Synopses & Reviews
The fascinating story of a young Russian filmmakers attempts to portray Catherine the Great, before and after the collapse of the Soviet UnionCatherine the Greats life seems to have been made for the cinema—her rise to power; her reportedly countless love affairs and wild sexual escapades; the episodes of betrayal, revenge, and even murder—theres no shortage of historical drama. But Oleg Erdmann, a young Russian filmmaker, seeks to discover and portray Catherines essential, emotional truth, her real life beyond the rumors and façade. His first screenplay just barely makes it past the Soviet film board and is assigned to a talented director, but the resulting film fails to avoid the usual clichés. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as he struggles to find a place for himself in the new order, Oleg agrees to work with an old friend on a television series that becomes a quick success—as well as increasingly lurid, a far cry from his original vision. He continues to seek the real Catherine elsewhere.
With A Woman Loved, Andreï Makine delivers a sweeping novel about the uses of art, the absurdity of history, and the overriding power of human love, if only it can be uncovered and allowed to flourish.
Review
Praise for Andreï Makine
“Makine has special gifts.” —The New York Times
“Justly acclaimed.” —The Washington Post
“Makine belongs on the shelf of world literature—between Lermontov and Nabokov, a few volumes down from Proust.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“[Dreams of My Russian Summers] reminds us how, through a precise use of language, it is possible to call back the past. By trusting in his ability to render truthfully the oddness of history, the peculiar treasured details—ordinary pebbles individually wrapped in tissue paper—Makine allows himself and his readers to be possessed by the singular hallmark of greatness in literature (in a paraphrase of Osip Mandelstam): the desire to be astonished by his own words . . . One of the great autobiographical novels of this century.” —Los Angeles Times
About the Author
Andreï Makine was born in 1957 in Siberia and has lived in France for more than twenty years. His previous novels include Dreams of My Russian Summers and The Life of an Unknown Man.