Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Joseph Kessel, témoin de l'insurrection irlandaise

1985; Presses universitaires de Caen; Volume: 10; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/irlan.1985.2344

2259-8863

Yves Courrière,

Irish and British Studies

Joseph Kessel was only twenty two when he was sent to Ireland to cover the Tan war for the daily Parisian newspaper La Liberté. In this article, based on Kessel's writings and personal recollections, Yves Courrière recalls the epic adventures of the young journalist in the midst of London and in war-torn Dublin, his strong feelings about the hunger strike of Terence Mac Swiney, the friendship which rapidly grew between him and Desmond Fitzgerald, the brilliantly orchestrated unmasking of a Castle double agent, the sinister reprisals against the little village of Balbriggan and many other episodes of the period. Yves Courrière rightly stresses the importance of this first reportage in the career of Joseph Kessel : it made him a member of the exclusive club of Great Reporters, it gave him the subject of his beautiful short story «Mary de Cork», and it firmly and forever placed him on the side of the oppressed against the oppressors.