From Memories to Journey and Back, based on Alexandra David-Neel's adventures in Tibet
The feat of her arrival in Lhasa in 1924 is at the root of Alexandra David-Neel's fame. Published as a tribute last February to mark the centenary of this high point in European exploration history, the hitherto unpublished Souvenirs d'une Parisienne au Thibet raises many questions about both the Tibetan peregrinations of the French explorer and her adopted Sikkimese son, and the writer's consecration in the French and international public arena. In the course of the investigation carried out in preparation for this edition, some mysteries have been cleared up, others obscured: in reopening this dossier, our presentation will restore the stages, the hazards, the evasions masked by Alexandra David-Neel's success story retrospective as a traveler and writer.
The speakers
Samuel Thévoz is an Austrian National Science Foundation (FWF) researcher in the Department of Religious Sciences at the University of Vienna and an associate researcher at the THALIM laboratory (UMR 7172). Her work focuses on the perception of Tibet in France and Europe, modern Buddhism in literature and the performing arts, and European yogic cultures between 1890 and 1960.
Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis is a passionate traveler and graduate of Langues O'. She has organized and supervised numerous trekking tours in Asia, particularly in the Himalayas, covering regions such as Pakistan, Tibet, India, Nepal and Bhutan. She has been making documentaries for television for over twenty-five years, and is best known for her award-winning portrait of Alexandra David-Neel, du Sikkim au Tibet interdit for France 2, produced in collaboration with Antoine de Maximy. Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis is also the author of portraits of personalities such as Mathieu Ricard for Arte, Edgar Morin for France 5, as well as various films shot in the Himalayas.
Session moderated by Françoise Robin (professor of Tibetan language and literature, head of the Tibetan section at Inalco).