Who was Paul Munier?
From: Susan Dixon
Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:40 PM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Dear List,
I am looking for biographical information about Paul Munier, the author of at least the following novels:
Gaudius et Kholéas, Lyon, Editions du fleuve, 1925.
La tragique aventure de Jean Salel, Hanoï, Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1928.
On devrait mieux choisir les gens, Hanoï, G. Taupin, 1940.
Xuân, bagnard, Paris-La Havane, Editions Siboney, 1947.
Any leads would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Susan
--
Susan C. Dixon, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies
Department of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Office: 202 Marts Hall
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From: Hiep Duc
Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 8:27 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hi Susan,
I only have a few information on Paul Munier:
One of the novels he wrote was “La Légende de Bà-Dê” which he said was told to him by a learned educated Vietnamese (Nguyen Van Toan) he met on his stroll near Do S?n. This legend was then put on screen in 1929, which mostly filmed by Vietnamese amateurs with the help of Paul Munier as a script writer and Georges Spcecht, who was a technical director of “Société Indochine Film” in Hanoi. The actress was Mme Léon Gille but all other actors were Vietnamese.
Paul Munier was an avid traveller and had an insightful understanding and the histories of the places he visited. He presented one of his talks at “Société de Géographie” in 1934 on the mountainous region of Cai Kinh in Lang Son illuminating not only the geography but the history and prehistory of this area. Before that, another of his talk in 1932 on Emperor Gia Long at the same Society of Geography had impressed much the audience.
He was also a poet who wrote “Rayon de Soleil” in the mid 1920s about the life of a Vietnamese boy in the rural area.
Paul Munier was definitely a Renaissance man.
(Sources: “L’Eveil economique de l’Indochine”, 23 Fev. 1930, 22 Avril 1934, 5 Avril 1925, 27 Novembre 1932).
Cheers
Hiep
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From: Susan Dixon
Date: Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 9:59 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Hiep,
Thank you very much for this information and for the reference. I was aware of Munier's transcription of Vietnamese legends, but I did not know about the film. Do you know if a copy still exists somewhere?
Is “L’Eveil economique de l’Indochine” available electronically or had you consulted it previously in a library collection?
Again, thanks!
Susan
Susan C. Dixon, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies
Department of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Office: 202 Marts Hall
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From: Judith A N Henchy
Date: Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 11:08 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Susan, Seems to be digitized on Gallica:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb327716099/date1918
Best
Judith
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From: Hiep Duc
Date: Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 5:01 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Susan,
I don't know whether the film "La Legende de Ba-De" still exists. It would be great if a copy can be found. Maybe this film is the first Vietnamese-made film.
As Judith mentions, the l'Eveil economique de l'Indochine is now digitized by BNF and you can access it. Hopefully they will digitize more journals in their large collection.
Cheers
Hiep
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From: Susan Dixon
Date: Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 3:51 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Judith: thanks for the link to Gallica. Gallica seems to have
digitized more sources on Indochina than when I last searched it.
Hiep: Do you know of any collections of Vietnamese film anywhere?
Perhaps there are other missing pearls.
Best,
Susan
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From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>
Date: Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 7:20 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Susan,
That's also the question that I want to know the answer. I guess there are two places that one can try: Hanoi as the film was made in Tonkin or at Archives Nationales d'Outre Mer (ANOM). ANOM has some photography collections of early photographers such as Ludovic Crespin in the early 1920.
Barbara Creed and Jeannette Hoorn had a paper on the early films made in Indochina. So they probably know more about the places where the earliest films can be found.
(Barbara Creed and Jeanette Hoorn, Memory and History: Early Film, Colonialism and the French Civilising Mission in Indochina, in “French History and Civilization”, Papers from the George Rudé Seminar Volume 4, 2011, Edited by Briony Neilson and Robert Aldrich, http://www.h-france.net/rude/rudevoliv/CreedHoornVol4.pdf.)
Interestingly, the earliest film made in Vietnam was the short film entitled “Le Village de Namo – Panorama pris d’une chaise à porteurs” made in 1896 at a village called Namo (Nam Ô) near Danang(just 1 year after moving film camera was invented by the Lumiere brothers. Currently as far as I know, no one in Quang Nam know that Vietnam film history started from there (they can make the Nam Ô village on the map as a destination for some tourists).
I include the extract from L'Eveil economique de l'Indochine on the detail of Paul Munier film in the hope that someone can locate this film.
Cheers
Hiep
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From: Susan Dixon
Date: Tue, May 1, 2012 at 9:50 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Hiep,
Thanks for the article and for the Creed and Hoorn reference. I will
add early Vietnamese cinema to my list of things to explore, with
indirect thanks to Paul Munier!
Cheers,
Susan
--
Susan C. Dixon, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of French & Francophone Studies
Department of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Bucknell University
One Dent Drive
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Office: 202 Marts Hall