Gaito Gazdanov (, ''Gaito'' 'Georgii''''Ivanovich Gazdanov''; , ''Gæzdænty Bæppijy fyrt Gajto''; 5 December 1971) was a Russian

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

writer of Ossetian descent, who lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Gazdanov's first stories were published in France in 1926 in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. His novels ''An Evening with Claire'' (1929) and ''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'' (1948) became his most well-known works, mentioned by writers

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953)Vladislav Khodasevich Vladislav Felitsianovich Khodasevich (; 16 May (28 May) 1886 – 14 June 1939) was an influential Russian poet and literary critic who presided over the Berlin circle of Russian emigre litterateurs. Life and career Khodasevich was born in Mosco ...

. Gazdanov was a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

. In 1953, he joined

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

as an editor. Although he learned perfect

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

whilst living in France, Gazdanov continued writing stories in Russian.

Biography

Gaito Gazdanov was born in 1903 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

but was brought up in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, where his father worked as a forester. His father was from

Ossetia Ossetia ( , ; or , or , ) is an Ethnolinguistics, ethnolinguistic region on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The Ossetian language is part of the Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian b ...

, a North Caucasian region within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He took part in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

on the side of

Wrangel Wrangel or Wrangell is a Germanic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Wrangel family, or Wrangell, a Baltic German noble family, including a list of notable family members *Basil Wrangell (1906–1977), Italian film and television ...

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

. In 1920, he left Russia and settled in Paris, where he was employed in the

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

factories. His early short stories and novels dealt with this Russian experience. But by the mid-1930s, the years in Paris turned Gazdanov's themes toward life, Russian or French, in France. Later, he earned his living as a

taxicab driver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

. Gazdanov can be regarded as a

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...

. He died in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in 1971. Gazdanov's first novel — ''An Evening with Claire'' (1929) — won accolades from

and

Vladislav Khodasevich Vladislav Felitsianovich Khodasevich (; 16 May (28 May) 1886 – 14 June 1939) was an influential Russian poet and literary critic who presided over the Berlin circle of Russian emigre litterateurs. Life and career Khodasevich was born in Mosco ...

, who noted his indebtedness to

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

. In "Black Swans", a 1930 short story, the protagonist commits suicide because he has no chance of moving to Australia, which he imagines to be an idealised paradise of graceful

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

s. On the strength of his first short stories, Gazdanov was described by critics as one of the most gifted writers to begin his career in emigration. Gazdanov's mature work was produced after World War II. He tried to write in a new genre, ''metaphysical thrillers''. His mastery of criminal plots and understanding of psychological detail is evident in his two most popular novels, ''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'' and ''The Return of the Buddha'', whose English translations appeared in 1950 and 1951. The writer "excels in creating characters and plots in which cynicism and despair remain in precarious yet convincing balance with a courageous acceptance of life and even a certain ''joie de vivre''."''The Cambridge History of Russian Literature'' (ed. by Charles Moser). Cambridge University Press, 1992. . Page 518. In 1953, Gazdanov joined

Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

, where he hosted a program about

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

(under the name of Georgi Cherkasov) until his death of lung cancer in 1971. Gazdanov's works were never published in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After several decades of oblivion, starting in the 1990s more than fifty editions of his works, including a three-volume collection (1998) followed by a five-volume collection (2009, ed. by T.N. Krasavchenko) were finally published in post-Soviet Russia. The Ossetian artistic community, led by

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director o ...

, had a new tombstone placed at his grave in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. The annual Gazdanov Readings are held to discuss his literary heritage.

Selected works

Novels

* ''An Evening with Claire'' (1929, Вечер у Клэр) * ''The Flight'' (1939, Полёт; first complete ed.,1992) * ''Night Roads'' (1939–40, Ночные дороги) * ''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'' (1947–48, Призрак Александра Вольфа) * ''The Buddha's Return'' (1949–50, Возвращение Будды)

Short stories

* "The Beggar" * "Black Swans" (1930) * "Deliverance" (1936) * "The Mistake" (1938) * "Ivanov's Letters" (1963)

English translations

* ''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'', translated by Nicholas Wreden (New York: Dutton, 1950) * ''Buddha's Return'', translated by Nicholas Wreden (New York: Dutton, 1951) * ''An Evening with Claire'', translated by Jodi Daynard (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1988) * ''Night Roads: A Novel'', translated by Justin Doherty (Evanston: Northwestern, 2009) * ''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'', translated by Bryan Karetnyk (London: Pushkin, 2013) * ''The Buddha's Return'', translated by Bryan Karetnyk (London: Pushkin, 2014) * ''The Flight'', translated by Bryan Karetnyk (London: Pushkin, 2016) *''The Beggar and Other Stories'', translated and introduced by Bryan Karetnyk (London: Pushkin, 2018) * ''An Evening with Claire'', translated by Bryan Karetnyk (London: Pushkin, 2021)

References

External links

Gazdanov's entry in the Literary Encyclopedia''The Spectre of Alexander Wolf'' by Gaito Gazdanov – review
from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazdanov, Gaito 1903 births 1971 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Ossetian writers Russian people of Ossetian descent 20th-century novelists Russian male novelists 20th-century Russian short story writers Russian male short story writers 20th-century Russian male writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people White Russian emigrants to France Deaths from lung cancer in Germany Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery