It can be said about many writers of the last century that they became real legends of the literary world. However, only one girl, who began her attempts to write as a child, surpassed many authors, bursting into the world of written art unexpectedly.

It is to her, the writer Françoise Quare (better known under the pseudonym Sagan), that this article is dedicated. Her detailed biography will tell you how Françoise Sagan lived and worked.

Childhood and youth of Mademoiselle Quare-Sagan

Mine life path The future writer began in the French town of Honfleur in the not so distant 1935. Born on June 21, Françoise Sagan within a few years brought a serious imbalance into the lives of her parents. Especially the mother, Madame Quare, who had a completely different character.

The girl Françoise was born into a family whose financial situation allowed her to receive a decent education. She studied in private educational institutions in France and in non-state schools in Switzerland.

Françoise's parents, representatives of the bourgeois class, were respected people. Their house had a huge library, to which little Mademoiselle Quare had full access. Having learned to read, from an early age the girl studied the works of domestic and foreign writers one after another. Among her preferences were Sartre's books. Later she became acquainted with the memoirs of actress Sarah Bernhardt, to whom she would later devote a biographical story entitled “Dear Sarah Bernhardt” (1987).

But the works of the young modernist, French writer Marcel Proust, made the greatest impression on her. His series of novels, consisting of seven volumes, told about the lives of representatives of the upper class of society - dukes and princes, countesses and duchesses. By the way, the future writer will take the surname of one of them (Duchess Dorothea Boson de Sagan) as a pseudonym.

Living in the vicinity of the city of Cajar in France, Françoise was different from her peers. They were inferior to her not only in terms of erudition, but also in intellectual development. At the same time, Françoise Coire (Sagan) was a very undisciplined girl. Perhaps this played a role when passing the entrance exams to one of the faculties of the Sorbonne University, which she did not pass.

But even this failure did not become a tragedy for the young writer. About a year after the fiasco at the university, Françoise Sagan wrote her first novel called “Hello, Sadness.” It is worth noting that the novel by a nineteen-year-old French woman, which was published in 1954, caused mixed reviews from critics and at the same time was a phenomenal success among readers.

Mademoiselle Quare's first literary work was nominated for the Critics' Prize at the same time as the works of more eminent authors (for example, Jean Guitton). Moreover, this prize in the amount of 1.5 million francs was awarded to the young debutante, Frenchwoman Françoise, after some discussion among critics.

Meanwhile, the public, delighted with the incredibly simple story of the girl from the novel “Hello, Sadness,” eagerly awaited new publications from its creator.

The creative career of Mademoiselle Quare

F. Sagan's first novel, “Hello, Sadness,” told about the life of one simple girl who had not reached adulthood, but had already managed to taste the taste of an immoral, vicious life. Considering that this work was a reflection of the author’s own world, it shocked many critics and teachers who represented middle class. Therefore, the publication of this novel by F. Sagan is considered to be the starting point in the emergence of a certain style of “women’s writing” in literature.

Like many of Françoise's books that she wrote throughout her life, this novel was translated into several languages ​​around the world and also became the basis for film adaptations. After the release of Mademoiselle Quaré's first work, the world became acquainted with many other works of the French writer: she published dozens of short stories, novellas, novellas, as well as several novels and plays. Moreover, they were all devoted to one theme - love and suffering due to loneliness.

Throughout the storyline, the characters' dissatisfaction with their lives was also visible. This, as well as the accuracy and reliability in the description of the psychological states of the characters, made F. Sagan’s work individual.

The sophisticated audience favorably accepted all the works of the French writer. The short stories written by Françoise attracted the attention of readers with the intrigue that persisted throughout the entire narrative, and a clearly defined love triangle was present in almost all of her stories.

Some critics, who were biased towards the works of the Frenchwoman, tried to compare the psychological picture of her characters with the psychology of Fitzgerald’s heroes, whose works the young Mademoiselle Coiret was once fond of. However, these reproaches did not have worthy arguments, because Fitzgerald's characters were haunted by their obsessions with the past. And the heroes of Sagan’s stories, short stories and novels were clearly aware of the realities of the world around them, boring and gray, and did not strive to return to the past.

The storyline of the writer's life

Francoise Sagan, whose best books (Hello, Sadness, Do You Love Brahms?, Magic Clouds and A Little Sun in Cold Water) can be found on Wikipedia and read in online libraries, has been the subject of numerous scandals, provoked by the media.

However, despite the fact that the press tried to put a spoke in the wheels of the successfully developing writer Francoise Sagan, she continued to create and express her protest against the generally accepted rules and norms established by the society of that time.

The press and critics often accused Sagan of being too explicit about her commitment to fiction. Wanting to refute such reproaches, Françoise decided to reveal other facets of her talent and demonstrated to the world her abilities in other literary genres, writing scripts for theatrical productions with a plot atypical for that time.

In addition, the writer F. Sagan wrote a biographical sketch about one of her favorite actresses, Sarah Bernhardt, and two autobiographical works:

• A work published in 1972 entitled “Blows to the Soul.”
• Published in 1984, “With My Best Memory.”

Françoise Sagan, who lived in luxury and wealth in her youth, married twice. Her first official husband was a man aged 40, Guy Schueller. He was the owner of a reputable publishing house and at the same time had a reputation as a ladies' man. Françoise Sagan dissolved her marriage around 1958, and 4 years later she remarried Bob Westhoff. Françoise's second husband is an American who was once a pilot, but over time chose to become a model.

Despite the fact that the French writer Françoise Quare (Sagan) lived most of her life without material need, she met her death in poverty. Ruined and addicted to drugs, France's greatest writer and winner of numerous literary awards died in 2004, on September 24. The cause of death of the legendary writer was pulmonary embolism. Author: Elena Suvorova

“Happiness is fleeting and deceitful, only sadness is eternal” is one of her sayings.

Accustomed to wasting money, Sagan admitted more than once: “I love money, which for me has always been a good servant and a bad master.” At the same time, she was never a money-grubber: she generously distributed money to charitable foundations, to her neighbors and to her fellow writers who were in need. When there was “suddenly” no money left, Sagan went to the casino, the threshold of which she first crossed, barely reaching adulthood. The directors of gambling establishments, especially the resort of Deauville on the Atlantic, spread rumors that Francoise had lost fortunes from them. "Liars!" - says the writer and, on the contrary, claims that at one time she bought herself a house in Normandy, winning 8 million francs in one night at roulette.

Let us remember that Sagan wrote her first novel, “Hello, Sadness,” at the age of nineteen and overnight became famous and rich: the book was translated into thirty languages, and within a few months, two million copies were published. Françoise did not know what to do with the money, and turned to her father for advice, who said: “Spend it! At your age they are dangerous." Since then, the writer has not changed this principle, although the “dangerous age” has long passed. “I’m an old dragonfly,” Sagan sighs with a smile. Apart from her parents' hearth and a mansion in Normandy, mortgaged for debts, she seems to have no property.

François Mitterrand was always her great friend and admirer. He came to visit her and invited her on official trips. During a visit to Colombia, Françoise developed severe pleurisy and might have died if Mitterrand had not sent her on his plane to Paris. The late president was known as a considerable heartthrob who loved the company of smart, educated and preferably pretty women. Sagan once told how she once dipped Mitterrand's tie into a glass of white wine to remove a red stain. It’s immediately obvious that Sagan is French, the gossip columnists sneered. If an American had been in her place, say Monica Lewinsky, she would certainly have kept a tie with a stain... “The last time we met with Mitterrand was a few days before his death and laughed at our illnesses,” the writer recalled in a recent interview. She recently read the first book of Mitterrand’s illegitimate daughter Mazarine Pengeau, whom the press hastened to declare “the second Sagan.” She really liked the novel, but, in her opinion, it has nothing in common with her own works.

For a time, Sagan’s confidante was Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom, leaving his grumpy wife Simone de Beauvoir at home, they walked the streets of Paris, dined in restaurants and once even ran into each other at a “visiting house” on Rue Brehat, where everyone came with your companion. Sagan said: “We talked with him about life and love. He told me about his mistresses who were unimportant actresses, but to whom he gave the main roles in his plays."

Neither Sartre, nor Mitterrand, nor Orson Welles, with whom, according to rumor, she had a stormy affair, nor many of her other friends are no longer alive, and Françoise is still the same as many years ago. An eternal wanderer and restless, she never sits in one place - even in Paris, where over the past two decades she has moved from one apartment to another several times, and now she prefers hotels. The writer, who calls herself a desperate lazy person, is truly happy only when she does nothing: “Heavenly lazy life - lying in bed and, as Baudelaire said, looking at the flying clouds. I read detective stories, take walks, go on visits... There comes a moment when plots, vague ideas and unclear silhouettes appear in my head. It gets on my nerves. Suddenly some external factor arises - there is no more money or taxes need to be paid. I have to sit down at the table... I am often reproached for throwing money out the window. But this is precisely what perhaps saved me. If I were a wealthy and financially independent person, I don’t know if I would write... I write at night with my phone off, when nothing and no one bothers me. I write as I breathe, following my instinct, without thinking that I must definitely say something new. Of course, there are also blessed moments when you feel like the queen of words, and then it seems that you are in real paradise!”

All her life she had a penchant for shocking - she refused to join the Goncourt Academy, rejected a flattering offer to be elected a member of the French Academy, but only one writer in history has received such an honor. “First of all, the green color of the academic uniform doesn’t suit me,” Sagan laughs. – Secondly, I’m always late and thus can delay work on the dictionary French, which our “immortals” have been working on for many decades. Finally, I don’t like honors that tire me with their meaninglessness.”

“I had the life of a stuntman,” Françoise Sagan sums up the preliminary results of her journey, not without bravado. – True, I regret that it did not turn out to be more measured, harmonious and, perhaps, poetic. Sometimes in my dreams I see myself lying on the beach. And doing nothing. In a word, in a paradise for the lazy, where there is no need to work... As for posthumous fame and a place in the literary pantheon, I don’t give a damn about that.”

…
The ending of the novel

And she finally died. On Friday, September 24, 2204. “Finally” not because someone wanted her dead, but because her whole life from her earliest youth was a temptation for the devil - risks, adventures, hot nights in the casino and hot love affairs. From terrible disasters(she rushed along the highways at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour) she came out mutilated, but alive. In one night she won a fortune at the casino. This amount would have driven anyone else crazy, but she found the determination to leave the “sweet” establishment with lightning speed and secured herself for the rest of her life by investing the money in the purchase of Sarah Bernhardt’s dacha. She quickly saw through the husbands and lovers who wanted to make money and careers from her, and with lightning, with a suitcase in her hands, she left the pretend bed. Several years ago she found herself in a coma, but almost came out of the other world. From a young age, her weakness was drugs. She tried to hide it from the public, but to no avail...

She got burned by her proximity to the powers that be: having received huge intermediary commissions from oil deals between France and Uzbekistan, she did not pay taxes. They opened a case. It seemed to many then that the end had come for the public’s favorite, but she was left free with a suspended sentence of only 6 months. Finding herself broke, she mortgaged an apartment in the center of Paris, deeply experiencing this bad situation. At the same time, all the diseases of the far from young, smoking woman made themselves known: blockage of the pulmonary vessels led to death.

I take my dossier on Francoise Sagan from the shelf. It is with sadness that I transfer the publications, photographs, and newspaper clippings related to her. For the umpteenth time I am re-reading our conversations and interviews in her apartment at Cherche-Midi, 91. It seems as if Françoise’s autograph books emanate her aura, her warmth. I want to remember and remember - down to the second, to the smallest detail. I have already told the readers of Versiya about many things in the first issue of the newspaper this year in an article under the strange title “I’m ready to sit even on your lap.” Yes, I was lucky: Françoise was quite late for one of our meetings and, bursting into the room where I was waiting for her, she apologetically threw out this phrase. Purely Saganov style, frankly, shockingly, with a taste of eroticism. At the same time, Sagan was not at all a beauty: her heavy nose gave her an aquiline appearance, but her openness, naturalness in communication, aphoristic thoughts and words, intelligent and lively eyes more than compensated for what nature lacked.

Sagan loved to shock the public. But the most important adventure of her life was still literature, the art of putting pen to paper. Very young, right after the lyceum, she, riding on inspiration, breathed out her first novel, “Hello, Sadness,” with which she secured a name for herself in the pantheon of famous citizens of the French Republic. Françoise herself believed that providence had played a joke on her: millions in fees for this trinket - for what? Then there were The Likeness of a Smile, Do You Love Brahms?, A Little Sun in Cold Water and other novels, but Sagan no longer came close to the universal success of the first book. When I asked Françoise why she didn’t want to join the Academy of “Immortals” (French Academy of Fine Arts), which includes the most talented and recognized cultural figures, she said: “They offered me, but I refused. All these academics are old, right-wing and... dead. I don't accept any of them."

Russian blood also flowed in Sagan’s veins. On my grandmother's side. But she was in Russia once. She said that she dreams of meeting Mikhail Gorbachev, visiting the Kremlin, going to bookstores. She enthusiastically accepted the events of perestroika in the USSR, although later she lost faith in many things. I was lucky, I was one of the few Russian journalists to whom Françoise gave an interview. But I also saw another Sagan, no less exotic - Sagan in a casino. Where, according to Baudelaire's popular expression, the game costs famous poets both sweat and blood. Where time stands still, because the windows are tightly curtained and there are no clocks on the walls... Françoise adored excitement and play.

Sagan is no more. France and everyone who cannot imagine their life without books bow their heads before her talent. This means that the dazzling light of the semaphore of immortality now burns only green for Françoise Sagan.

The last autumn of the old dragonfly

More than anything else, Sagan, who until the last hour adored neat whiskey, strong cigarettes and breakneck speed, was afraid of poverty and oblivion. But, as Anna Akhmatova once correctly noted, “whoever is afraid of something will happen to him.” She spent the last years of her life in a mortgaged villa on the seashore in absolute loneliness and poverty.

And all because of debts. It turned out that she owed the state... a million francs. Of course, she hasn’t had this money for a long time. Then all her accounts were frozen, her real estate was described, and all the money for reprinting the books was immediately seized to pay off the debt...

Misfortune never comes alone. At the age of 68, doctors discovered Sagan had pancreatic cancer. Actress Isabelle Adjani, writer Patrick Besson and academician Jean-Marie Roir, knowing about the writer’s plight, literally begged everyone who cherishes the “last classic of French literature” to come to the aid of Françoise Sagan, but it was a voice crying in the desert. On top of that, the “old dragonfly,” as Françoise jokingly called herself, fell, broke her hip, underwent nine (!) severe operations, but was never able to move without assistance.

On September 24, 2004, when autumn in France was just beginning to take hold and the first yellow leaves of the chestnut trees were slowly swirling outside the windows of the hospital in the small town of Honfleur, Françoise Sagan died quietly in the arms of her son Denis Westhoff. She was 69 years old, but after a serious illness she looked the same fragile little teenager she was at nineteen, telling the world her famous “Hello, sadness!”
When we re-read her books today, it seems that the voice of the heroine Alexander Green is heard from the pages: “Good evening, friends! Are you bored on a dark road? I’m in a hurry, I’m running...” Yes, it’s her, Françoise, running on the waves of sadness... And sometimes we’re on the same path.

Her life was as colorful as her books: Saint-Tropez, expensive cars, drugs, casual relationships, throwing money away. At the age of 18, she published the novel “Hello, Sadness! "about a student at a monastery boarding school leading an idle lifestyle, and became one of the most famous and wealthy authors in France. Many considered Sagan’s books immoral and immoral, others found in them a reflection of the era and fell in love with the young writer for the simplicity of her language and the skill of her psychological portrait.

Her prose is about love, loneliness, loss, idleness and sexual freedom. We invite you to study in more detail the main motives of the French author’s work.

Love

Love is the main plot driver in Sagan's novels. She is often unrequited, as in “A Vague Smile,” where the young man Bertrand suffers for the Sorbonne student Dominique, and she, in turn, yearns for his uncle. Passionate love at first sight binds the heroes of “The Signal to Surrender” Lucille and Antoine - young people who existed before their fateful meeting in the care of wealthy partners. But in the novel “Hello, Sadness!” the reader observes first love: his heroes Cecile and Cyril met during a vacation on the Mediterranean coast.

And I realized that I was much better suited to kissing a boy in the sun than to defend my dissertation.

“Hello, sadness!”

Sagan rarely names love. She would rather describe the wind on her skin, an accidental touch while dancing in a Parisian restaurant, conversations about Proust - after all, in real life we ​​rarely talk about feelings publicly. If Sagan’s heroes confess their love, then most likely they are simply hiding the fear of loneliness, melancholy, boredom or thirst for revenge.

Loneliness

“Loneliness and Love” is the title of a book of interviews with Françoise Sagan. Perhaps this title fully describes the mood of her novels. The heroes are immersed in loneliness. Their loved ones do not understand them. They get bored at bohemian parties. They don't talk to their husbands. They change. They fall asleep in an empty bed. They flee the city to survive the pain. They realize that their life is empty and worthless, but they do nothing about it.

She hated those Sunday afternoons for single women: a book you read in bed, trying to drag out the reading in every possible way, crowded cinemas, perhaps a cocktail or dinner in the company of someone else; and upon returning home, the bed is unmade and it feels as if not a single minute has been lived since the morning.

"Do you like Brahms?"

In “The Rumpled Bed,” a woman returns to her ex-lover after 5 years - even though she doesn’t fully understand why she needs this. The heroine of “Do you love Brahms?” Out of loneliness, she meets a young man who is 15 years younger than her. In “Magic Clouds,” a girl is bored in her marriage, cheats on her husband, but does not dare to leave him. Sagan dispassionately describes loneliness at its worst.

Sexual freedom

Françoise Sagan had a scandalous reputation: she changed husbands, lovers, and, according to some rumors, even mistresses. She lived like the heroes of her novels, preferring momentary pleasures and rarely staying with someone for long.

Her friends advised her to change the situation, but she sadly thought that she was simply going to change her lover: it was less troublesome, more in the Parisian spirit, and very common.

"Do you like Brahms?"

Françoise's heroes rarely think about the feelings of others. They cheat. Three, or even four, love. They choose those who are much younger and those who are much older. They can sleep out of boredom or for money. Same-sex love is not alien to them.

Did it go? Gross? Not at all. Immorality in Sagan's novels is sensual, tender, fragile. Her language is extremely pure.

Money

Many condemned her for the fact that in her works she described exclusively the life of rich, spoiled people. “Yes, I love money, which has always been a good servant and a bad master for me. They are always present in my books, in my life and in my conversations,” said the writer, having compiled huge fortune at the age of 18 on the bestseller “Hello, Sadness!”

Her characters are spoiled by money. They get bored in expensive restaurants, villas and casinos. They buy the love of young people and sell their bodies for money. They are ready to leave their loved one for a wealthier lover. It's so convenient for them. A little boring, but convenient.

She was having financial difficulties. Then they settled down and she immediately became happier. I really love women who are happy with money. Mademoiselle Alice shrugged her shoulders.

So you love everyone!

"Do you like Brahms?"

In each of her novels, Françoise sought to describe the emptiness of bourgeois society with its gigolos, cocottes and rich widows, and she succeeded.

Hedonism

Sagan's heroes live for today. They don't want to work and study. They prefer to drink, dance, spend their holidays in Cannes, and make love on a rumpled bed. They do not believe in God and know that they have been given one life. That’s why they devote it to momentary pleasures. In short, hedonism pure form.

To live, after all, meant to arrange things in such a way as to be as content as possible.

"Vague Smile"

In the stories of her characters, the writer embodied the mood of an entire era.

France

Sagan describes French society. The action of her novels takes place in Paris, on the Cote d'Azur, in Limousin - endless vineyards, mountains, quiet streets, the sound of the sea, tart wine. In "The Rumpled Bed," longtime lovers go out to dinner at a Parisian brasserie after a night of love. The heroine of “Tears in Red Wine” spends a huge amount at the Summer Casino in Nice. And in the novel “Farewell to Sorrow” a character has cancer; looking at the embankments near the port of Paris and the townspeople sunbathing in the September sun near the Seine, he goes to his mistress to report his approaching death.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was shining with all its might, they, hiding in the shadows behind the glass of the terrace and feeling how it was raging outside, ordered two portions of strong drinks and, thanks to fatigue, desire and alcohol, felt like Fitzgerald's heroes. No one else saw or heard them, because that day Edouard and Beatrice were in the height of bliss all day long.

"Rumpled Bed"

Sagan recreates short sketches from the life of the French: they dine in cozy restaurants in Paris, walk on the Champs-Elysees, and spend the summer by the sea. As if this is not a book, but a light French melodrama with changing scenery.

Death

Love in Sagan's works often takes on tragic turns. In the novel A Little Sun in Cold Water, the heroine decides to commit suicide after learning that she is no longer loved. “Hello, sadness!” has a similar plot: young Cecile drives her father's girlfriend to suicide, provoking his betrayal. The surprise ending is "Goodbye Sadness": its hero learns that he has cancer and says goodbye to life until he learns that he was misdiagnosed.

She inhaled Roger's familiar smell, the smell of tobacco, and felt that she was saved. And that she died.

"Do you like Brahms?"

Even in novels where, at first glance, there is no tragic ending, the shadow of death covers the heroes. Refusal of love for them is often akin to death. As, indeed, consent to love. They endlessly think about the meaning of life, running away from reality. They dream of suicide, exhausted by idleness and idleness. They engage in self-destruction by abusing drugs and alcohol.

A student at a monastery boarding school, Cecile spends her summer holidays at her father's villa on the Cote d'Azur, has affairs and dreams of getting rid of her father's girlfriend Anna.

"A Vague Smile" (1956)

A 20-year-old law student at the Sorbonne falls in love with her boyfriend's uncle and spends her holidays with him in Cannes.

In a bohemian Parisian get-together, a love polygon begins between an actress, a writer, a director, a literary critic, and a young doctor.

49-year-old Paul is faced with a choice: stay with Roger, who has been cheating on her for many years, or go to 25-year-old handsome Simon, who has lost his head over her.

Frenchwoman Josée is married to a jealous American, Alan; she cheats on her husband, but does not dare leave him.

"Signal to Surrender" (1968)

Lucille lives in the care of her wealthy lover Charles, but at one of the social evenings she falls in love with Antoine, the boyfriend of the rich lady Diana.

45-year-old Hollywood screenwriter Dorothy knocks down the young man Lewis and takes him to her home.

Fleeing depression, journalist Gilles decides to spend the summer with his sister in southwest France; He returns to Paris with the wife of a local official.

