Nathalie Sarraute (née Tcherniak) was born in 1900 in Ivanovo-Vosnessensk, in Russia. Her parents divorced in 1902, so her childhood was divided between mother and father, France and Russia, but from the age of eight she lived in Paris. She studied English in the Sorbonne, and spent a year reading History in Oxford, before returning to Paris to read Law. She married fellow law-student Raymond Sarraute in 1925, and began writing in 1932, while still sporadically practising law. Her first book,
Tropismes, a collection of short sketches or prose poems, appeared in 1939. During the Occupation, since her Jewish ancestry made her a target, she left Paris, and spent some time in hiding. Her first novel,
Portrait d'un inconnu[
Portrait of an unknown man] appeared in 1948, but was largely ignored…
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Citation: Minogue, Valerie . "Le Planétarium". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23254, accessed 22 November 2024.]