Joseph Kessel
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and novelist.
He was born in Villa Clara
Villa Clara, Entre Ríos
Villa Clara is located in the Villaguay Department, in the center of the province of Entre Rios, Argentina.According to the Argentine census bureau, it had 2,748 residents in 2001....
, Entre Ríos
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, before the family moved to France. He studied in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and took part in the First World War as an aviator.
Kessel wrote several novels and books that were later represented in the cinema, notably Belle de Jour (by Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
in 1967). He was also a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
from 1962 to 1979. In 1943 he and his nephew Maurice Druon
Maurice Druon
Maurice Druon was a French novelist and a member of the Académie française.Born in Paris, France, Druon was the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music and words originally by Anna Marly.In 1948...
translated Anna Marly
Anna Marly
Anna Marly , , was a Russian born French singer-songwriter. She is best remembered as the composer of the Chant des Partisans, a protest song that was used as the ersatz anthem of the Free French Forces during World War II; the popularity of the Chant des Partisans was such that it was proposed as...
's song Chant des Partisans
Chant des Partisans
The Chant des Partisans was the most popular song of the Free French during World War II.The piece was written and put to melody in London in 1943 after Anna Marly heard a Russian song that provided her with inspiration. Joseph Kessel and Maurice Druon wrote the French lyrics. It was performed by...
into 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...
from its original Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. The song became one of the anthems of the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
.
Joseph Kessel died in Avernes
Avernes
Avernes is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.-Population:-References:** -External links:* *...
, Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise is a French department, created in 1968 after the split of the Seine-et-Oise department and located in the Île-de-France region. In local slang, it is known as "quatre-vingt quinze" or "neuf cinq"...
. He is buried in the Cimetière de Montparnasse in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Partial bibliography
- La steppe rouge (1922)
- L'équipage (1923)
- Les captifs (1926; Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseGrand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseLe Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
) - Nuits de princes (1927)
- Belle de JourBelle de Jour (novel)-Plot:The novel opens with an event from Séverine Sérizy's childhood, in which a mechanic touches the eight-year-old on her way from her bedroom to her mother's. The story then follows Séverine as a young, beautiful housewife. It is difficult for her to fulfill her sexual affinity for masochistic...
(1928; it inspired Luis BuñuelLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
's 1967 movie of the same name) - Vent de sable (1929)
- Fortune carrée (1932)
- La Passante du Sans-SouciLa Passante du Sans-SouciThe Passerby is a 1982 French film directed by Jacques Rouffio, based on the 1936 novel on the same name by Joseph Kessel, and starring Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli...
(1936; turned into a movie by Jacques RouffioJacques RouffioJacques Rouffio is a French film director and screenwriter. His 1986 film My Brother-in-law Killed My Sister was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival.-Filmography as director:...
in 1982) - Hollywood, Ville mirage (Gallimard, NRF, 1936)
- L'Armée des ombresL'Armée des ombresArmy of Shadows is a 1969 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. It is a film adaptation of Joseph Kessel's 1943 book of the same name, which blends Kessel's own experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictionalized versions of other Resistance members...
(1943; turned into a movie by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1969) - Bataillon du ciel (Sky Battalion), (1946; turned into a movie by Alexandre Esway in 1947): Free French SASSpecial Air ServiceSpecial Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
paratroopers in Brittany in Summer 1944 - Le tour du malheur (1950)
- Le lion (English translation: The LionThe LionThe Lion , a novel by French author Joseph Kessel, is the story of a girl and her lion.The novel was translated into English by Peter Green.-Plot summary:...
; 1958) - The Magic Touch (novel), also published in USA as The Man with the Miraculous Hands (1962)
- Les cavaliers (1967)
- Partout un ami (1972)
- Des hommes (1972)
- Les temps sauvages (1975)
- The escape
External links
- Biography at the Académie françaiseAcadémie françaiseL'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
- Plaisir Litteraire: http://plaisirlitteraire.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=50 an interesting contribution about the youth of Joseph Kessel's father