Utente:Laramie1960/Juliette Benzoni

Juliette Benzoni nel 2009

Andrée-Marguerite –Juliette Mangin, nota anche con lo pseudonimo di Juliette Benzoni (Parigi, 30 ottobre 1920 – Saint-Mandé, 7 febbraio 2016), è stata una scrittrice francese. Juliette Benzoni (30 October 1920 – 7 February 2016) was an international French bestselling author in several genres, including historical romance, historical fiction, mystery and screenwriting. She was known as the "Queen of History Novels" and "Daughter of Alexander Dumas". She wrote 86 books, which were translated in at least 36 countries. More than three hundred million books were sold in France and internationally. In 2013 “L'Actu Littéraire” wrote in its magazine: Benzoni appears on the list of the most-read authors in France, she has conquered over “50 million readers” in more than 20 countries.

Personal life

She was born Andrée-Marguerite-Juliette Mangin, the daughter of Marie-Susanne Arnold (of Alsace and Swiss origin) and Charles-Hubert Mangin. She grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Paris. At the age of nine she discovered her passion for history through reading a reading a book about Joan of Arc. Her father persuaded her to read the books of Alexander Dumas as she explained to Magazine Littéraire in 2002

«It was my father who, one fine day, put the Three Musketeers into my hands, saying that it should please me. Being himself a bit of Alexander Dumas and regretting a little that I was not a boy...

(C'est mon père qui, un beau jour, m'a mis dans les mains "Les Trois Mousquetaires" en disant que cela devrait me plaire. Etant lui-même un mordu d'Alexandre Dumas et regrettant un peu je ne sois pas un garçon, il y avait là une sorte de mise en demeure…)»

(Juliette Benzoni in: Why I love Alexandre Dumas)

Benzoni was educated at the Lycée Fenelon, College d'Hulst and the Institut Catholique Paris, where she studied philosophy, law and literature.

She married a doctor, Maurice Gallois in 1941, and they moved to Dijon where she became the mother of two children. While studying the history of Burgundy she discovered the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was later to inspire the seven Catherine novels. In 1950 her husband died of a heart attack, leaving her a widow at the age of 30 with two young children. She went to Morocco to visit some relatives of her late husband and found work at a radio station.

In Morocco she met a young French officer, Count André Benzoni di Conza from Corsica, and they married a few weeks before he was assigned to leave for Indochina to rejoin his regiment. Because of the unstable situation in Morocco, her husband wanted her to return to France, so in 1953 she went to live in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Mandé, where later her husband would become deputy mayor. Times were hard and she had to look for work, so she began employment as a journalist and author.

In 1982 her husband André Benzoni died, making her a widow for the second time. In January 1985 her son Jean-François Gallois died of a heart-attack, just like his father Maurice. It was the only time the author suffered from writer's block, while working on the first adventures of Le boiteux de Varsovie.

She lived in a Second Empire mansion with her daughter Anne Gallois, and went for long walks with her dog in the Bois de Vincennes, visiting her favourite library "Monaco" in Saint-Mandé. Her house was full of books from the cellar up to the first floor – not only literary encyclopaedias, history books, and travel guides but also collections of works by Agatha Christie, Anne Perry, and Ken Follet. She travelled widely, and enjoyed gardening and cooking for her family and guests.

Career

Returning to Paris from Morocco in 1953, Benzoni started to work as a journalist, writing historical articles at the Journal du Dimanche and Histoire pour tous. Under the pseudonym "Juliette Jansen" she interviewed celebrities such as Erich von Stroheim, Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Charles Trenet and Maurice Chevalier.

In 1959 she participated in the popular television quiz show Le Gros Lot. The topic was the Italian Renaissance, and the subject was Catherina Sforza. In spite of floundering on the second-to-last question, the next day she was summoned by Gérald Gauthier, director of the Press Agency at Opéra Mundi. Impressed by her historical knowledge, he asked her if she could write a historical novel in the same style as the Angelique series, (by Anne Golon), which Opéra Mundi had published with great success in 1956. Benzoni agreed and said she had an idea – the legend of the Golden Fleece, and started to write 1100 pages about a golden-haired girl at the time of the Hundred Years' War.

Catherine was released in 1962 as a cliffhanger in the daily newspaper France-Soir as Il suffit d'un amour (One Love is Enough). In 1963 newspaper Le Figaro: wrote: “before the book was even published it beats all records: it is already sold to ten different countries”. France-Soir confirmed: “it has an unprecedented destiny in the history of publishing...” On 10 June 1964 Le Provençal wrote: “A heroine – who takes place – alongside Scarlett O'Hara and The Marquise of the Angels” (Angélique).

