A Bag of Marbles

Last updated
A Bag of Marbles
Un sac de billes (novel).jpg
First edition
Author Joseph Joffo
Original titleUn sac de billes
Country France
Language French
Series D. Carter
Genre Autobiographical novel
Publisher Guilde du Livre
Publication date
1973
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages380 pp

A Bag of Marbles (French : Un sac de billes) is a Second World War autobiographical novel by the French Jewish author Joseph Joffo. It tells the story of his flight, as a small boy, with his brother Maurice to escape from Nazi occupied France to the Zone Libre. [1] Joffo was refused by many publishers before being encouraged by the newly founded publishing house Éditions Jean-Claude Lattès to get the help of an editor to publish the text. [2] The book was a phenomenal best-seller, being made into a major film two years later.

Contents

Plot summary

Joseph is an ordinary boy with ordinary interests; he dislikes lessons and enjoys playing marbles with his friends. But in 1941, when Paris is occupied by the Nazis, his childhood comes to an end. Never before having known what it means to be a Jew, Joseph is forced to wear a yellow star. Due to his schoolmate's admiration of the yellow star, he makes his first business transaction with Zérati, a friend from school: his yellow star exchanged for a bag of marbles.

The racism which results from the occupation leaves only one possibility to Joseph and his brother Maurice: they must flee. Their father, who owns a hairdressing salon, advises them what to do when they leave. Despite having been driven from their home because of their Jewish identity, they are told they must never let anyone know that they are Jews.

They are attempting to escape from the grasp of Hitler and his S.S. men as they infiltrate France. They travel through northern France to the de-militiarised zone in the South. They cross the Demarcation Line in the dead of night with the help of another young boy called Raymond. Once into safe France they travel down to Menton via Marseille, where they spend a fantastic day taking in the sea - something they have never seen before. The boys then spend four blissfully safe months in Menton with their brothers, Henri and Albert, before having to leave the town for Nice, where their parents are waiting.

The boys spend the summer in Nice with their parents. But due to the surrender of the Italians, when they removed Mussolini in favor of Pietro Badoglio, and the arrival of the Germans in safe France, they have to flee quickly to "Moisson Nouvelle", a camp for boys run by the Vichy government. The boys are safe here for a while, and make many friends, until one day when they accompany the lorry driver Ferdinand into Nice where he leads them, unintentionally, straight into a Nazi trap. They are taken to the "Hotel Excelsior", the Nazi headquarters in the region. Fortunately, due to their carefully thought up lies and the persistence of a priest, they escape a month later, still alive but pretty rattled. Sadly, they soon learn of the arrest of their father, who had his papers with him at the time, which means it is no longer safe for the two youngsters to remain in Nice.

As the autumn turns to winter, Joseph and Maurice travel north to see their sister, where they learn that it is unsafe for them to stay; so they go to join their brothers in the Alpine resort of Aix-les-Bains. Here Maurice spends the rest of the war working in a bakery, and Joseph works for the owner of the village bookshop - a staunch Petainist. The two brothers also brush up with resistance fighters in the area, when Joseph has to pass on a secret message.

Joseph returns to Paris shortly after peace is announced, in an over-crowded train. Maurice returns by road, although in his typical style he also takes enough cheese to make a very large profit on! They are both re-united with their family in the salon although sadly not their father, who was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp before the end of the war.

Films and graphic novel

A 1975 film adaptation of the novel was directed by Jacques Doillon. This was followed by a 2017 film adaptation directed by Christian Duguay. A 2012 graphic novel adaptation by Kris and Vincent Bailly was nominated in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards as Best Reality-Based Work.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Genet</span> French novelist, playwright, and poet (1910–1986)

Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Kessel</span> French writer

Joseph Kessel, also known as "Jef", was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French Riviera</span> Mediterranean coast in Southeastern France and Monaco

The French Riviera, known in French as the Côte d'Azur, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending from the rock formation Massif de l'Esterel to Menton, at the France–Italy border, although some other sources place the western boundary further east around Toulon or even Saint-Tropez. The coast is entirely within the Alpes-Maritimes, a department within Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. The Principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean. The French Riviera contains the seaside resorts of Cap-d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, and Theoule-sur-Mer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menton</span> Commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, France

Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border.

