Pavlowitch is famous for having assumed, in the early 1970s, the pseudonymic identity of "Émile Ajar", at the request of Romain Gary, who wanted an alternative identity to write under; Pavlowitch thus played for eight years the author of the novels Gros-Câlin, La Vie devant soi, Pseudo[2] and L'Angoisse du roi Salomon, actually written by his "uncle".
The result is Pseudo (1976), a novel featuring a mysterious, tyrannical, egocentric uncle named Tonton Macoute, in which everyone can recognize Gary.
The links between Paul Pavlowitch, who got caught up in the writer's game, and Romain Gary (who signed a contract with Mercure de France for five books by Ajar) were deteriorating.
The latter calls on his lawyer to formalize an arrangement: forty percent of his royalties go to Pavlowitch who, in exchange, guarantees the secrecy of the agreement, and signs several letters to Romain attesting that he is only "a puppet".
[3] In 1981, shortly after the death of Romain Gary on December 2, 1980, Pavlowitch published a book under his own name, L'Homme que l'on croyait, where he gave his version of the adventure.
[5] A short text by Romain Gary intended for posthumous release, Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar (dated March 21, 1979), was hurriedly published on July 17.