04 03 2007 - HENRI TROYAT DIED

Jean Eckian
Paris, March 5, 2007
HENRI TROYAT DIED
The immense French writer, novelist, biographer, essayist of Russian and Armenian origin, Henri Troyat died on March 2 night at 95 years old. Its true name was Levon Aslanovitch Tarassoff, son of Aslan Tarassoff, trader, and Lydie Abessolomoff, born in Moscow on November first, 1911.
Arrived to Paris on 1920 after the Russian Revolution, he makes its studies and obtains a licence of Right. After its French naturalization, Lev Tarassoff adopts Henri Troyat's nam to publish its first novel "Faux jour" (False day) on 1935. He is elected member of French Academy on May 21, 1959 and author of more than 100 books, of which a series is devoted to the biographies of the great Russian authors, such Tolstoï, Gogol, Tourgueniev and Gorki.
Devoting its whole life to writing, Henri Troyat was several times distinguished by the French Republic and by literary price (Goncourt 1938 for L'Araigne). He remains "the preferred writer of the French
people", Figaro newspaper report today.
Jean Eckian

V.V