French
Chapter 6: David Golder
Irène Némirovsky sent the manuscript of David Golderunder the name of Epstein aux Grasset Editions, shortly before giving birth to a little girl, Denise, France, CatherineNovember 9, 1929.
The Jewish press and critics – except for big names such as Benjamin Crémieux or André Maurois – enjoy it differently David Golder. The Zionist press, for its part, is distinguished by its virulence. Two months after the release of David Golder, Irène Némirovsky rejects the accusations : "They accuse me of anti-Semitism? Come on, that’s absurd! Since I am a Jew myself and say it to anyone who will listen!" And the journalist Nina Gourfinkel to conclude: «Anti-Semitic, of course, Irène Némirovsky is not. As little as Jewish.»
Julien Duvivier has chosen, for his film, which will be one of the first to speak volumes in French cinema, the actors Harry Baur and Paule Andral. Completed on November 9, 1930,the film will premiere on December 17 at the Pigalle Theatre. Paul Morand gives his impressions at the Figaro : «David Golder, excellent. This is not a comedy photographed at the cost of the slightest effort, it is a creation, and one of the most beautiful talking films. It is also a great human journey, from the Polish ghetto to the luxury of Biarritz, from poverty to wealth, from life to death.”
Irène Némirovsky does justice to his "unfortunate father" in this novel, Leonid Borisovich Nemirovsky. This "little obscure Jew" born in Elisavetgrad on September 1, 1868, was successively a racing boy in a hotel, a clerk in a factory in Lodz, manager of a warehouse in Odessa, matchmaker and finally financial. Irene ready to David Golder some of his traits –intrepidity in business, but also the nostalgia for a Jewish childhood.
Poster of the cinematographic adaptation of David Golder by Julien Duvivier. [1930]
© Fonds Irène Némirovsky / IMEC