"Bruises on the Soul" (1972)

Eleanor and Sebastian are sister and brother who lead a riotous lifestyle at the expense of friends and lovers; they take turns sleeping with a wealthy woman for money.

"Lost Profile" (1974)

Carefree Jose leaves her bored husband for a wealthy patron, Julius, although she is unable to respond to his strong love.

"Rumpled Bed" (1977)

Actress Beatrice, accustomed to changing men, meets her ex-lover, whom she left 5 years ago, and decides to start an affair with him again.

"And the Cup Overflowed" (1985)

At the height of World War II, Jerome arrives with his girlfriend Alice at a friend's villa so that she can seduce him and convince him to support the anti-fascist movement.

"Fish Blood" (1987)

An elderly director of Russian-German origin, Kostya von Meck, shoots a film for Germany in occupied France and sleeps with boys and girls.

"Leash" (1989)

Musician Vincent married Laurence for convenience, but after 7 years of marriage he suddenly becomes rich and thinks about leaving his wife.

"Detours" (1991)

In June 1940, four aristocrats flee from Paris to Brussels, but on the way they come under fire and are forced to hide on a nearby farm.

Mathieu learns that he has lung cancer and does not have long to live; he visits his mistresses and colleagues, and later comes to his wife to inform him of his imminent death.

Journalist Francois decides to sleep with a 50-year-old theater owner in order to secure the production of a play belonging to his beloved Sybille.

What do you associate France with? Undoubtedly, most people will first name the books of Françoise Sagan. They have been read at all times; several generations have grown up reading them. Today they are not at all outdated, because love stories, stories of people experiencing genuine feelings, cannot become outdated.

Françoise was an extraordinary person - both tabloid publications and serious biographers wrote about her. Many tried to unravel the reasons for her wild popularity, but no one succeeded, because only she herself knew the real Francoise - the way we see her in this book. “I don’t renounce anything. My image, my legend - there is no falsehood in them. I like to do stupid things, drink, drive fast. But I love many other things that are no worse than whiskey and cars, for example, music and literature... You need to write instinctively, as you live, as you breathe, without striving for boldness and “novelty” at any cost.” The great Françoise never betrayed herself, never regretted what she did, and never depended on the opinions of others. Perhaps that is why she became the idol of millions of people in everything...

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14. (1917-1984) Prime Minister of India in 1966-1977 and since 1980, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1984. Daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Participant of the national liberation movement. One of the leaders of the Indian National Congress party, and after its split in 1978, the chairman of the party of Gandhi supporters. Killed...

15. The Scottish queen in 1542 (actually from 1561) - 1567 also laid claim to the English throne. The revolt of the Scottish Calvinist nobility forced her to abdicate and flee to England. By order Queen of England Elizabeth I was imprisoned. Involved in...

Francoise Sagan

"Françoise Sagan"

Françoise Sagan (1935-2004) French writer. Author of the novels: "Hello, Sadness" (1954), "Do you love Brahms?" (1959), “A Little Sun in Cold Water” (1969), “Lost Profile” (1974), “The Painted Lady” (1981), “War Tired” (1985) - about love, loneliness, general dissatisfaction with life.

Almost every third book in France today is written by a woman. Literary creativity is a field in which women, along with love, have long won a strong place for themselves, but never before have so many names of representatives of the fair sex appeared on the covers of a wide variety of publications as at the end of the 20th century. Detectives, romance novels, biographies... Critics and philosophers will explain this phenomenon. Perhaps men simply liberated the weaker sex from the periphery of human culture, capturing more modern means of communication than literature. Perhaps female intelligence is growing. Perhaps it all works together. One thing is clear: today every bibliophile can name a dozen writers whose books are of interest. And there is no doubt that this list will open the name of Francoise Sagan. And not because she is the most significant modern novelist, but because it was to her share that the most lasting and lasting success fell. The fertility and accessibility of Sagan's books seem to symbolize the general trend of today's women's literature - everything for the average reader, none of this male gimmick called innovation. Simple stories, understandable to the average person... No wonder Françoise, despite her advanced age, declares that she loves the game, the night and when relationships between people are simple.

"Françoise Sagan"

Françoise never misses an opportunity to demonstrate to others the thread that connects her with the great writer, and it is quite possible that astrologers will find a non-random coincidence of these two events. For Sagan, Jean-Paul became the “ruler of thoughts,” a teacher, a ringleader, who with his manifestos pulled out a young, pretty Catholic woman from a traditional bourgeois environment. Having read Sartre at the age of 14, Françoise unexpectedly lost faith in God and, oddly enough, in all sorts of miracles, which, however, never stopped her, in a purely feminine way, from turning to clairvoyants, especially if she fell in love.

Like Sartre, Françoise was brought up in a wealthy family, received an excellent book education, and like him, one fine day she rebelled against a boring, monotonous existence. After graduating from school, our heroine, having an insane passion for literature, could not think of anything better than to enroll in the philological department of the famous Sorbonne - University of Paris. However, intoxicated by freedom and the anticipation of new thrills, she spent most of her time not in classrooms and reading rooms, but in small cozy Parisian cafes. Bohemia sucked her in completely. During the day and in the evenings, Françoise indulged in communication with writers, artists, and performers; I fell in love, argued until I was hoarse, got drunk, and at night wrote my first story. Failure of an English exam forced her to leave the Sorbonne, and now only literary success could save her from the shame and contempt of her parents.

She brought the manuscript of her first work, “Hello, Sadness,” to the publishing house named after her boss, “Juillard.” Today, in Sagan’s reasoning, no, no, and yes, old man’s notes appear - they say, the high chairs of publishers are filled with ignoramuses and fools, which is why there are fewer and fewer good books.

"Françoise Sagan"

She, Françoise believes, was lucky - she ended up with a publisher who had both the means and the talent. The clever Juillard sensed in time that good money could be made from this thin, pointy-nosed girl. Along with the release of the story, he organized a noisy advertisement, drawing the attention of readers to an unusual fact: the writer was not yet 19 years old, and she was already talking about something far from children’s topics. The vein of an experienced showman told the publisher that the story of seventeen-year-old Cecile, who has a lover, not at all burning with passion, would cause indignation among the average person. Then, in 1954, there were no works of literature in which such a young person would be presented with such a degree of cynicism - the poor innocent “sheep” who fell into the clutches of lustful “animals” were usually pitied. Juillard rubbed his hands in anticipation of the scandal that promised to rain money on his publishing house.

However, even in his wildest dreams, Juillard could not foresee the resounding success that befell the young debutante. The book became a bestseller, and within a year sold millions of copies in many European languages. Sagan received 5 million francs and overnight became the richest girl in the country. Every venerable critic considered it his duty to write about a new talent; Most of the luminaries agreed that Sagan was not a talent at all, but just an impudent person who burst into literature by accident. Well-wishers predicted that Françoise would not write another book, and the published work, to put it mildly, was far from perfect. But circulation grew, and at the same time the number of articles and studies about Sagan’s debut multiplied, and even the term “Françoise Sagan’s generation” appeared.

"Françoise Sagan"

Crowds of French and foreign journalists pursued the writer. She was made into a literary “superstar”, like those who shine in the cinema. This is the first time this has happened in an area that has historically been considered not entirely public.

It must be said that Françoise’s brainchild reflected the character of its parent. Sagan, with her indomitable temperament, her desire to “shine” in society, and her scandalous behavior, was quite suitable for the role of a “diva” who constantly appears in magazine chronicles. It is enough to note that Sarah Bernhardt became Sagan’s favorite female image since childhood. All her life, Françoise had a soft spot for this extravagant French actress. She even bought a house in Paris that once belonged to Bernard, and wrote a novel in which she exchanges imaginary letters with her idol. "Sarah Bernhardt is one of the few famous women who lived her life cheerfully and did not end it in poverty, in some shelter for the orphans."

At the age of 19, having become rich overnight, Françoise came to her father and asked what she should do with the five million francs she received for her first book. He, knowing his daughter’s character, replied: “Spend it immediately, because money is a dangerous thing for you.” This was probably the only parental advice that our heroine followed with ease. Françoise drove her life like an expensive fast car. Their own health, the peace of loved ones, and public opinion were sacrificed to instant thrills. “When I think about my past, I feel dizzy...” Sagan says today.

She was on her deathbed five or six times. The first time she was supposed to die at the age of 22, at the zenith of the glory that befell her.

"Françoise Sagan"

At crazy speed, her Mercedes convertible overturned. The doctors themselves could not understand how miraculously they managed to bring Françoise, whose bones were broken, back to life. But even this disaster did not cool Sagan’s hot nature. Returning to life, the writer did not become more cautious - dangerous accidents, risky games in casinos, nights in drunken companies began again. She continued to be lucky, as if she, an unbeliever, was constantly accompanied by a guardian angel. He helped her get out both when she was put into surgery with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and when, after three weeks of pleurisy, she fell into a coma. “I looked death in the eye, which appeared before me in the form of a black hole. After that, it lost all interest for me... I assure you that there, on the other side of existence, there is absolutely nothing. And thank God! It would be unpleasant if my restless soul hovered alone in some space.”

