Talk:Henri Troyat

Date of Death

We have some difference of opinion about when he died:

• This says he died on 2 March.

• This says he died on "Sunday" (= 4 March.)

• This gives no date of death at all, merely that the death was announced on Monday 5 March. That doesn't help at all.

I'm inclined to believe the Académie française, but can anyone shed any further light on this? JackofOz 02:30, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I am Henri Troyat's grandson and can shed light on your question. He died on Friday March 2nd of natural causes.

See also Talk:Deaths in 2007#Henri Troyat. JackofOz 02:50, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Troyat's POV

Was Troyat ever criticized for his subjective speculations with regard to the inner, mental ideas of the subjects of his biographies? In his Tolstoy [1967], he seems to trivialize Tolstoy's assertions in What is Art?. Instead of giving credit to Tolstoy's arguments, Troyat attributes them to some kind of crank enthusiasm. "The truth was," Troyat wrote in Part VI, Section 4, "that he [Tolstoy] could not be mistaken because he was inspired by God, whereas those scribblers in France, England and Germany were all in league with the devil." With such insight into Tolstoy's mental constitution, we are supposed to dismiss old Tolstoy's criticisms of European, especially French, modern artistic productions. After the publication of such biographical dogma, was Troyat always honored, never criticized?Lestrade (talk) 16:55, 15 April 2010 (UTC)Lestrade