Monique Raphel High
Encyclopedia
Monique Raphel High is an American author. She was born in New York City
on May 3, 1949.
.
While Monique was a teenager, her mother worked in the PR department of Columbia films and as an agent for the Alain Bernheim Literary Agency. She represented James Jones
and Irwin Shaw
.
As a child, Monique did research for Jules Dassin
.
Monique married Robert Duncan High, her Yale sweetheart, an advertising executive, in 1969, the day of the Senior Prom. Their daughter, Nathalie Danielle Carroll, was born in Chicago in 1972. They were divorced in 1981 after a year’s separation.
She married Soviet psychiatrist/psychologist Grigorii Raiport in 1985. He was the sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic Team, and defected in 1976 amidst much notoriety. They co-wrote Red Gold. They divorced in 1987. He is deceased.
Monique married Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Ben Walter Pesta, II, in 1987;.
, with whom she also went to Florence to complete her education with the Sarah Lawrence program abroad. Monique speaks English
and French
, but also Spanish
, Italian
and Romanian
.
Nonfiction
Monique is also the co-writer of the French film "Flagrant désir,”- June 1986 (issued in its English-speaking version as "Trade Secrets"), with Sam Waterston and Lauren Hutton. Directed by Claude Faraldo.
While a young woman living in Pasadena with her first husband, she was active in the Alliance Française
, and even served one term as secretary.
She has been also been devoted to her Alma Mater, Barnard College
http://www.barnard.edu. The year after she graduated, she formed the first Cincinnati Barnard regional Club and served as its first President. She then became active in the Chicago regional club several years later. In 2004, she became Class Vice President and Reunion Chair, putting together, with a terrific committee from her graduating class, a Fortieth Reunion in June 2009. She is also a Barnard Alumna Area Representative, a group which interviews applicants and welcomes them to Barnard, and has been active as a Mentor to students and alumnae in the publishing field since 1999.
Monique’s current book, Yearbook, focuses on four young women who come together their freshman year at Barnard in 1965—the same year Monique and her friends did. Although it is fiction, the novel is very much based on true reminiscences. It takes the story through the Fortieth Reunion.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on May 3, 1949.
Family life
High was the only daughter of French parents who had emigrated there to escape the Nazi invasion in Europe. Her father, film executive David Raphel, is the grandson of Baron David de GünzburgDavid Günzburg
Baron David Goratsiyevich Günzburg , 4th Baron de Günzburg, was a Russian orientalist and Jewish communal leader. He was the son of Baron Horace de Günzburg...
.
While Monique was a teenager, her mother worked in the PR department of Columbia films and as an agent for the Alain Bernheim Literary Agency. She represented James Jones
James Jones (author)
James Jones was an American author known for his explorations of World War II and its aftermath.-Life and work:...
and Irwin Shaw
Irwin Shaw
Irwin Shaw was a prolific American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best-known for his novel, The Young Lions about the fate of three soldiers during World War II that was made into a film starring Marlon...
.
As a child, Monique did research for Jules Dassin
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin , was an American film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.-Early life:...
.
Monique married Robert Duncan High, her Yale sweetheart, an advertising executive, in 1969, the day of the Senior Prom. Their daughter, Nathalie Danielle Carroll, was born in Chicago in 1972. They were divorced in 1981 after a year’s separation.
She married Soviet psychiatrist/psychologist Grigorii Raiport in 1985. He was the sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic Team, and defected in 1976 amidst much notoriety. They co-wrote Red Gold. They divorced in 1987. He is deceased.
Monique married Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Ben Walter Pesta, II, in 1987;.
Education
Monique was reared in Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, and obtained her B.A. in 1969 from Barnard College with a dual degree in English and Renaissance Studies. She studied under Shakespearean expert Remington Patterson and Italian author and historian Maristella LorchMaristella Lorch
Maristella Lorch is one of the leading post-war critics of Italian literature working in America. She is affiliated with Columbia University. She is also author of the novel Mamma in Her Village...
, with whom she also went to Florence to complete her education with the Sarah Lawrence program abroad. Monique speaks English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, but also Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
.
Published work
Fiction- The Four Winds of Heaven, National Bestseller, 1980. Based on the life of Monique's grandmother, Russian Baroness Sonia de Gunzburg, this riches-to-rags-to-riches odyssey takes a family from pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg, through desperate times on the front during World War I and in the Crimea during the Revolution, to post-revolutionary Paris.
- Encore, a love triangle linking a Russian prima ballerina, an artist, and the bisexual backer of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as the illustrious troupe travels through Europe (1905–1927).
- The Eleventh Year, love, culture, politics in Paris during the Roaring Twenties. Two French brothers, one exiled Russian princess, and two expatriate American women find their lives inextricably entangled in a web of deceit, ambition and greed. This is a novel of redemption.
- The Keeper of the Walls, a Holocaust story taking place in Paris, Vienna and Auschwitz. Parisian Lily Bruisson is torn between an expatriate Russian Prince and an American journalist as her city is besieged and her identity is called into question.
- Thy Father's House, a multi-generational saga chronicling the rising fortunes and disastrous love affairs of a banking family in Russia, Paris and Vienna, from 1900-1950.
- Between Two Worlds, a love triangle beginning in pre-revolutionary Russia, takes the reader through Paris, Biarritz, New York and ends up in Hollywood. Zica, daughter of a Muscovite lord, is betrayed by her lover, Kyril, and rescued during the Revolution by her servant, Yakov. In America, both men are lured to Hollywood, and Zica is forced to make a choice that will alter all their lives.
Nonfiction
- Red Gold, co-authored with Dr. Grigori Raiport. Techniques of Soviet psychology before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Dr. Raiport, late husband of Monique Raphel High, was the sports psychologist for the 1976 Olympic Team from the Soviet Union.
Monique is also the co-writer of the French film "Flagrant désir,”- June 1986 (issued in its English-speaking version as "Trade Secrets"), with Sam Waterston and Lauren Hutton. Directed by Claude Faraldo.
Career
Monique has taught creative writing at the UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program (1997–1998), then started her own tutorials and seminars. She became first a coach and literary manager, calling her firm WriteHigh Literary Management, then turned the company into an international literary agency with offices in New York and Beverly Hills. It was named the WriteHigh Literary Agency.Volunteer Work
Monique has been active in defense of abused women, and during the 1980s, served on the Board of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. She also wrote for Court Watch, a Lost Angeles organization that walked abused women through the court system.While a young woman living in Pasadena with her first husband, she was active in the Alliance Française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
, and even served one term as secretary.
She has been also been devoted to her Alma Mater, Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
http://www.barnard.edu. The year after she graduated, she formed the first Cincinnati Barnard regional Club and served as its first President. She then became active in the Chicago regional club several years later. In 2004, she became Class Vice President and Reunion Chair, putting together, with a terrific committee from her graduating class, a Fortieth Reunion in June 2009. She is also a Barnard Alumna Area Representative, a group which interviews applicants and welcomes them to Barnard, and has been active as a Mentor to students and alumnae in the publishing field since 1999.
Monique’s current book, Yearbook, focuses on four young women who come together their freshman year at Barnard in 1965—the same year Monique and her friends did. Although it is fiction, the novel is very much based on true reminiscences. It takes the story through the Fortieth Reunion.