Z litewskiej Jerozolimy – okres wileński w życiu pisarza Romaina Gary’ego

Abstract

This article focuses on the Vilna period in the life of Romain Gary, a French writer of East European Jewish origin. Born in Vilna in 1914 as Roman Kacew, he spent several formative years in this Jerusalem of Lithuania before migrating with his mother Mina to France and the subsequent career of a distinguished writer and a diplomat. In Vilna Roman was exposed to the multicultural and multilingual nature of the city which strongly impacted his future. As Romain Gary, he returned to his Vilna childhood in his autobiographical book La Promesse de l’aube (Promise at Dawn), which is analyzed in this article. Vilna, a city of rich Jewish and other cultural traditions, is given attention as the background to Romain Gary’s childhood in the city.