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presents
Siam d’hier, Thaïlande d’aujourd’hui
(Yesterday’s Siam, Today’s Thailand)
Patrick Binot and Jean Marcel offer a selection of French texts
dating from the seventeenth century up to the present day.
31 astute and often famous individuals present us with texts which illustrate,
with clarity and precision, the rich and extraordinary history of relations
between the Kingdom of Siam/Thailand and the French-speaking nations of
the West. In each of the texts, the durability and continuity of the “Siamese
soul” is emphasized.
This is the first work of its kind to present the most important texts illustrating the long, dense history of
relations between the Eastern Kingdom and the Frenchspeaking nations of the West (France, Belgium, Quebec,
Switzerland). This anthology, the work of authors writing
in the French language on old Siam and modern Thailand,
takes the reader back to a flamboyant past (a past which at
times appears to modern eyes somewhat idiosyncratic) of
princes, diplomats, missionaries and the military. It goes on
to outline a contemporary world where a domain, which
had previously been the reserve of States and Churches,
d’hier
was now being taken over by explorers and visiting experts
- buccaneering, scholarly, elitist, individualistic. Gradually
the process has merged into today’s mass tourism which
seeks to satisfy our insatiable appetite for exoticism.
Siam
Thaïlande
Jacques de Bourges and Simon de la Loubere through to
Morgan Sportes via Paul Morand as well as many others astute, precise and often famous writers - all have stories
to tell about the rich and, in many respects, extraordinary
history of Siam/Thailand. The texts are accompanied
by an introduction from Patrick Binot and Jean Marcel
and illustrations are included. The authors are able to
reproduce those particular contexts existing at the time
when they were writing and to convey a sense of the
prevailing atmosphere then. Moreover, they reveal the
enduring existence of what some have called «the soul of
a people» across the ages.
d’aujourd’hui
par les textes en français
du XVIIe siècle à nos jours
choisis et présentés par
Patrick Binot et Jean Marcel
A selection of 31 texts by Jacques de Bourges, Nicolas Gervaise, Alexandre de Chaumont, François-Timoléon de Choisy,
Claude de Forbin, Simon de La Loubère, Jean Donneau de Visé, Guy Tachard, Maréchal Desfarges, Pierre Bigrot,
Voltaire, Louis de Jaucourt, Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, Henri Mouhot, Ludovic de Beauvoir, Georges «Puck» Chaudoir,
émile and Denise Jottrand, Charles Buls, étienne Lunet de la Jonquière, André Malraux, Paul Morand, Guy de Pourtalès,
Jacques May, Jean Decoux, André Gomane, Morgan Sportès, Lorenzo Pestelli, Marguerite Yourcenar, Jean Marcel.
The texts are accompanied by two booklets of photographs most of which are published for the first time.
Patrick Binot was born in Belgium in 1959. Having obtained a Masters
degree in Language and Linguistics from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles
(U.L.B.), he taught French in Spain for 16 years. Since 2002 he has lived
and taught in Thailand. At present he is French Reader at Srinakharinwirot
University in Bangkok.
Jean Marcel was born in Quebec in 1941. Formerly Professor at Laval
University, Quebec, he is now retired. He holds a Doctorate in Philology
and Romance Literature from the Centre for Advanced Studies in Medieval
Civilisation, Poitiers. He is a Special Adviser in the French Department of
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He has been pursuing a writing
career in Thailand for the past 25 years.
Contact: [email protected] • www.soukha-editions.fr
Tel: France + 33 677 313 900 - Thailand + 66 870 620 145
Siam d’hier
Thaïlande d’aujourd’hui
Patrick Binot and Jean Marcel
July 2014
352 pages
+ 2 x 16 pages colour booklet
17 x 24 cm
Public price France: 29 €
Thailand: 1190 Bahts
ISBN: 978-2-9191-2266-0