Editions Trévise had already(1962) published two collections of her short stories- La Reines tragiques and Aventuries du passé, but it was the Catherine novels that launched her career as a bestselling author.

In August 1964 Benzoni was invited to a cocktail party in London by Heinemann Ltd to introduce Catherine, One Love is Enough There followed an interview with BBC radio reporter Leigh Crutchley introducing "Countess Juliette Benzoni di Conza" to the English press. The story of Catherine and Arnaud de Montsalvy was published in at least thirty countries

Inspired by the success, Benzoni continued to write. Seventeen historical series (sixty-five books), a collection of eighteen short story novels, three stand alone novels, all in all eighty-six books, followed. For her researches Benzoni was often seen at the local library "Monaco" in Saint-Mandé. She travelled all over the world to visit castles, museums, monasteries, libraries and villages for her work. Sometimes a museum painting would inspire a new story. She never kept a computer; each morning at six-thirty she got up and started writing on her old electric typewriter and wrote three pages – never missing a day, even on Sundays.

From time to time she appeared on television to introduce one of her new books or to give an interview at a radio station.

In 1965 a song was composed by Paul Amar, text by J. Benzoni, called: Catherine, il suffit d'un amour, sung first by Michèle Arnaud and later Bernard Stéphane.

She met many members of the nobility, historians, authors, professors, directors and entertainers. The great French historian Alain Decaux was an admirer of Benzoni – as she was of him. In her book "Par le Fer ou le Poison", published in 1973 by Plon, he wrote in his preface:

«You are a great admirer of Alexander Dumas. "You see in him your Master". You follow the same road as he does: You help the French love History.

(Vous êtes une grande admiratrice d’Alexandre Dumas. Vous voyez en lui votre maître. Vous suivez la même voie que lui: vous aidez à faire aimer l’histoire aux Français)»

(Alain Decaux in Par le Fer ou le Poison)

One of the factors in Benzoni's success as a Romancière was based on her thorough historical research.

American President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy sent her a letter from the White House, after they had read her first novel of the Le Gerfaut series (The Lure of the Falcon) This letter was very precious to Benzoni and it is mentioned in many of the articles concerning her career.

From the beginning of her writing career the author had a faithful readership who looked forward to each new publication. In some of the castles in France, one will find her series of Le Roman des Châteaux de France, with a foreword by Stéphane Bern, journalist and moderator. Benzoni narrates for the reader the life of famous historic characters who lived in these castles.

However many other countries did not publish her later works. so international readers were not aware.of the breadth of her writing.

Catherine Novels

«"You see this here"? said Gérald Gauthier to me with a great and dramatic gesture, these are the "press-maps" of Angélique. I promise you the same glory and success. And now off with you to work!

(Vous voyez ça? m'a dit Gérald Gauthier dans un grand geste dramatique, ce sont les "press-books" d'Angélique. Je vous en promets autant, même gloire et même succès. Et maintenant au travail)»

(Juliette Benzoni in her own Biography (1971 French edition of Marianne, Jason de quatre mers))

After the successful start of Catherine in Great Britain the American market also began to publish Benzoni's series 1967 with different book covers and titles. Their headline said: Juliette Benzoni's Belle Catherine – A ravishing heroine in the full-blooded tradition of Désirée and Angélique. Yet similar to English publisher Heinemann Ltd, Avon Books never translated the seventh book La Dame de Montsalvy.

As Catherine and a Time for love had ended in 1968 with an epiloque, and the last two books were only written years later in 1973 and 1979 due to the demand from her French readers for new Catherine adventures, the final sixth and seventh books were not commonly translated for overseas markets.

During the shooting of the television series Catherine, il suffit d'un amour 1985 Benzoni visited the set a couple of times, and said in an interview 1985 about her first great success Catherine:

«“I have a weakness for Catherine, because she was the first of my heroines, and also because its history, I invented, while "Marianne, a star for Napoleon", was an order by my publisher for the occasion of the bicentenary of Emperor Napoleon ..."

