Andreï Makine

David Gillespie (University of Bath)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 10 Sep 1957
Activity 1990-ongoing

Places

Born in Russia
Active in France; Russia

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Makine's Works

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Andreï Makine was born in Russia (in 1957) but has lived in France since 1987, and writes exclusively in the medium of French. He has thus been fêted in his adopted country as a “French” writer, as recognised in his unprecedented award in 1995 of both the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis. Unlike other linguistic migrants, however (such as, for example, Joseph Conrad), his writing does not engage with his adopted country, but rather remains focused on Russian life and history, especially the Second World War and the ravages of Stalinism. Of his place in the Russian literary canon, Makine wryly notes that he once saw his work in the East European Literature section in a French bookshop: “My first books were there, sandwiched, and at the risk of inspiring giddy megalomania in me,…

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3046 words

Citation: Gillespie, David. "Andreï Makine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 February 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12319, accessed 21 November 2024.]