André Maurois, a classic of 20th century French literature, a prose writer and essayist, an amazing erudite, author of exquisite novellas and novels, famous for his romanticized biographies of Dumas, Balzac, Hugo, Byron, and many others, as well as creator of deep essays on the history of England, the USA, and France, returned to the genre of philosophical essay in his later years. "An Open Letter to a Young Man on the Art of Living" (1966) is a perfect companion to his renowned "Letters to an Unknown Woman": it is an honest conversation between an eighty-year-old writer and a twenty-year-old young man. Mauro discusses morality, meaning, purpose and principles of life, education, politics, religion, marriage, literary work, and modernity in general — in the guise of a delicate instruction, he presents to us the life credo of an enlightened and thoughtful person, and his experience can teach us much. The collection of aphorisms and observations "The Art of Conversation" (1927) is dedicated to the ability to engage in conversation, that is, to build subtle connections with the most mysterious phenomenon we can encounter, which has always interested Mauro — with other people.
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