The Tunisian poet, novelist, and essayist Claude Bénady (b. Tunis, 1922; d. Francem 2000) was born to a Jewish father and a Christian mother. He graduated at Lycée Carnot high school in Tunis and from 1942 to 1945 served in French military campaigns in Tunisia, France, and Germany.

Bénady’s war experiences deeply affected his world views, as expressed in his literary work: He believed that truth is reflected only through poetry, especially the surrealistic form, using automatic writing that evokes unconscious memories and thus purifies both t…