Jean Daniel
Jean Daniel | |
---|---|
Born | Jean Daniel Bensaid 21 July 1920 |
Died | 19 February 2020 | (aged 99)
Education | University of Algiers Sorbonne |
Occupation | Journalist |
Known for | Founder of Le Nouvel Observateur |
Spouse | Michèle Bancilhon |
Children | Sara Daniel |
Jean Daniel Bensaid (21 July 1920 – 19 February 2020)[1] was a French journalist and author. He was the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly now known as L'Obs.
Career
Daniel was a Jewish humanist in the tradition of the French Left. He was a colleague and friend of Albert Camus, a fellow pied-noir (French-Algerian).[2] In La prison juive: Humeurs et méditations d'un témoin (The Jewish Prison), Daniel argued that prosperous, assimilated Jews in the west live in a self-imposed prison made of up of three invisible walls: the idea of the Chosen People, Holocaust remembrance, and support for Israel. "Having trapped themselves inside these walls...," wrote Adam Shatz in describing the book, "they were less able to see themselves clearly, or to appreciate the suffering of others -- particularly the Palestinians living behind the 'separation fence'."[3]
Daniel was born in Blida, Algeria. His father, Jules Bensaid, was a flour miller.[4] Daniel was a member of the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.
Publishing
Daniel co-founded the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. The magazine had already existed since 1950 and initially called L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire. It had turned to L'Observateur aujourd'hui in 1953 and France Observateur in 1954. The name Le Nouvel Observateur was adopted in 1964.[5][6][7]
The 1964 incarnation of the magazine was when Jean Daniel and Claude Perdriel took over renaming the magazine and starting its best known phase under the name Le Nouvel Observateur as a weekly. Since then it has been published by Groupe Nouvel Observateur on a weekly basis and has covered political, business and economic news in France and internationally. On 23 October 2014, the magazine was renamed L'Obs.
Published works
Books
- The Jewish Prison: a Rebellious Meditation on the State of Judaism translated into English by Charlotte Mandell, 2005, Melville House Publishing, USA
Articles
- "We Already Miss His Vigilance" TELOS 44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press
References
- ^ "Jean Daniel est mort" (in French). Le Nouvel Obs. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- ^ "Jean Daniel obituary". The Times. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
- ^ Shatz, Adam (5 April 2012) "Nothing He Hasn't Done, Nowhere He Hasn't Been." London Review of Books; page 15.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/business/media/jean-daniel-dead.html
- ^ Philip Thody (1 December 2000). Le Franglais: Forbidden English, Forbidden American: Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France: A Study in. A&C Black. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-4411-7760-5. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
- ^ "Weekly Magazines: Second in a Series on French Media". Wikileaks. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
- ^ Serge Berstein; Jean-Pierre Rioux (13 March 2000). The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Cambridge University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-521-58061-8. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- 1920 births
- 2020 deaths
- Algerian Jews
- French Jews
- University of Algiers alumni
- University of Paris alumni
- Algerian emigrants to France
- People from Blida
- French people of Algerian-Jewish descent
- French male journalists
- French war correspondents
- French magazine founders
- Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
- Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (France)
- French male non-fiction writers
- French agnostics
- French journalist stubs