Vladimir Volkoff

Early life

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesAccording to an AFP obituary of September 2005, Volkoff was born in 1932 in Paris into a family of Russian émigrés. The EBSCO biography gives the date as 7 November 1932 and mentions studies at the Sorbonne and a doctorate obtained in Liège; “Conflits” stresses his education, at once Russian and French, and his roots in the “White” emigration.^1,2,3

Service

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesAFP writes that before he began his literary career in 1962 he was an officer in the French secret services. According to EBSCO, he served in the French army from 1957 to 1962, including during the Algerian War; “Conflits” (2019) describes him as an intelligence officer during that war.^1,2,3

We have found neither the unit, nor the rank, nor any details of this service in official sources, so we do not give them.¹

In the United States

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesAfter leaving the army he went to the USA, where according to EBSCO he worked as a translator (1963–1965) and then as a lecturer in Russian and French (1966–1977); he then returned to France.²

Writing

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesHe gained wide recognition with the spy novel “Le Retournement” (published in English as “The Turn-Around”), issued in 1979 by Julliard and L’Âge d’homme. He also wrote biographies of, among others, Prince Vladimir and Tchaikovsky; he said of himself that he felt as much Russian as French.^1,4

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesOn 4 November 1982 he received the Académie française's Grand Prix du roman for the novel “Le Montage” (published in English as “The Set-Up”). According to “Conflits”, he worked on it with Alexandre de Marenches, then head of the French secret services.^5,6

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesHe devoted essays to disinformation, including “Petite histoire de la désinformation” (A Short History of Disinformation, 1999) and “Désinformation, flagrant délit” (Disinformation Caught Red-Handed, 1999). He wrote some 35 novels, including the cycle “Les Humeurs de la mer” (The Moods of the Sea) and a spy series for young readers featuring Langelot; for “Métro pour l’enfer” (Metro to Hell) he received the Jules Verne Prize in 1963.^2,3

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesHe died on 14 September 2005 at his home in the Périgord, aged 72.^1,2

Significance

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesVolkoff is among the authors who carried the concept of disinformation from the language of the intelligence services into literature and public debate in France – this is how “Conflits” describes his role.^3,6