Повинная голова

Rezhisser i diplomat, letchik i geroĭ Vtoroĭ mirovoĭ voĭny, bednyĭ ėmigrant i muzh odnoĭ iz samykh izvestnykh aktris XX veka, chelovek, vyzvavshiĭ na duėlʹ samogo Klinta Istvuda, i odin iz glavnykh mistifikatorov v istorii literatury - vse ėto Romen Gari. Za svoi͡u zhiznʹ, kotorai͡a bolʹshe napominaet prikli͡uchencheskiĭ roman, on uspel napisatʹ bolee 30 proizvedeniĭ i stal edinstvennym v mire dvukratnym obladatelem Gonkurovskoĭ premii.Nekotorye skazhut, chto ėtot chelovek byl samym bolʹshim lzhet͡som v istorii literatury. On snova i snova perepridumyval sebi͡a, rasskazyvai͡a udivitelʹnye fakty o svoikh rodnykh i svoem proshlom. Sobstvennui͡u zhiznʹ on prevratil v sovershennoe literaturnoe proizvedenie: dazhe glavnye znatoki ego tvorchestva zachastui͡u zatrudni͡ai͡utsi͡a skazatʹ, chto iz ego slov bylo pravdoĭ, a chto - vydumkoĭ. No odno my znaem naverni͡aka: Gari byl potri͡asai͡ushchim rasskazchikom i odnim iz velichaĭshikh pisateleĭ XX veka."Povinnai͡a golova" - roman o cheloveke, kotoryĭ pridumyvaet samye raznye versii svoeĭ biografii, kak delal i sam Romen Gari. Glavnyĭ geroĭ knigi - molodoĭ avanti͡urist Kon, kotoryĭ predstavli͡aetsi͡a sluchaĭnym znakomym to byvshim uchenym, to kommunistom, to gollivudskim rezhisserom… Volei͡u sudʹby on okazyvaetsi͡a na raĭskom ostrove Taiti, gde srazu zhe pridumyvaet, kak zarabotatʹ na naivnykh turistakh, ispolʹzovav svoe skhodstvo s velikim khudozhnikom Polem Gogenom. No kto zhe ėtot chelovek na samom dele?

A director and a diplomat, a pilot and a hero of the Second World War, a poor immigrant and the husband of one of the most famous actresses of the 20th century, the man who challenged Clint Eastwood himself to a duel, and one of the main hoaxers in the history of literature — all this is Romain Gary. During his life, which is more like an adventure novel, he managed to write more than 30 works and became the only two-time winner of the Goncourt Prize in the world.Some would say that this man was the biggest liar in the history of literature. He reinvented himself over and over again, telling amazing facts about his family and his past. He turned his own life into a perfect literary work: even the main experts on his work often find it difficult to say which of his words was true and which was fiction. But one thing is for sure: Gary was an amazing storyteller and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century."The Guilty Head" is a novel about a man who comes up with a variety of versions of his biography, as Romain Gary himself did. The main character of the book is a young adventurer Cohn, who appears to be a casual acquaintance, either a former scientist, a communist, or a Hollywood director ... By the will of fate, he finds himself on the paradisiacal island of Tahiti, where he immediately figures out how to make money from naive tourists, using his resemblance to the great artist Paul Gauguin. But who is this person really?