Chapter 2 Preface (1)

In 2004, the Reynolds Prize, the French literary award, was exceptionally awarded to a dead writer——Irena Nemirowski, whose name became familiar to many readers overnight.In fact, this Russian-born female writer who wrote in French was famous more than half a century ago, but she died at the gunpoint of the Nazis during the most glorious period of her life and creation. She was only thirty-seven when she was killed. age. Elena was born in a Ukrainian Jewish family in 1903. Her father was a banker in St. Petersburg. The family lived in a wealthy life, with servants and nanny, and lived in a high-end residential area that ordinary Jews could not enter.During the October Revolution, because her father was rich and had close ties to the Tsarist government, the revolutionaries offered a bounty on his head, and the family was forced to flee to Moscow.During that time, they dared not go out, and the teenage Irena hid in the attic and greedily read the works of Plato, Maupassant and Wilde, while the rumble of guns was outside.Soon, they disguised themselves as farmers and fled from Russia to Finland, where they hid for a year, and then fled to Sweden, where they stayed in Stockholm for three months. In July 1919, they hid in a cargo ship, risked their lives, and sailed through a storm for ten days before finally arriving in France.Father continued to open a bank in Paris, and Irene also entered the Sorbonne University to continue her education.After graduating from college, she fell in love with dancing for a while, and met Michelle Epstein at the ball.Michelle was also the son of an exiled Jewish banker. The two had a common background and had a good impression of each other. They got married soon and lived a happy and stable life for more than ten years.

Irena started writing when she was fourteen or fifteen years old. When she was in college in Paris at the age of eighteen, she had already published short stories in magazines and created her first novel "Misunderstanding". In 1929, she sent her second novel, David Gold, which she had been writing for four years, to the publisher Bernard Grasse.Glasser read her novel and immediately decided to adopt it, but when he tried to contact the author, the author disappeared and was never heard from.Glasser had no choice but to publish a missing person notice through the newspaper, asking the author to contact him as soon as possible.On the day of the appointment, Grasse thought that the "new Balzac" was a weather-beaten old author, but unexpectedly, a slender young girl appeared in front of him.But Grasse is a well-known "Bole" in the French publishing industry, and he can't make a mistake. He saw a future great writer in Irene's works. The language of "David Gold" is concise, fluent, and precise.Glaser was amazed that a girl from Russia could master French so proficiently.Sure enough, after the novel was published, it quickly attracted a large number of readers, and the critics were also applauded. Immediately, film dealers came to discuss filming matters.The film adaptation of the book was completed the following year, and was as successful as the novel when it was released.Soon, she released "The Prom", a short novel written in one go between the writing of "David Gold", which was also very popular after publication, and was filmed as a film the following year. Movie.Since then, she has successively published many novels, such as "Autumn Flies", which is about exile and homesickness, "Prodigy", which is about a young poet in a Jewish gathering area in a certain port in the Black Sea, and "Ku The Lilov Incident, etc., have all achieved success.

Paris is celebrating the birth of a new writer, the press and many other media are talking about Irene's novels, people are rushing to invite her, praise and flatter her.The writer Paul Loeb praised her as "the new Colette", and the writer Braziac also praised her for her exemplary purity of writing style. Authorities consider her one of the most talented female writers.Many great writers at that time, such as Morowa, Cocteau, and Kessel, became her good teachers and helpful friends.However, World War II broke out, the German army occupied France, and the pro-German Vichy government cooperated with the Nazis to persecute the Jews.Irene's family had to flee Paris and hid in the countryside near the Saone and Loire rivers.Former friends are afraid to see them again, Irena is forbidden to publish any works, and sinks into despair and loneliness.Fortunately, her publisher came to see her from time to time, supported her in life, and helped her publish works under a pseudonym. On June 2, 1941, the French authorities investigated Irene's family according to the newly promulgated "Jewish Race and Foreign Nationals Law". Have no illusions.In the last year of her life, she realized that her time was running out, and she was writing at an unprecedented speed. In a diary entry on June 28, she wrote: "It's not that I don't want to finish writing, the goal is very long , but the time is very short." Therefore, she wrote day and night, and completed the first two parts of "The Life of Chekhov", "Autumn Fire" and "French Suite".Irena’s eldest daughter, Denise, who is now in her late 80s, recalls: “We lived in that village all the time and I just remember my mother writing and writing. It was as if she knew the days were numbered and she had to Hurry up and write. Every line in her manuscript shows that she knows that this last work of hers will only be published posthumously."

In July 1942, the French police arrested Irene. Denise said: "She is very dignified, and she only said that she is going to travel." pungent.A month later, she was brutally shot in a concentration camp.Michelle had previously tried to rescue his wife, but was himself arrested two months later and met the same fate.When Michelle was arrested, a kind policeman saved the lives of his two daughters and told them to run away.Denise, then thirteen, hid in one of her mother's suitcases, which contained family photos and thick leather-bound binders that her mother never left.She didn't know at the time that it was the manuscript of the "French Suite", but she knew it was very important to her mother.The sisters first hid in a cellar in Bordeaux, and then ran to a monastery.Denise carried the box with her all her days in hiding, and for many years she never had the courage to open it. When her apartment was flooded in the mid-1970s and the binder was nearly destroyed, she and her sister decided to turn it over to the French archives.Before handing over the manuscript, she wanted to keep a copy, so she started transcribing the contents, and that's when she realized it was a novel.But for years, she has balked at making the work public because of the past.