A European Education

A European Education

by Romain Gary
A European Education

A European Education

by Romain Gary

eBook

$2.99  $3.99 Save 25% Current price is $2.99, Original price is $3.99. You Save 25%.

Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

A NOVEL OF DESPERATE LOVE, BITTER HOPE, CHILLING COURAGE AND RELENTLESS BRAVERY

“THIS quietly terrible parable for our times was first published in France fifteen years ago and was awarded the Prix de Critiques. It was translated into fourteen languages, but not into English. Since then M. Gary has won international fame with several other books. Now an entirely rewritten and, M. Gary hopes, a much improved version of A EUROPEAN EDUCATION is published in English for the first time.

“A too hasty glance at A EUROPEAN EDUCATION might give the impression that no novel has ever borne a more sadly ironical title, because this is a story of innocence ‘educated’ in all the horrors and atrocities of modern war. But some of the graduates of the twentieth century’s school of despair learned something other than the subjects taught. They learned that man’s dream of freedom, of dignity and of love, is immortal; that his faith in a future without hatred cannot be destroyed.”—Orville Prescott in THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A EUROPEAN EDUCATION is a story of unmitigated privation and terror. But it is also the story of the human heart’s triumph over evil even in the exercise of evil.

“A EUROPEAN EDUCATION is about a group of partisans called the ‘green ones’ because they live in the forests of Poland. They hide in caves, steal food and sabotage every effort of the Germans.

“Before the book ends, the hero has become a man; he has killed; he has learned how to steal without being caught, how to make friends with the Germans whom he intends to kill, and how to love.

“The title is inherent in Janek’s bitter summing up of what he has learned; ‘...all this European education comes down to is to teach you how to find the courage to shoot a man who sits there with lowered head....’

“This may not be Romain Gary’s most popular book, but it is a little masterpiece and may prove to be his.”—THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781789121872
Publisher: Eschenburg Press
Publication date: 04/03/2018
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 176
Sales rank: 805,148
File size: 731 KB

About the Author

Romain Gary (21 May 1914 - 2 December 1980), also known by the pen names Émile Ajar, Fosco Sinibaldi and Shatan Bogat, was a French diplomat, novelist, film director and World War II aviator. He was best known as the author of the novel The Roots of Heaven and the romantic tale of high life and intrigue Lady L, and was the only author to have won the French language literature prize Prix Goncourt under two different names.

Born Roman Kacew in Vilnius (then part of the Russian Empire) to Arieh-Leib Kacew, a Lithuanian-Jewish businessman, and Mina Owczyńska, a Russian actress, Gary moved to Nice, France at age 14. He converted to Catholicism and studied law in Aix-en-Provence and Paris, before enlisting in the French Air Force in 1937.

Following the Nazi occupation of France in WWII he fled to England and served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. He was a bombardier-observer in the Groupe de bombardement Lorraine (No. 342 Squadron RAF) and received many medals and honours for his bravery, including Compagnon de la Libération and commander of the Légion d'honneur. In 1945 he also published his first novel, Education européenne (A European Education).

After war end he worked in the French diplomatic service in Bulgaria and Switzerland. In 1952 he became the secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations. In 1956, he became Consul General in Los Angeles and became acquainted with Hollywood.

Gary became one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and memoirs, some of which he wrote under one of his pseudonyms. In addition to his success as a novelist, he wrote the screenplay for the motion picture The Longest Day and co-wrote and directed the film Kill! (1971), which starred his wife at the time, Jean Seberg. In 1979, he was a member of the jury at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival.

He died in Paris, France in 1980, aged 66.
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews