Dreams of My Russian Summers
| Author | Andrei Makine |
|---|---|
| Translator | Geoffrey Strachan |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | novel |
| Publisher | Mercure de France (Fr) Arcade Publishing (En) |
|
Publication date
|
1995 (Fr) 1997 (En) |
| Pages | 241 (En) |
| ISBN | (En) |
Dreams of My Russian Summers (French: Le Testament français) is a French novel by Andrei Makine, originally published in 1995. It won two top French awards, the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis. The novel is told from the first-person perspective and tells the fictional story of a boy's memories and experiences with his French grandmother in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s.
Charlotte Lemonnier also known by her French Christian name translated in Russian as Sharlota Norbertovna. She is the heroine of the story, born in France in the early 1900s in the village of Neuilly-sur-Seine. She is a calm Frenchwoman living in the town of Saranza by the Russian steppe, who teaches her grandchildren, the young boy and girl, of her French and Russian life through memories and newspaper clippings.
Narrator is the young boy of the story who grows up throughout the story in the 1960s and '70s. He remains nameless except in the very end of the book. (He is only called Alyosha once by his grandmother.) His nickname by his Russian classmates is "Frantsuz"- the Russian word for Frenchman. He admires his grandmother more than anyone and is confused by the conflicting heritages within him-French and Russian. This conflict characterizes the novel.
Narrator's Sister is a nameless character as well as the narrator. She is also Charlotte's granddaughter. Although she is present in the beginning of the novel accompanying her brother in their visits to Charlotte, she later stays in Moscow for schooling and is not mentioned.
Pashka is a peer of the narrator who is also a loner. He is rejected by his classmates and wants nothing to do with them. He avoids society and conformity because he is more interested in nature and the outside world. Although he and the narrator never officially become "friends," their mutual solitude brings them closer together.
Norbert is Charlotte's Russian father. Little is known of him other than he was a doctor who died at age 48, leaving Charlotte and her mother without much money.
Albertine is Charlotte's mother and Norbert's wife, 26 years his junior. After Norbert's death she traveled several times between Siberia and France, taking Charlotte with her. She settles in Siberia with Charlotte battling severe depression and a morphine addiction. After returning to France one last time, she leaves for Siberia, leaving Charlotte with her brother, Vincent. She dies 2 years after reuniting with Charlotte, now nearly 20.
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