Le Viêt Nam de Paul Mus : grandeurs et malentendus d’un dialogue interculturel

• Main Author: Laurent Dartigues
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2002-07-01
• Series: Moussons
• Subjects: Mus (Paul); Vietnam; Orientalism; sociology of religion; cross-cultural dialogue; misunderstanding
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/moussons/2688

Regarded as one of the greatest Orientalists of his time, Paul Mus published in 1952 a famous, still authoritative book, Viêt-Nam, sociologie d’une guerre. Based on a complex writing style drawing from the system of metaphors of classical Confucian literature, the book tenders a valid religious and political sociology of Vietnam. It also suggests a possible, though difficult path toward reconciliation of the two nations based on the notion of a cultural dialogue between French and Vietnamese elites. In doing this, however, Mus overlooked the depth of the misunderstanding between the two nations in the long term.