<i>The Swiss Family Robinson</i> Book by Johann David Wyss

The Swiss Family Robinson is a novel by the Swiss author Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwrecked in the East Indies. The ship's crew is lost, but the family and several domestic animals survive. They make their way to shore, where they build a settlement, undergoing several adventures before being rescued; some refuse rescue and remain on the island.

<i>Les Misérables</i> (1995 film) Film by Claude Lelouch

Les Misérables is a 1995 French war film written, produced and directed by Claude Lelouch. Set in France during the first half of the 20th century, the film concerns a poor and illiterate man named Henri Fortin who is introduced to Victor Hugo's classic 1862 novel Les Misérables and begins to see parallels to his own life. The film won the 1995 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian occupation of France</span> Occupation of France by Italian Fascist Regime

Italian-occupied France was an area of south-eastern France and Monaco occupied by Fascist Italy between 1940 and 1943 in parallel to the German occupation of France. The occupation had two phases, divided by Case Anton in November 1942 in which the Italian zone expanded significantly. Italian forces retreated from France in September 1943 in the aftermath of the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, and German Wehrmacht forces occupied the abandoned areas until the Liberation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Joffo</span> French writer

Joseph Joffo was a French author. A noted autobiographer, Joffo was perhaps best known for his memoir Un sac de billes, which has been translated into eighteen languages.

"I Can't See Nobody" is a song by the Bee Gees, released first as the B-side of "New York Mining Disaster 1941". With "New York Mining Disaster 1941", this song was issued as a double A in Germany and Japan, and included on the group's third LP, Bee Gees' 1st. "I Can't See Nobody" charted for one week at number 128 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 in July 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JC Lattès</span> French publisher

JC Lattès is a French publishing house. A division of Hachette Livre since 1981, JC Lattès' catalogue includes the works of Dan Brown, as well as Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

Robert Lynen was a French actor. A child star of French cinema, he joined the French Resistance during his country's occupation during World War II, was arrested and deported to Germany, and shot by a Nazi firing squad after repeated escape attempts.

Francine D'Amour is a Quebec educator and writer.

Gaby Bruyère was a French actress, dancer, dramatist, and playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Joffo</span>

Francis Joffo is a French actor, writer and theater director who essentially played for television, particularly in the Au théâtre ce soir program which made him famous. He is also a dramatist and playwright.

Paul Auguste Gombault was a 19th-century French playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lys Gauty</span> French cabaret singer and actress

Lys Gauty was a French cabaret singer and actress. Her most significant work came in the 1930s and 1940s as Gauty appeared in film, and recorded her best-known song, "Le Chaland qui passe", which is an interpretation of an Italian composition.

<i>A Bag of Marbles</i> (2017 film) 2017 French drama film

A Bag of Marbles is a 2017 French drama film directed by Christian Duguay, based on the autobiographical novel A Bag of Marbles by Joseph Joffo. It is the second time the novel has been made into a film after Un sac de billes (1975). The film won the Best Narrative Audience Award at the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival 37. The film was also a jury prize competitor at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michèle Kahn</span> French writer (born 1940)

Michèle Kahn is a French writer who later lived in Strasbourg and currently in Paris. She first wrote books for the young, and mainly addressed the adult public from 1997. Her novels, strongly anchored in history and very documented, often inspired by the adventures of the Jewish people, draw readers around the world.

<i>A Bag of Marbles</i> (1975 film) 1975 French film

A Bag of Marbles is a 1975 French film based on the 1973 autobiographical novel Un sac de billes by Joseph Joffo. Doillon made use of mainly non-professional actors, as also in his next film with children, La Drôlesse (1979).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">César Domboy</span> French actor

César Domboy is a French actor best known for The Walk and his recurring role as Fergus Claudel Fraser in the Starz television drama Outlander.

References

  1. Bastian Naumann - 2007 Joseph Joffo - Un Sac de Billes: 3638672328 - Seminar paper de l'annee 2005 dans le domaine Etudes des langues romanes - Francais - Littérature, note: 2,0, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat Kiel (Romanisches Seminar), cours: Einfuhrung in die Literaturwissenschaft II, 36 sources ...
  2. Un sac de billes de Joseph Joffo (Fiche de lecture): Résumé complet 2806219027 Hadrien Seret, lePetitLittéraire.fr, - 2011 "Décryptez Un sac de billes de Joseph Joffo avec l’analyse du PetitLitteraire.fr "