Elya Kagan is a friend of Mayakovsky, a brilliant writer, author of more than 32 books of her own. The history of this wonderful lady is closely connected with Russia, France and world poetry.
Who is she Triolet Elsa?
Elsa Triolet (1896-1970), translator, novelist, the first woman to receive the main literary prize of France - Goncourt, heroine of the French resistance and wife of Louis Aragon, founder of the surrealist movement and political activist in France.
Originally from Russia, made a career in Paris
Born into a Jewish family of a lawyer and music teacher in Moscow, Ella Kagan and her sister Lily received an excellent education; they could speak German and French fluently and play the piano. Ella graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. She liked poetry and in 1915 she became friends with Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose poetry was soon translated into French first. In the early 1920s, Elsa described her visit to Tahiti in letters to Viktor Shklovsky, who later showed them to Maxim Gorky. This is how the career of this famous woman began. On the basis of the letters, the book "In Tahiti" was written in 1925 in Russian.
Her personal life is her creative path
In 1918, at the beginning of the Russian Civil War, Elsa married the French equestrian officer André Triolet and emigrated to France, but for many years she confessed in her letters to her sister that she was heartbroken. She later divorced Triolet.
The famous French writer Louis Aragon became her real destiny. They met on November 28, 1928 at a café called La Coupole located in Montparnasse. They became one of the most famous couples of writers, having lived together for over forty years. Elsa and her husband Aragon shared a common commitment to literature, art, and politics.
In 1951, Aragon decided to offer Elsa a small part of French land - the Villeneuve mill, built at the beginning of the 13th century and which became the residence of the famous French couple. She has often been a source of inspiration for these writers. Here they wrote some of the most beautiful pages of French literature, their work left their mark in the 20th century. Elsa wrote 32 books - "Strawberry", "Crashers", "Avignon Lovers", "Soul", "Roses on Credit" and others. Elsa Triolet's last novel was The Nightingale Silences at Dawn.
Modern Frenchmen as much as possible seek to perpetuate their memory. The former estate has a library and research center containing over 30,000 books and supporting contemporary poets and creators.
The writer died at the age of 73 from a heart attack at her residence in France. In 2010, the French post office La Poste issued three stamps in her honor.