Françoise married for the first time in 1957 to a major publishing figure, Guy Scheller, who was 20 years older than her. But a measured family life was not for her violent disposition. She herself says that one day, after several months of marriage, she returned home and found her husband peacefully reading a newspaper on the sofa. This picture struck the young woman to such an extent with its dullness and ordinariness that she packed her bags and left forever without scenes or hysterics. To be fair, it is worth adding that her act did not particularly upset her abandoned husband. Françoise’s personal life has not worked out since that memorable day. Despite the stormy romances, she remained alone. True, from her second marriage, Sagan had a son in 1962, whom the writer adores and considers her closest person.

This personal life experience and the many “small tragedies” that played out before her eyes in the bohemian-elite environment of Paris determined the nature of the works that followed the sensational story about Cecile.

"Françoise Sagan"

Sagan always writes only about the rich, about those who are “at the very top”, who do not need to “bust their heads” with calculations of income and expenses. The heroes of her new books are tormented by defeats in love, betrayal in friendship, and an incomprehensible melancholy from the rapidly disappearing youth. One critic wrote about Sagan that her books are a secular cocktail of cynicism, egoism, lyricism with a large dose of “not giving a damn.” But the writer still remains a trendsetter in well-tailored reading, which is not a shame to discuss in polite society. Its topic - problems of relationships between people - will always be of interest to a housewife, a businessman, and a musician.

Sagan herself is aware of the disproportion of her fame and talent. She claims that the desire to preserve one's place in history is a sign of masculinity, and she, as a woman, does not care about posthumous recognition. And yet, in her statements, in search of new forms and literary genres, a hidden desire to finally surpass herself barely appears. It seems to both those around and critics that just a little more, just one more push, and a brilliant book will appear on the reader’s table.

In 1991, Françoise published a short novel, David and Bettstabe (only 100 pages). It is based on episodes from the legend of King David. The biblical plot was intended to give Saganov’s new story a universal character, to stake out a place among the gods of human culture. The novel opens with a foreword by the famous Israeli political figure Shimon Peres and was published in a special edition for bibliophile collectors: luxurious, rare illustrations, lush artistic design, circulation - only 599 copies and all numbered, and some personally signed by the author. Each volume cost tens of thousands of francs.

"Françoise Sagan"

Françoise Sagan's book show was staged according to all the laws of the market, but the novel did not become a significant event in literary life. The masterpiece remained in the future.

“My favorite writer Proust (by the way, the real name of our heroine is Françoise Quarez, and the pseudonym Sagan is taken in honor of the heroine of her idol from the novel “In Search of Lost Time”) stopped leading a normal life due to asthma and only wrote. I don’t have asthma , this really bothers me..." Well, then? If it’s a matter of priorities, then literature will not supplant our heroine’s passion for thrills for a long time. The last scandal associated with the name Sagan erupted in 1995. The writer was sentenced to a large fine and imprisonment for using cocaine. True, respecting her age and merits, she served a suspended sentence, but Françoise Sagan’s indignation knew no bounds. “If in Japan there are clubs... where I am greeted with flowers and an orchestra, then in France they treat me like a little criminal. I have never denied that I took drugs. But I am an adult and I want the right to destroy myself if I want.” I want to".

However, Françoise’s talent is special. It is in her organic attitude towards life and literature. She always does what she wants, she is a truly free person - free from stress, from overwork, from dictate: be it the dictate of society or the dictate of her favorite business. “I write instinctively, as I live or breathe.” This is probably why many people, mired in obligations, debts, and vanity, need her books like a breath of fresh air. This is probably why Sagan has many friends.

Françoise's youthful admiration for Sartre grew into warm feelings for the idol of her youth, into a deep understanding of his complex creative path.

In 1980, Sagan published an open letter to Sartre, in which she called him the most honest and intelligent writer of his generation. In addition to common literary interests, these two famous Frenchmen were connected by common pranks. One day, Françoise laughingly told reporters that she ran into Jean-Paul nose to nose... in a certain “dating house.” Everyone came there with their companion. They often dined together in restaurants. And since the writer was almost blind towards the end of his life, Françoise was allowed to cut meat on a plate for him.

Many years of intimate friendship connected Sagan with former president France Francois Mitterrand. The writer was proud that during the years of their communication they never talked about politics.

Sagan once admitted that her paternal grandmother was Russian, and therefore she explains her penchant for games and adventures as “Russianness.” Perhaps the passionate love of the domestic reader for Françoise is explained by this almost forgotten fact of kinship. In any case, in the vast expanses of Russia, Sagan is a popular name.

18+, 2015, website, “Seventh Ocean Team”. Team coordinator:

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