also translated works by Yasmina Réza, Nathacha A ...

. ''Le testament français'' was published in English as ''

'' in the United States, and under its original French title in the United Kingdom. It has also been translated into Russian by Yuliana Yahnina and Natalya Shakhovskaya, and first published in the 12th issue of the ''Foreign Literature'' (''Иностранная литература'')

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and lett ...

in 1996.

Bibliography

* ''La Fille d'un héros de l'Union soviétique'', 1990, Robert Laffont (''A Hero's Daughter'', 1996 ) * ''Confession d'un porte-drapeau déchu'', 1992, Belfond (''Confessions of a Fallen Standard-Bearer'', 1996 ) * ''Au temps du fleuve Amour'', 1994, Editions du Félin (''Once Upon the River Love'', 1996 ) * '' Le Testament français'', 1995, Mercure de France (''Dreams of My Russian Summers'', 1997 ; also published in English as ''Le Testament Francais'') * ''Le Crime d'Olga Arbelina'', 1998, Mercure de France (''Crime of Olga Arbyelina'', 2000 ) * ''Requiem pour l'Est'', 2000, Mercure de France (''Requiem for a Lost Empire'', 2001 ) * '' La Musique d'une vie'', 2001, Éditions du Seuil (''A Life's Music'', 2004 ; also published as ''Music of a Life'') * ''La Terre et le ciel de Jacques Dorme'', 2003, Mercure de France (''The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme'', 2005 ) * '' La Femme qui attendait'', 2004, Éditions du Seuil (''The Woman Who Waited'', 2006 ) * ''L'Amour humain'', 2006, Éditions du Seuil (''Human Love'', 2008 ) * ''Le Monde selon Gabriel'', 2007, Éditions du Rocher * ''La Vie d'un homme inconnu'', 2009, Éditions du Seuil (''The Life of an Unknown Man'', 2010 ) * ''Cette France qu'on oublie d'aimer'', 2010, Points * ''Le Livre des brèves amours éternelles'', 2011, Éditions du Seuil (''Brief Loves That Live Forever'', 2013 ) * ''Une Femme Aimée'', 2013, Éditions du Seuil (''A woman loved'', 2015) * ''Le Pays du lieutenant Schreiber'', 2014 * ''L'archipel d'une autre vie'', 2016 * ''Au-delà des frontières'', 2019 * ''L'Ami arménien'', 2021, Éditions Grasset (''Armenian Friend'', 2021 ) As Gabriel Osmonde * ''Le Voyage d'une femme qui n'avait plus peur de vieillir'', Albin Michel, 2001 * ''Les 20 000 Femmes de la vie d'un homme'', Albin Michel, 2004 * ''L'Œuvre de l'amour'', Pygmalion, 2006 * ''Alternaissance'', Pygmalion, 2011

References

External links

"A writer's life: Andreï Makine"
Philip Delves Broughton, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 28 March 2004

Natasha Fairweather, ''The Independent'', 31 January 1999
"Madame Bovary C’est Moi: An Interview With Andreï Makine"
Gerry Feehily, ''3:AM Magazine'', 1 September 2008 French language links * Site du collectif de chercheurs sur l'œuvre d'Andreï Makin
Autour de l'œuvre d'Andreï Makine
*
Critical bibliography (Auteurs.contemporain.info)
* ''Le Monde selon Gabriel'' voir le site:
''Le Monde selon Gabriel''

Murielle Lucie Clément
author of a PhD Thesis ''Andreï Makine. Présence de l'absence: une poétique de l'art (photographie, cinéma, musique)'' and many articles on this author. {{DEFAULTSORT:Makine, Andrei 1957 births Living people People from Penza French people of Russian descent Soviet emigrants to France 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists French male novelists Prix Goncourt winners Prix Médicis winners Prix Goncourt des lycéens winners Russian male novelists Members of the Académie Française 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers Naturalized citizens of France