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Joseph Kessel (1898–1979)

Author of The Lion

127+ Works 1,985 Members 40 Reviews 4 Favorited

About the Author

Series

Works by Joseph Kessel

The Lion (1958) 479 copies
The Horsemen (1967) 250 copies
The Beautiful Day (1928) 189 copies
Army of Shadows (1943) 91 copies
The Crew (1923) 85 copies
Fortune carrée (1949) 54 copies
Mermoz (1900) 48 copies
La Vallée des rubis (1955) 37 copies
La passante du Sans-Souci (1936) 36 copies
Les amants du Tage (1954) 31 copies
The Medici Fountain (1962) 29 copies
Les Temps sauvages (1975) 27 copies
Princes of the Night (1928) 22 copies
Le petit âne blanc (1975) 20 copies
Le bataillon du ciel (1947) 20 copies
Le coup de grace (1931) 19 copies
Hong-Kong et Macao (1975) 18 copies
En Syrie (French Edition) (1990) 18 copies
La Rose de Java (1972) 17 copies
Une balle perdue (1982) 16 copies
La steppe rouge (1995) 16 copies
Les coeurs purs (1927) 15 copies
Vent de sable (1997) 13 copies
Alcohólicos anónimos (1960) 13 copies
Makhno et sa juive (2002) 12 copies
Ami, entends-tu... (2006) 12 copies
Les rois aveugles (1928) — Author — 11 copies
Contes (2001) 11 copies
Wagon-lit (1932) 11 copies
Pour l'honneur (1972) 9 copies
La piste fauve (1954) 8 copies
Dames de Californie (1929) 8 copies
They Weren't All Angels (1935) 8 copies
Les captifs (1992) 8 copies
Les nuits de Sibérie (1928) 6 copies
Les lauriers roses (1950) 5 copies
Les enfants de la chance (1934) 5 copies
La Règle de l'homme (1989) 5 copies
L'affaire bernan (1950) 4 copies
La nagaika (1988) 4 copies
Des hommes (1972) 3 copies
Le lion — Author — 3 copies
Kisling (1971) 3 copies
Les fils de l'impossible (1970) 3 copies
Les Maudru 3 copies
Afghanistan (1970) 3 copies
昼顔 3 copies
Jezdci 2 copies
Romans et récits I, II (2020) 2 copies
Jean Mermoz (1963) 2 copies
Le Lion (Easy readers) (1963) 2 copies
La rage au ventre (1930) 2 copies
The Doll 2 copies
LUANI 1 copy
Reportages en Israël (2021) 1 copy
The Lion Juv Edit (1962) 1 copy
Mary de Cork 1 copy
Bas-fonds 1 copy
Reportages, Romans (2010) 1 copy
Le repos de l'equipage (1949) 1 copy
La Paresse 1 copy

