David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn & The Courilof Affair (2008) Read Online Free PDF Page A

crisis. Poincare’s Bloc National beaten by a coalition of the left, the Cartel des Gauches. French financial crisis which a series of seven cabinets (to 1926) fails to resolve. France recognizes USSR. Death of Lenin. Russian conservatoire in Paris founded, the composer Rakhmaninov later becoming honorary chairman. League of Nations estimates number of Russian refugees living in France at
Paris qui dort
(first science-fiction film) and
Entr’acte,
directed by Rene Clair. Period of Franco-German reconciliation—
apaisement
—under foreign minister Briand (to 1930). Locarno Pact guarantees existing Franco-German frontier. French troops evacuate the Ruhr. Hitler:
Mein Kampf.
Society of Young Russian Writers and Poets holding regular literary evenings in Paris: lecturers include Zaitsev, Khodasevich, Shestov, Shmelyov, Berberova, Ivanov and Tsvetaeva. Russian artists working in Paris include Chagall, Bilibin and Goncharova. Picasso:
Les trois danseuses.
Bonnard:
La Fenetre, Le Bain.
Paris International Exposition of Decorative Arts & Modern Industries.
La Peinture Surrealiste
—the first ever Surrealist exhibition, at Gallerie Pierre in Paris. Russian Orthodox church and Theological Institute opens in Paris. Josephine Baker makes her Paris debut in
La Revue negre.
Union Nationale forms government led by Poincare, whose conservative policies (slashing government expenditure and raising taxes) stabilize the French economy. France sponsors Germany’s entry into the League of Nations. Briand and Stresemann share Nobel Peace Prize. Trotsky dismissed from Politburo in USSR. Jean Renoir directs
Nana.
Chanel launches the “little black dress.”
DATE
AUTHOR’S LIFE
LITERARY CONTEXT
Zaitsev:
The Golden Design
. Kafka:
The Castle
.
1927
L’Enfant genial
is published in
Les OEuvres Libres.
Hemingway:
The Sun Also Rises.
Proust:
A la recherche du temps perdu
(published in full, posthumously). Mauriac:
Therese Desqueyroux.
Khodasevich:
Collected Verse.
Bunin: “Sunstroke.” Remizov:
Whirlwind Russia.
Heidegger:
Being and Time.
1928
Her second novel,
L’Ennem i e
(The Enemy), is published in
Les OEuvres Libres
, under the pseudonym “Nerey,” an anagram of “Irene.”
Colette:
La Naissance du jour.
Breton:
Nadja.
Yourcenar:
Alexis.
Malraux:
Les Conquerants.
Saint-Exupery:
Courrier sud.
Kessel:
Belle de jour.
Nabokov:
King, Queen, Knave.
Ehrenburg:
The Stormy Life and Lazar Roitschwantz.
Shmelyov:
The Light of Reason.
Mayakovsky:
The Bedbug.
1929
Le Bal
(The Ball) appears in
Les OEuvres Libres
under the same pseudonym. Her daughter, Denise Epstein, is born in November.
David Golder
is published to great acclaim by Grasset in December, prompting comparisons with Tolstoy and Balzac. Irene dreams about writing the “script” of her own life.
Cocteau:
Les Enfants terribles.
Eluard:
LAmour, la Poesie.
Giraudoux:
Amphitryon 38.
Edmond Fleg:
Pourquoi je suis juif.
Shmelyov:
Entering Paris: Tales of Emigre Russia.
Shestov:
In Job’s Balances.
Zweig:
Buchmendel.
Hemingway:
A Farewell to Arms.
1930
First polemic on the so-called anti-Semitic themes in
David Golder,
in both Jewish and anti-Semitic papers (spring).
Le Malentendu
is released as a book (Fayard), as is
Le Bal
(Grasset).
David Golder
is nominated for the Prix Goncourt. Premiere of the film version
of David Golder
by Julien Duvivier (December 17 ). First night of the less successful stage version by Fernand Noziere, at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin (December 26 ).
Albert Cohen:
Solal.
Nabokov:
The Defense; The Eye.
Berberova:
The First and the Last.
Cocteau:
La Voix humaine.
Freud:
Civilization and its Discontents.
Waugh:
Vile Bodies.
    HISTORICAL EVENTS
    Foundation of far-right Croix-de-feu league. Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight. First “talkies.” Trotsky expelled from Communist Party. Abel Gance directs 6-hour epic,
Napoleon.
    Devaluation of the franc to one fifth of its previous value. Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war and providing for peaceful settlement of