The Disunited States

VLADIMIR POZNER (1905–1992) was a French writer whose prestigious career as a novelist took off in the 1930s with Tolstoï est mort (Tolstoy is Dead) and Le mors aux dents (The Bit Between the Teeth). A militant antifascist who took refuge in the United States during the war, Pozner was also a Hollywood screenwriter, where he got to know Bertolt Brecht and Charlie Chaplin and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story for The Dark Mirror, a film noir crime drama. Backpacker, raconteur, and pioneer of literary styles, Pozner dedicated his life to giving a testimony of his times. ALISON L. STRAYER is a Canadian writer and translator, author of Jardin et prairie, a novel, and numerous literary essays, articles, and stories. She lives in Paris and recently completed a novel in English.