(J'ai un faible pour Catherine, parce qu'elle est la première de mes héroïnes, et aussi parce que son histoire, j'ai inventée, alors que Marianne une étoile pour Napoléon, c'est une commande qui me fut faite à l'occasion de bicentenaire de l'Empereur)»

(Juliette Benzoni)

«“This is a very enthralling novel of which one can say that it deserves well this term "Romanesque" which is the best guarantee to keep a reader spellbound with pleasure and emotion during reading. Worth mentioning are the excellent treasury of words and of style"

(Voici un très attachant roman dont un peut dire qu’il mérite bien ce qualificatif de « romanesque » qui est la meilleure garantie du plaisir et de l’émotion qu’y prendra le lecteur. Ajoutez qu’il est de bonne langue et de bon style. )»

(Henri de Montfort: French historian, writer, journalist and French Resistance worker. Co-founder of ICI PARIS (newspaper))

Reissuing of the Catherine series

Front cover of Belle Catherine 2017

In 2014 the English publisher Telos Publishing bought the rights from Benzoni to re-issue the Catherine Series which included the never before translated seventh book La Dame de Montsalvy, titled The Lady of Montsalvy. Since March 2015, more than fifty years after first being in print, four of the seven Catherine novels are again on the market. Telos Publishing announced on their official website that this time the Catherine novels would be full and unabridged translations.

The Aldo Morosini Adventures

In the Nineties, Benzoni created a new hero, a Venetian prince, "His Highness Aldo Morosini” an expert on historic and precious stones. Bezoni explained in her foreword to the novel Les Treize Vents (The thirteen winds) that the Aldo Morosini Adventures originated from the request of a famous French actor for her to write a television series script for an adventure story with him in the leading role,to be set in modern Venice. .

A brief summary of the beginning...

The story begins in 1918, when the young Aldo Morosini (son of a Venetian prince and French princess) returns home from World War 1 to Venice, to his fathers Palace at the Grand Canal, only to find his mother murdered and the family heirloom, a blue saphire called L'Étoile Bleue (The Blue Star) stolen. He decides not to inform the police, but to search for the murderous thief himself.

Left without any money, and in fear of losing his family home, he chooses to work as a specialist on precious and ancient stones, instead of marrying a rich wife as is suggested to him by the family lawyer. The pursuit for both the saphire and murderer leads him overseas to Paris, Zurich, Vienna, London, Warsaw, Seville, Prague, Jerusalem, Cairo and the United States. He commutes back and forth between Venice and Paris via Orient Express.

While in Paris, he resides in Rue Alfred-de-Vigny near the Parc Monceau at the second Empire villa of his great-aunt the marchioness Amélie de Sommières. During his many adventures, Morosini is supported by the young and quick-witted blonde archaeologist Adalbert Vidal-Pellicorne, whom he meets under "amusing" circumstances - and whose driving skills with his red Roadster Amilcar provides additional suspense.

What started as a series of four novels, each titled after a famous precious stone, became another of the author's successes. Both male and female readers enjoyed her novels.

The adventures of the dashing Aldo Morosini were translated in Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece and Poland. Due to its success, the author started writing new Aldo adventures in between other novels of her favourite hero, of whom she once said in an Interview 2010

«If you had a wish free, which of the fictive characters you created so far, or which personality would you like to be for a day? Without doubt the Marquise de Sommières, for the pleasure to live among people completely according to my heart. I would love to have Aldo Morosini as a nephew!

(Si vous pouviez faire ce vœu, lequel de vos personnages fictifs ou quel personnage réel voudriez-vous être pour une journée? Sans hésiter la marquise de Sommières, pour le plaisir d’évoluer parmi des gens tout à fait selon mon cœur. J’adorerais avoir Aldo Morosini comme neveu !)»

(Juliette Benzoni in an interview 2010)

Although very popular in France, to date no publishers have approached Benzoni's publisher PLON for the rights to translate the Adventures of Aldo Morosini.

The last adventure of Aldo Morosini, Le Vol du Sancy: Des Carats pour Ava? was published by Plon two weeks before Benzoni's death in 2016. It was not as some newspapers in their death notice wrote, a new police series but the 15th adventure of Aldo Morosini and his gang. French historian, author and specialist in precious stones and jewellery, Vincent Meylan wrote in his obituary for Benzoni "Aldo Morosini, the Venetian prince is in mourning..."

