Henri Troyat (bornLev Aslanovich Tarasov; 1 November [O.S. 19 October] 1911 – 2 March 2007)[1] was a Russian-French[2] writer, biographer, historian, and novelist.
Lev Aslanovich Tarasov[3] (Russian:Лев Асланович Тарасов,Lev Aslanovich Tarasov) was born in Moscow to parents ofArmenian heritage.[4][5] In his autobiography, he states that his surname isArmenian (Torossian). His family fled Russia after the outbreak of therevolution. After a long exodus taking them to theCaucasus on toCrimea and later by sea toIstanbul and thenVenice, the family finally settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree. The stirring and tragic events of this flight across half of Europe are vividly recounted by Troyat inTant que la terre durera (While the earth lasts).
Troyat received his first literary award,Le prix du roman populaire, at the age of twenty-four, and by twenty-seven, he was awarded thePrix Goncourt. He published more than 100 books, novels and biographies, among them those ofAnton Chekhov,Catherine the Great,Rasputin,Fyodor Dostoyevsky,Ivan the Terrible andLeo Tolstoy. Troyat's best-known work isLa neige en deuil (The snow in mourning), which was adapted as an English-language film in 1956 under the titleThe Mountain.
Troyat was elected as a member of theAcadémie Française in 1959. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving member.
Troyat's first marriage produced a son before ending in divorce. He later married a widow with a young daughter whom he raised as his own. He died on 2 March 2007 in Paris.[6]
A fictionalised version of Henri Troyat is featured in the 2014–2015Image ComicsMillarworldcomic book seriesMPH byMark Millar andDuncan Fegredo as the former Chief Scientific Officer ofFrance's superhuman development program and inventor of the titular "MPH"super-speed pill, who disappeared in 1984 and has been living in-hiding ever since (bar attending the occasionaljazz festival).[7] While Millar revealed in an interview in January 2014 that the character would return in another then-untitled title set in theMillarworldsharedfictional universe the following year, which turned out to beHuck, the character would be renamed "Orlov" for this follow-up appearance.[8]