Associated Works

Tagged

001.Roman (6) 1DBF (43) 20th century (23) 39/45 (6) adventure (15) Afghanistan (22) Africa (27) animals (7) aviation (14) biography (17) drama (9) DVD (20) fiction (98) film (7) France (39) French (59) French fiction (11) French literature (55) Germany (8) Grenoble (12) history (37) Holocaust (10) Israel (11) Kenya (14) Kessel (6) literature (45) membre de l'académie française (9) Nazism (8) non-fiction (7) novel (45) R (6) resistance (16) Roman (118) récit (7) SO (34) to-read (22) voyage (6) war (12) WWI (9) WWII (45)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Kessel, Joseph
Birthdate
1898-02-10
Date of death
1979-07-23
Burial location
Cimitière de Montparnasse, Paris, France
Gender
male
Nationality
France
Country (for map)
France
Birthplace
Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina
Place of death
Avernes, Val-d'Oise, France
Places of residence
Orenburg, Russian Empire
France
Education
Conservatoire d'Art dramatique, Paris
Faculté de la Sorbonne, Paris (Licence, Lettres, 19 15)
Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, France
Lycée Masséna, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Occupations
journalist
novelist
French resistance fighter
screenwriter
pilot
Relationships
Druon, Maurice (nephew)
Hauteclocque, Xavier de (friend, colleague)
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de (friend)
Organizations
Académie française (Seat 27 ∙ 1962-1979)
French Resistance
Journal des Débats
La Liberté
Le Figaro
Awards and honors
Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
Croix de guerre 1914-1918
Croix de guerre 1939-1945
Médaille de l'ordre de la Libération (1947)
Académie française (1962)
Short biography
Joseph Kessel, born to a Jewish family in Argentina, grew up in Russia and France. He served as a pilot in the French Air Force in World War I. From this experience, he wrote his first hit book, L'Équipage (The Crew, 1923). In the interwar years, he became known as a hard-drinking, womanizing adventurer, journalist, and novelist. During this time, Kessel covered important historical events such as the Irish Revolution, the slave trade in the Middle East, the Spanish Civil War, and the rise of the Nazis. He joined the French Resistance in World War II, and in 1943 produced one of the most famous novels of resistance to the German Occupation, L'Armée des Ombres (Army of Shadows). With his nephew Maurice Druon, he also co-wrote the "Chant des Partisans," the song that became the anthem of the Resistance movement. He finished the war back in the Armée de l'air as a pilot in a squadron that flew over France at night to maintain liaison with the Resistance and give it instructions. He was elected to the Académie française in 1962. In 1967, his earlier novel Belle de Jour (1928) was adapted by Luis Buñuel into a now-classic film of the same name. The Prix Joseph Kessel, established in his memory in 1991, is a prestigious annual French literary award.

Members

Reviews

9782701154343
 
Flagged
archivomorero | 6 other reviews | May 21, 2023 |
The edition I am reviewing is the most recent one.this is a very quick read but the more I read the more implausible the story became for me. I learned a great deal about the Nazi higher ups and for me that was the most interesting part.
 
Flagged
alans | 4 other reviews | Mar 8, 2023 |
An interesting look at a culture of Afghanistan fifty years ago. An adventure story and a character study, this novel has action scenes, changing fortunes, deceit, suspense, and more. Very enjoyable.
 
Flagged
MisterMelon | 5 other reviews | Jan 15, 2017 |
Belle de Jour is the story of Séverine Sérizy, a beautiful young housewife married to a successful doctor. Her life is pretty great, except she feels like she cannot fulfil her sexual affinity for masochistic desires with her husband. She gets a job as a prostitute under the pseudonym Belle de Jour, only working from two to five each week day, so she can return before her husband gets home. Her job gets her involved with a young gangster named Marcel who allows her to explore all her sexual fantasies. However this relationship of thrills becomes far too much and life gets complicated for Séverine.

Most people will know the story of Belle de Jour as it also a classic piece of French cinema from 1967. Directed by Luis Buñuel and staring Catherine Deneuve, the film explores the exact same story in a richer and interesting way. Buñuel is a Spanish director who has worked on movies in Spain, Mexico and France; he is also acclaimed for his avant-garde surrealist style. I was blown away by this movie and I only saw the movie recently. The concepts of the movie kept swimming through my mind that I needed to read the book to find out more.

What I have found is that the story in the novel is very similar but the surrealist nature of the movie was not there. I did however gain a few insights into the life of Séverine Sérizy that I never picked up on. There is some interesting observations to be made between the connection in literature and fetish, especially with sexual sadism and sexual abuse. This has been a common problem found in books like Fifty Shades of Grey and other novels that deal with BDSM. It is a little sad to think this trope steams all the way to 1928 and maybe further. I think French erotica is really interesting and it is weird to think this was written so long ago.

If you have seen the movie Belle de Jour, then reading the book is not really beneficial. Joseph Kessel does not offer anything interesting and I think everything that made the movie great was all original content from the mind of Luis Buñuel. I plan to re-watch the film sometime so I can write a review of it. As for French erotica, I plan to read more and I am not sure what to read. I think might have to read The Story of O, but I am open to more suggestions.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/literature/book-reviews/genre/erotica/belle-de-jour...
… (more)
½
1 vote
Flagged
knowledge_lost | 6 other reviews | Sep 6, 2015 |

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Statistics

Works
127
Also by
10
Members
1,985
Popularity
#12,952
Rating
3.8
Reviews
40
ISBNs
273
Languages
14
Favorited
4

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