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French writer
Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef", was a French
journalist and
novelist . He was a member of the
Académie française and Grand Officer of the
Legion of Honour .
Biography
Kessel was born to a
Jewish family in
Villa Clara ,
Entre Ríos , Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a
Litvak
physician . From 1905 to 1908, Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in
Orenburg , Russia, before the family moved to France in 1908. He studied in lycée Masséna ,
Nice and lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and took part in the
First World War as an aviator. He was also an aviator during the
Second World War , in the
Free French Groupe de Bombardement n° 1/20 "Lorraine" (
342 Squadron RAF ) with
RAF Bomber Command ,[
citation needed ] with
Romain Gary , who was also a talented French novelist.
Kessel wrote several novels and books that were later represented in the cinema, notably
Belle de Jour (by
Luis Buñuel in 1967) and L'armée des ombres (
Army of Shadows ) (by
Jean-Pierre Melville in 1969). In 1943 he and his nephew
Maurice Druon translated
Anna Marly 's song
Chant des Partisans into French from its original
Russian . The song became one of the anthems of
Free French Forces during the Second World War.
Kessel was elected to the
Académie française in 1962 and died on 23 July 1979
[1] in
Avernes ,
Val-d'Oise of a ruptured aneurysm. He is buried in Paris in the
Cimetière du Montparnasse . The
Joseph-Kessel Prize (Prix Joseph Kessel) is a prestigious prize in French language literature, given to "a book of a high literary value written in French". The jury counts or has counted among its members
Tahar Ben Jelloun ,
Jean-Marie Drot ,
Michèle Kahn ,
Pierre Haski ,
Gilles Lapouge ,
Michel Le Bris ,
Érik Orsenna ,
Patrick Rambaud ,
Jean-Christophe Rufin ,
André Velter and
Olivier Weber .
Bibliography
La steppe rouge (1922)
The Crew (1923)
Au camp des vaincus ou la critique du 11 mai (1924)
Mary de Cork (1925)
Les captifs (1926;
Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française )
Nuits de princes (1927)
Belle de Jour (1928; it inspired
Luis Buñuel 's 1967
movie of the same name)
Vent de sable (1929)
Fortune carrée (1932)
Le coup de grâce [
fr ] (1931; made into the movie
Sirocco in 1951 with
Humphrey Bogart )
Wagon-lit (1932)
La Passante du Sans-Souci (1936; turned into
a movie by
Jacques Rouffio in 1982)
Hollywood, Ville mirage (Gallimard, NRF, 1936)
Mermoz (1938)
L'Armée des ombres (1943; adapted for
a movie by
Jean-Pierre Melville in 1969); Army of Shadows (Contra Mundum Press: 2017), featuring an intro by Stuart Kendall
Le Bataillon du ciel (Sky Battalion), (1946; turned into
a movie by
Alexander Esway in 1947): Free French
SAS paratroopers in Brittany in Summer 1944
Le tour du malheur (1950)
Les Amants du Tage (1954)
La Vallée des Rubis (1955)
Le lion (English translation:
The Lion ; 1958)
Les mains du miracle (Gallimard, 1960). (English translation: The Man with the Miraculous Hands . Translated by
Weaver, Helen . Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. 1961.
OCLC
630284 . )
Les cavaliers (1967) (English translation: The Horsemen . Translated by
Patrick O'Brian . New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968) (filmed as
The Horsemen in 1971.)
Kisling 1891-1953 (1971) avec
Henri Troyat
Partout un ami (1972)
Des hommes (1972)
Les temps sauvages (1975)
The escape
Filmography
The Crew , directed by
Maurice Tourneur (France, 1928, based on the novel
The Crew )
Nuits de princes [
fr ] , directed by
Marcel L'Herbier (France, 1930, based on the novel Nuits de princes )
The Crew , directed by
Anatole Litvak (France, 1935, based on the novel The Crew )
The Woman I Love , directed by
Anatole Litvak (1937, based on the novel The Crew )
Nuits de princes [
fr ] , directed by
Vladimir Strizhevsky (France, 1938, based on the novel Nuits de princes )
Le Bataillon du ciel , directed by
Alexander Esway (France, 1947, based on the novel Le Bataillon du ciel )
Sirocco , directed by
Curtis Bernhardt (1951, based on the novel Le coup de grâce )
The Lovers of Lisbon , directed by
Henri Verneuil (France, 1955, based on the novel Les Amants du Tage )
Fortune carrée [
fr ] , directed by
Bernard Borderie (France, 1955, based on the novel Fortune carrée )
The Lion , directed by
Jack Cardiff (1962, based on the novel
The Lion )
Belle de Jour , directed by
Luis Buñuel (France, 1967, based on the novel
Belle de Jour )
Army of Shadows , directed by
Jean-Pierre Melville (France, 1969, based on the novel L'Armée des ombres )
The Horsemen , directed by
John Frankenheimer (1971, based on the novel Les Cavaliers )
The Passerby , directed by
Jacques Rouffio (France, 1982, based on the novel La Passante du Sans-Souci )
Screenwriter
Cease Firing (dir.
Jacques de Baroncelli , France, 1934)
Mayerling (dir.
Anatole Litvak , France, 1936)
Les Bateliers de la Volga (dir.
Vladimir Strizhevsky , France, 1936)
La Peur (dir.
Victor Tourjansky , France, 1936)
The Secrets of the Red Sea (dir.
Richard Pottier , France, 1937)
The Man from Niger (dir.
Jacques de Baroncelli , France, 1940)
At the Grand Balcony (dir.
Henri Decoin , France, 1949)
Le Grand Cirque (dir.
Georges Péclet , France, 1950)
Act of Love (dir.
Anatole Litvak , 1953)
Oasis (dir.
Yves Allégret , France, 1955)
La Passe du diable [
fr ] (dir.
Pierre Schoendoerffer and
Jacques Dupont , France, 1958)
The Night of the Generals (dir.
Anatole Litvak , 1967)
References
^ "Obituaries". Cross & Cockade Journal . 20 . the Society: 380. 1979.
External links
1915–1925 1926–1950 1951–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
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