Publications

The Series

Series translated into English:

• Catherine series (7 Novels)
  • One Love is Enough Catherine (Juliette Benzoni) (1964) Original title: Il suffit d'un amour I 1963 / Editions Trévise
  • Catherine (1965) Original title: Il suffit d'un amour II 1964
  • Belle Catherine (1966) Original title: Belle Catherine 1966
  • Catherine and Arnaud (1967) Original French title: Catherine des Grands Chemins 1967
  • Catherine and a Time for Love (1968) Original French title: Catherine et le temps d'aimer 1968
  • A Snare for Catherine (1974) Original French title: Piège pour Catherine 1974
  • La Dame de Montsalvy (1979) not translated into English.
• Marianne series (6 Novels)
  • Marianne, the bride of Selton Hall (1969) Original French title: Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon 1969
  • Marianne and the masked Prince (1971) Original French title: Marianne et l'inconnu de Toscane (1971)
  • Marianne and the Privateer (1972) Original French title: Marianne - Jason des quatre mers 1972
  • Marianne and the Rebels (1973) Original French title: Marianne - toi Marianne 1972
  • Marianne and the Lords of the East (1975) Original French title: Marianne les lauriers de flammes I 1974
  • Marianne and the Crown of Fire (1975) Original French title: Marianne les lauriers de flammes II 1974
• The Lure of the Falcon series (4 Novels)
  • The Lure of the Falcon (1978) Original French title: Le Gerfaut des brumes 1976
  • The Devil's Diamonds (1980) Original French title: Un collier pour le diable 1978
  • Le Trésor (1980) not translated into English
  • Haute-Savanne (1981) not translated into English.

up to now not translated into English so far.

• Les Loups de Lauzargues series (3 novels)
  • Jean de la Nuit (1985)
  • Hortense au Point du Jour (1985)
  • Félicia au Soleil couchant (1987)
• La Florentine series (4 Novels)
  • Fiora et le Magnifique (1988)
  • Fiora et le Téméraire (1988)
  • Fiora et le Pape (1989)
  • Fiora et le Roi de France (1990)
• Les Dames du Méditerranée Express series (3 novels)
  • La jeune mariée (1990)
  • La fière Americaine (1991)
  • La princesse Manchou (1991)
• Les Treize vents series (4 Novels)
  • Le Voyageur (1992)
  • Le Réfugié (1993)
  • L'Intrus (1993)
  • L'Exilé (1994)
• Les aventures d'Aldo Morosini (15 novels) 1994 – 2016
  • Le Boiteux de Varsovie series (4 novels)
    • L'étoile bleue (1994)
    • La rose d'York (1995)
    • L'Opale de Sissi ( 1996)
    • Le Rubis de Jeanne la Folle (1996)
• La suite des aventures d'Aldo Morosini (11 novels)
  • Les émeraudes du Prophète (1999)
  • La perle de l'Empereur (2001)
  • Les joyaux de la sorcière (2004)
  • Les "larmes" de Marie-Antoinette (2006)
  • Le collier sacré de Montezuma (2007)
  • L'Anneau d'Atlantide (2009)
  • La Chimère d'Or des Borgia part 1 from 2 (2011)
  • La Collection Kledermann part 2 from 2 (2012)
  • Le Talisman du Téméraire
    • Les trois frères part 1 from 2 (2013)
    • Le diamant de Bourgogne part 2 from 2 (2014)
  • Le vol du Sancy – Des carats pour Ava ? (2016)
• Secret d'état series (3 novels)
  • La chambre de la reine (1997)
  • Le roi des halles (1998)
  • Le prisonnier masqué (1998)
• Le jeu de l'amour et de la mort series (3 novels)
  • Un homme pour le Roi (1999)
  • La messe rouge (2000)
  • La comtesse des ténébres (2000)
• Les Chevaliers series (3 novels)
  • Thibaut ou la croix perdue (2002)
  • Renaud ou la malédiction (2003)
  • Olivier ou les trésors templiers (2003)
• Marie series (2 novels)
  • Marie des intrigues (2004)
  • Marie des passions (2005)
• Le Sang des Koenigsmark (2 novels)
  • Aurore (2006)
  • Fils de l'Aurore (2007)
• Le Temps des Poisons (2 novels)
  • On a tué la reine ! (2008)
  • La chambre du roi (2009)
• Le Bal des Poignards ( 2 novels)
  • La dague au lys rouge (2010)
  • Le couteau de Ravaillac (2010)
• La Guerre des Duchesses (2 novels)
  • La fille du condamné (2012)
  • Princesse des Vandales (2013)

