Elsa Triole is a novelist and translator, thanks to whom the names of representatives of Soviet prose and poetry became known outside of Russia. At home, she is better known today as the younger sister of the muse of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Leaving Soviet Russia in the early twenties, Triole devoted her life to literary creation. It was thanks to her translations to French readers that the works of Russian literature were discovered.
In Russia
Elsa Triole was born in Russia. Her parents called her Ella, but in exile she changed her name. The writer inherited the surname Triole from her first husband.
Father - Sergey Kagan - grew up in a Jewish family, was educated in the capital and became a famous lawyer. Mother was a pianist. Elsa, like her older sister, knew several European languages and, of course, played the piano from early childhood. Like the red-haired Lily, who was immortalized by the great Soviet poet, Elsa was not deprived of male attention. The writer Viktor Shklovsky, the futurist poet Vasily Kamensky, the linguist Roman Jacobson took care of her. The first husband was Andre-Pierre Triole, who took her away from Soviet Russia.
In Tahiti
On Tahiti, the couple spent a little over a year. However, I did not have to admire the exotic paradise for long. Early marriage did not last long either. Elsa Triole went to Europe, where she filed for divorce. The novel "In Tahiti" is dedicated to the memories of being on the island.
In Berlin
Before heading to the German capital, Elsa Triolet spent some time in London, where she worked in an architectural studio. But the center of Russian emigration at the beginning of the 20th century was nevertheless Berlin, where the writer soon went. In this city, a considerable number of Russian-language books and newspapers were published. The first works belong to this period. Elsa Triolet worked in one of the Berlin publishing houses. Books written during his years in Berlin were still rather weak. Shklovsky’s book “TsOO”, which is devoted to the Berlin period in the life of Triole, is of great value to biographers.
Triole and Aragon
The Paris years became more saturated. For several months she lived in a hotel on Montparnasse. And it was in the capital of France that I met the writer Louis Aragon, Elsa Triole. Her biography is closely connected with this person. Beginning in Paris, the romance of Triole and Aragon lasted forty-two years. A lot of rumors circulated about the personal life of the muses of Russian and French literature. According to one of them, the second husband of Triole was an incorrigible womanizer. On the other, he hid his unconventional orientation, and marriage was a convenient cover for him.
In Paris
In the years of Paris, Elsa revolved exclusively in creative circles. A full-fledged cultural life in the first joint years with Aragon was overshadowed by material difficulties. Before meeting the French poet, Elsa was provided by his first husband. With a new marriage, the situation has changed. Aragon's fees were barely enough for a living.
Necklaces
In the new family, Elsa took the lead. French literature at the beginning of the 20th century is characterized by the emergence of new trends, one of which is surrealism. The works created in this direction were far from the work of Triole, which gravitated towards realistic prose. It was not easy for Aragon to earn money for a young family. And Elsa began to earn a living by making jewelry. The writer described the difficult period of life not without irony in the novel “Necklaces”. This work is one of the few written in Russian. The inability to publish in the Soviet Union led to the fact that French literature was replenished with the books of the author, for whom Russian was always the mother tongue.
Goncourt Prize
In France, this prize is the most prestigious in the field of literature. And the Goncourt Prize was awarded to Triola for the novel Avignon Lovers. The work was printed for the first time during the war, in one of the underground printing houses. In it, Triola reflected her experiences that she experienced during the war years. Together with her husband, the writer was forced to hide, and for both, being underground was the only way to survive. He was a communist, she is a Russian immigrant of Jewish descent. The book came out under a pseudonym. The prize was awarded to Triola in 1944.
After the war
When the war ended, a different life began for Triole and Aragon. They became celebrities. Years of need were behind. Especially revered this married party in the socialist countries. The communist views of both Aragon and Triole were perplexing even those who respected their work. Even when the truth about the Stalinist repressions became known, they did not utter a word of repentance.
In France, many saw the behavior of Triole, first of all, as fear for the parents and sister who remained in the Soviet Union. And something has already appeared that resembles the disappointment experienced by Elsa Triole. Quotes from her confessions today clearly speak of the remorse she experienced in the last years of her life. A tool in the hands of Soviet rulers - that is what Triole once called herself.
The latest novel was published in 1970. It is called "The Nightingale is silent at dawn." This same year is the year of the death of a French writer of Russian origin. Triole's sister, Lilya Brik, came to the funeral. The organization of the funeral was entrusted to itself by members of the French Communist Party. Later in France, a society of fans of Aragon and Triola was organized. A museum has been made from the apartment where the couple spent the last years.
In his book on Elsa Triola, Shklovsky has repeatedly expressed the view that it is impossible to embrace the cultural worlds of the two countries. Apparently, he was wrong. Elsa Triole is a writer who went down in the history of French literature, but was and remains Russian. Even despite the fact that for many years she did not write in her native language.