Mark Aldanov - Biography

Mark Aldanov (Марк Алда́нов) (Mark Alexandrovich Landau) (Марк Алекса́ндрович Ланда́у) (1888, or 1889–February 25, 1957) was a Russian emigrant writer, known for his historical novels.

Mark Landau (Aldanov) was born in Kiev in the family of a rich Jewish industrialist. He graduated the physical-mathematical and law departments of Kiev University. He published serious research papers in chemistry. In 1919 he emigrated to France. During 1922-1924 he lived in Berlin and during 1941-1946, in the United States.

Aldanov's first book about Vladimir Lenin, translated into several languages, immediately gained him popularity. Then followed a trilogy of novels attempting to trace the roots of the Russian Revolution. He also wrote a tetralogy of novels about Napoleonic wars. All in all, he published 16 larger literary works and a great number of articles and essays.

Mark Aldanov died in Nice, France. His extensive correspondence with Vladimir Nabokov, Ivan Bunin, Alexander Kerensky and other emigre celebrities was published posthumously.

Bibliography

The Thinker, a tetralogy

• The Ninth Thermidor
• The Devil's Bridge
• The Conspiracy
• St. Helena: Little Island

Novels

• Punch Vodka
• The Ninth Thermidor
• The Devil's Bridge
• Conspiracy
• The Tenth Symphony
• Saint Helena, Little Island
• For Thee the Best
• A Story About Death
• Before the Deluge
• Suicide
• The Key
• Escape
• The Cave
• The Fifth Seal
• Live As You Please
• Nightmare and Dawn