Albert Cohen (1895–1981) is one of the most prominent and widely read writers in France, recognized during his lifetime as a classic, respectfully called the “Balzac of the 20th century.” The pinnacle of his work is the trilogy of novels “Solal”, “Swallow” and “The Love of a Master” (Grand Prix of the French Academy). Love of a Sovereign (1968) - "a fresco depicting the eternal adventure of a man and a woman" (a deadly love, like Tristan and Isolde), depicts the events of 1936, taking place in Geneva during the League of Nations, in the midst of the "increasing danger" - the Holocaust is approaching . Solal, a Jewish diplomat surrounded by annoying Eastern relatives, wins the heart of Ariadne, the new Madame Bovary, the wife of a dim-witted Belgian official. This book goes back to the Song of Songs (flesh in love, the Old Testament) and the Arabian Nights (complete freedom of storytelling), but also to Chaplin's The Dictator and his Master Verdoux (the human puppet, the "Jewish" view of social confusion). "The Love of a Master" - a comprehensive and unique book - is rightly compared with "The Search for Lost Time", with "Ulysses", with "Lolita". This is an incredible, passionate, completely unlike anything else, the most non-trivial novel about love written in French in the 20th century. Neither before nor after Cohen has anyone written about human relationships like this.