Jules Roy

Jules Roy (born October 22, 1907 in Rovigo , Algeria , † June 15, 2000 in Vézelay , France ) was a French writer .

Life

Roy studied theology . However, after graduating, he decided to become a professional soldier. First he was an infantryman, then he trained as an aviator. In 1943 he went to Great Britain to fly attacks to Germany with the Free French Air Force. Then he went to Indochina as a lieutenant colonel . In 1953 he left the army to first devote himself to cattle breeding on his estate near Bayonne .

Roy was already active as a writer in his youth. He published his first novel in 1943 under the title "Ciel et terre". In 1945 he worked for the magazine "Combat" founded by Albert Camus .

He became known in 1946 with "La Vallée heureuse" (in German 1946 "The happy valley"). In the spring of 1960, Roy traveled through Algeria for weeks. The result of the trip was the report "La guerre d'Algerie". In this report he demanded that the Algerian war should be ended through direct negotiations with the Algerian "National Liberation Front" (FLN). In 1963 his report "La Bataille de Dien Bien Phu" appeared, in which he described the French defeat in Southeast Asia. In the novel "Les chevaux du soleil", completed in 1980, Roy portrayed French rule in Algeria - this six-volume novel served as the template for the twelve-part television series The Sun Horses, broadcast in 1981 .

more publishments

• Passion de Saint-Exupery 1964
• J'accuse de general Massu 1972
• Une affair d'honneur 1983
• Memoires babares 1989
• Vezelay ou l'amour fou 1990
• Rostropovitch, Gainsbourg et Dieu 1992

Awards

• Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
• Croix de guerre 1939-1945
• Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Theophraste Renaudot Prize 1946
• Grand prix litteraire de Monaco 1957
• Grand prix de Litterature de L'Academie francaise 1958
• Grand prix national des Lettres 1969
• Grand prix de la Ville de Paris 1975

Web links

• Literature by and about Jules Roy in the catalog of the German National Library