French texts from the 17th century to the present day, selected and presented by Patrick Binot and Jean Marcel

31 deft, precise and often illustrious pens recount the rich and extraordinary history of the Kingdom's relations with the French-speaking countries of the West. They also underline the enduring appeal of the "Siamese soul" to us through the ages.
With two photo booklets, most of them previously unpublished
The first work of its kind to present the main texts illustrating the dense and already long history of the Kingdom's relations with the French-speaking countries of the West (France, Belgium, Quebec, Switzerland), this anthology from authors writing in French about ancient Siam and modern Thailand plunges us into the flamboyant - and sometimes quite singular seen from today's perspective - past of princes, diplomats, missionaries and soldiers, missionaries and soldiers, it continues with the outline of a contemporary world in which explorers and qualified visitors are taking over the adventurous, scholarly, elitist and individualistic domains hitherto reserved for states and religions, before finally merging with our modern times, when foraging tourism feeds on our insatiable appetite for the exotic.

From Jacques de Bourges and Simon de La Loubère to Morgan Sportès, Paul Morand and many others, the deft, precise and often illustrious pens chosen and presented by Patrick Binot and Jean Marcel tell us this rich and in many ways extraordinary story. Not only do they convey the particular context and atmosphere of the years in which they wrote, but they also underline the enduring character of what some would call, from Siam to Thailand in our eyes, "the soul of a people" through the ages.

​

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, Emile and Denise Jottrand, Charles Buls, Etienne 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.
 

Patrick Binot was born in Belgium in 1959. After obtaining a Master's degree in Languages & Linguistics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), he taught French in Spain for 16 years. Since 2002, he has lived and worked in Thailand. He is a lecturer in French at Bangkok's Srinakharinwirot University.
 

Jean Marcel was born in Quebec in 1941. Retired professor at Université Laval (Québec). Doctorate in Romance philology and literature from the Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale (Poitiers). Academic expert (special advisor) at the French department of Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), he pursued his writing career in Thailand for almost 30 years. Jean Marcel passed away in Bangkok on June 30, 2019.