Joseph Kessel

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 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 LouisleGrand 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 120 Lorraine 342 Squadron RAF with RAF Bomber Command 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 In 1943 he and his nephew Maurice Druon translated Anna Marlys 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 in Avernes ValdOise of a ruptured aneurysm He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris On his deathbed he was quoted as saying that his greatest accomplishment was the birth of his son Joseph Kessel who was born just a few months prior on 24 February of the same year The JosephKessel 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 JeanMarie Drot Michèle Kahn Pierre Haski Gilles Lapouge Michel Le Bris fr Érik Orsenna Patrick Rambaud JeanChristophe Rufin André Velter and Olivier Weber Source Article Joseph Kessel from Wikipedia in english licensed under CCBYSA 30