Short Stories

• Les Reines tragiques (1962)
• Aventuries du Passé (Les chemins de l'Aventure) (1963)
• Par le fer ou le poison (1973)
• Le sang, la gloire et l'amour (1974)
• Trois Seigneurs de la nuit (1978)
• Grandes Dames petites vertus (Elles ont aimé) (1978)
• De sac et de corde (Crimes et Criminels) (1979)
• Tragédies Impériales (1980)
• Dames, Drames et Demons (Suite Italienne) (1980)
• Dans le lit des Rois: Nuit de noces (1983)
• Dans le lit des Reines: les amants (1984)
• Le Roman des châteaux de France (3 Novels) (1985)
• Cent ans de vie de château (la vie de Châteaux) (1992)
• Les reines du Faubourg (2006)
• Ces belles inconnues de la Révolution (2014)
• Ces Femmes du Grand Siècle (2015)

Single Novels

• Un aussi long chemin (1983)
• De deux Roses l'une... (1997)
• La petite peste et le chat botté (2015)

Filmography

In 1968 the producer of the Angélique films was given rights to turn Catherine, One love is Enough into a film. Benzoni stated that when she saw the film, she “cried like a waterfall” (original French text: je pleurais comme une fontaine) because the producer Bernard Broderie had completely changed the story. This cinema adventure became a topic never to be mentioned again, although when French television approached her to adapt another novel Marianne, a star for Napoleon with director Marion Sarraut to be in charge, she agreed.

In a 1983 press release for Marianne, une étoile pour Napoléon Benzoni writes "Thanks to Marion Sarraut, director after my heart... provided with a heart, sensibility and talent, a great artistic sense and an astonishingly sure flair to choose interpreters”. Quoting from an article in Tele star, dating from 15 March 1986 she says: “I do not want a director other than Marion”. Benzoni wrote the screenplay with Jean Chatenet and the television series became a huge success. Confidently she agreed in 1985 to the filming of Catherine, il suffit d'un amour. It was to be the longest series so far on French television. In 1987 followed Le Gerfaut (The Lure of the Falcon) which introduced a male hero in the leading role. The last series to be filmed was La Florentine.

Catherine was first adapted in 1969 for cinema, as a French, German, and Italian Production by Bernard Broderie. Four years later Antenne 2 – SFP Production bought the filming rights for four of Benzoni's other books; Marianne, a star for Napoleon, Catherine, One Love is Enough, Le Gerfaut and La Florentine.

• Catherine was adapted for cinema in 1969 under the title of Catherine, il suffit d'un amour by Bernard Broderie, with Olga-Georges Picot and Horst Frank
• Marianne was adapted in 1983 for television, a series of 30 episodes by Marion Sarraut with Corinne Touzet and Jean-François Poron.
• Catherine was adapted for television, a series of 60 episodes by Marion Sarraut with Claudine Ancelot and Pierre-Marie Escourrou.
• Le Gerfaut (Lure of the Falcon) was adapted in 1987 for television, a series of 30 episodes by Marion Sarraut with Laurent Le Doyen and Marianne Anska.
• La Florentine was adapted in 1991 for television, a series of 10 episodes by Marion Sarraut with Anne Jacquemin and Alain Payan.

Awards and honours

File:Juliette Benzoni receiving the Knight of National Order of Merit, Chevalier de l'Ordre National, from President Jacques Chirac in 1998.jpg

Juliette Benzoni receiving the Knight of National Order of Merit, Chevalier de l'Ordre National, from President Jacques Chirac in 1998Template:Ffdc

In 1973, Benzoni received the Alexandre Dumas Prix for her work to date, the Catherine and the Marianne series. As a fervent admirer of Alexander Dumas since childhood, she always kept the medal on her working table. In 1988 the Académie française awarded her with the Literature Prix Louis Barthou, for Félicia au Soliel Couchant. In 1998, at the age of 78, she received the Chevalier de l'Ordre National, awarded by the President of the French Republic.

• 1973 Alexandre Dumas Prix
• 1988 Louis Bartou prix – Literature
• 1998 Knight of National Order of Merit

Death

Resting place of Juliette Benzoni

Juliette Benzoni died peacefully in her sleep on 7 February, 2016 in Saint-Mandé,with, her daughter Anne at her side. In the book of condolence which was provided online, readers all over the world expressed their sadness She is buried at the Cemetery in Saint-Mandè Sud, with her mother, husband and son.

Collegamenti esterni

• (FR) Sito ufficiale, su juliette-benzoni-officiel.com.
• (FR, EN) Sito dedicato al primo successo Catherine, su catherinedemontsalvy.ch.
• (FR) Bibliografia, su juliette-benzoni-tribute.ch.