Orsenna, Eric

Eric Arnoux was born in Paris in 1947. His childhood was not cloudless: Eric's parents did not get along with each other, and the atmosphere in the family depressed the child ^[1] . His only friend was his younger brother, with whom he shared an early-developed passion for reading.

Orsenn studied economics at the Paris Institute for Political Studies , philosophy at the Sorbonne and mathematics at the London School of Economics and Political Science ^[2] . Returning to France, he publishes his first novel “Loyola's blues” (1974) and defends his doctoral dissertation ^[2] . At the same time, he chooses a pseudonym for himself - Eric Orsenna - according to the name of the city from the novel of Julien Grac "Coast of Sirte" ^[2] .

For 11 years, Orsenna was engaged in research and teaching in the field of economics and finance. He was a cultural adviser to the Mitterrand government ^[2] . Since 1985 - Member of the Council of State of France ^[2] . In 1998, Eric Orsenna was elected a member of the French Academy . He is also a member of such government and public organizations as the International Center of the Sea in Rochefort (chairman), the FARM international association for the development of agriculture in poor countries (vice chairman), the company Garbios, specializing in the so-called green chemistry (member of the board of directors) ), and a number of others ^[3] .

In parallel with state and public activities, Orsenna does not stop writing. His works reflect a wide range of his interests, including travel (Orsenna visited about 80 countries), the sea, music and French ^[4] . This circle is constantly expanding, since Orsenna, by his own admission, has experienced an acute and unquenchable thirst for new knowledge all his life. So, at the age of 55, he discovered that he was completely unaware of the natural sciences, and decided to catch up ^[4] . In 2005, his book Portrait du Gulf Stream was published, in which he talks in an accessible language about how currents form and how they affect life on our planet. Winner of numerous literary awards and a prominent statesman, he does not stop there.

Eric Orsenna began writing at the age of ten under the influence of comics (primarily about Tintin ) and Dumas novels ^[1] . In his own words, his first published novel, “Loyola's blues” (an autobiographical narrative of the life of a boy in a Jesuit college), is actually the thirteenth, but he never showed anyone the previous ones ^[1] . Moreover, he threw out eleven of them after reading Gunter Grass 's Tin Drum and Marquez 's One Hundred Years of Solitude , which impressed him greatly.

The second novel, La Vie comme à Lausanne, was welcomed by critics and received the Roger Nimier Award. Orsenna himself was especially pleased with the recognition among fellow writers, among whom he has since made numerous friends and acquaintances ^[1] .

Starting in the 70s, Orsenna published, on average, one book a year. In 1988, he received the Goncourt Prize for his novel “Colonial Exhibition” (“L'exposition coloniale”). His work is distinguished by genre diversity: novels, essays, popular science works, and children's literature. In love with his native language, Orsenna always dreamed of bringing younger generations to his riches and wrote a series of books ( La grammaire est une chanson douce , etc.) for young Frenchmen, whose characters make a real journey through the country of the language. For Eric Orsenn, the French language is “friend, accomplice and savior”, “the most beautiful of treasures, created together in twelve centuries” ^[5] . Orsenna writes daily from six to nine in the morning. He perceives early morning as a continuation of the night, therefore writing for him is a continuation of dreams ^[1] .

• 1974 : Loyola's blues , ed. " Shoy "
• 1977 : La Vie comme à Lausanne , ed. Shoy (Roger Nimier Award)
• 1980 : Une comédie française , ed. "This"
• 1981 : Villes d'eaux , co-authored with Jean-Marc Terrass, ed. "Ramsay"
• 1988 : L'Exposition coloniale , ed. "Shoy" ( Honkurov Prize )
• 1990 : Rêves de sucre , ed. Hachette
• 1992 : Besoin d'Afrique , in collaboration with Eric Fottorino and Christoph Guillaume, ed. Fayard
• 1993 : Grand Amour , ed. "This"
• 1995 : Mésaventures du paradis: mélodie cubaine
• 1995: Rochefort et la Corderie royale
• 1996 : Histoire du monde en neuf guitares , together with Thierry Arnoux, ed. Fayard
• 1997 : Deux étés , ed. Fayard
• 1998 : Longtemps , ed. Fayard
• 2000 : Portrait d'un homme heureux: André Le Nôtre , ed. Fayard
• 2001 : La grammaire est une chanson douce , ed. Stock
• 2002 : Madame Bâ , ed. Stock
• 2003 : Les Chevaliers du Subjonctif , ed. Stock
• 2004 : Dernières nouvelles des oiseaux , ed. Stock
• 2005 : Portrait du Gulf Stream. Éloge des courants: promenade , ed. "This"
• 2006 : Voyage aux pays du coton. Petit précis de mondialisation I , ed. Fayard (award for a book on economics).
• 2006: Salut au Grand Sud , in collaboration with Isabelle Otissier, ed. Stock
• 2007 : La Révolte des accents , ed. Stock
• 2007: Le Facteur et le Cachalot , Les Rois Mages
• 2008 : La Chanson de Charles Quint , ed. Stock
• 2008: L'Avenir de l'eau. Petit précis de mondialisation II , 2009, ed. Fayard (Joseph Kessel Prize)
• 2008: Courrèges.
• 2009 : Et si on dansait? , ed. Stock
• 2010 : L'Entreprise des Indes , ed. Stock
• 2010: Princesse Histamine , ed. Stock
• 2012 : Sur la route du papier , ed. Stock
• 2013 : La Fabrique des mots , ed. Stock
• 2014 : Mali, ô Mali , ed. Stock (continued by Madame Bâ )

In Russian

• Eric Orsenna. Long Madness = Longtemps. - Moscow: AST, 2006. - 384 p.
• Eric Orsenna. Two summers // Foreign literature. - 1999. - No. 12 .

• Buntman N.V., Kuznetsova G.P. French literature 1990-2005. - Moscow: Publishing House Strategy, 2006. - S. 96-105. - ISBN 5-9234-0071-5 . (fr.)

• The official website of Eric Orsenn (fr.) . Date of treatment August 8, 2015.
• Interview with Eric Orsenna (Fr.) . Date of treatment October 3, 2015.
• Orsenna, grand reporter (about Eric Orsenna as a popularizer of science) (Fr.) . Date of treatment October 3, 2015.
• Eric Orsenn's page on the website of the French Academy (fr.) . Date of treatment October 3, 2015.