Jean-Pierre Dannaud

Jean-Pierre Dannaud (6 Feb. 1921, Paris — 7 Dec. 1995, Paris, France) was a French civil servant based in Saigon [Ho Chi Minh City] in the 1950s, a novelist and essayist who wrote about the Indochina Wars and Cambodia, and won the 1993 French Academy Prize for his novel Fleuve Rouge (Red River).

WWII disrupted Dannaud’s studies in humanities and philosophy — his diploma thesis at École normale supérieure (ENS) in 1940 was titled Le temps et l’éternité dans la philosophie de Hegel [Time and Eternity in Hegel’s Philosophy], and after his wartime service he completed the certification for advanced teaching of philosophy.

A professor at Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris until 1947, Dannaud was appointed Cultural attaché in Saigon the following year. In 1950 – 4, he served as Director of the Information Service of French Indochina, and Head of the French Cultural Mission in Viet Nam from 1954 to 1956. During that time, he particularly studied the arts and traditions of Ancient Cambodia and Ancient Java. From his involvement in the French Resistance, he also kept close to the Gaullist movement during the rest of his natural life.

In 1957, he left for Morocco to head the the French academic and cultural mission to the North-African country. From 1961 to 1964, he was Director of cultural and technical cooperation in the French Ministry of Cooperation and then director of cultural and technical cooperation secretary of state for foreign affairs (1964 – 1966), State Councillor (1966 and from Nov. 1974), Chief of Staff to the Minister of Interior (April 1967-May 1968), Commissioner for tourism (1970 – 1974), and returned to the Council of State (November 1974). He was also appointed Head of Havas Information Agency from 1972 to 1974.

Publications

• Indochine Profonde, Société asiatique d’éditions, 1954. [with photographs by Michel Aubin / Robert Bouvet / Anne de Buchepot / Daniel Camus / Raymond Cauchetier / Le Dinh Chu / Raoul Coutard / Nguyen Manh Dan / Jean-Pierre Dannaud / Guy Defive / Pierre Ferrari / Eric de Forcade / Nguyen Huu Giu / Dao Thuy Hai / Francis Jauréguy / Fernand Jentile / Kim Khanh / Jean-Dominique Lajoux / Bang Ba Lan / J. Lhuissier / Bang Manh Lien / G. Liron / Jean Peraud / Charles Remigéreau / Raymond Varoqui.]
• Cambodge, Lausanne, La Guilde du Livre, 1956, 1957. [with photographs by Cahery – R. Cauchetier – R. Coutard – Nguyen manh dan – J.P. Dannaud – G. Defive – P. Ferrari – Pham Kim Khanh – Surel – R. Varoqui].
• Guerre Morte [photo album], Paris, Société asiatique d’éditions (Supplément à la revue Indochine Sud-est asiatique), 1954, 181 p.; repr. Guerre morte…il y avait une guerre d’Indochine, Paris : Éditions de la Pensée moderne, 1973. | VN Việt Nam Hồi Ức Từ Chiến Trường 1946 – 1954, transl. by Chiến Kiệt, Hanoi, Nhà Xuất Bản Thông Tin Và Truyền Thông, 2024.
• Fleuve Rouge, Paris, Ed. de Fallois, 1992, 201 p., ISBN 978 – 2877061599.

Main photo: ECPAD Archive.