Having written almost three dozen novels, Gary became famous as the creator of the most notorious and tragic literary hoax of the 20th century: he reinvented himself as Émile Ajar, becoming thereby the only person to win the Goncourt Prize twice.
In the novel “Life Is Elsewhere,” Romain Gary turned to one of the few topics tackled by only a handful of writers: love in one’s later years—complicated and risky. What awaits a person in whose life a stretch of relentless loss begins? Gary’s recipe is surprisingly simple: die and be born again.