Literatură franceză, diplomaţie culturală şi Rezistenţă. Michel Dard între Institutul Francez şi Universitatea din Bucureşti (1940-1946)

Dragoş JIPA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2024-0021

Abstract: The article discusses the work of Professor Michel Dard, deputy director of the French Institute in Bucharest during World War II. Although he was not involved in military action, his work as a professor of literature, both at the French Institute and at the University of Bucharest (as a lecturer in the French language and literature department), can be seen as a participation in the French Resistance, through his involvement in cultural propaganda in Romania in support of Charles de Gaulle’s movement. At the same time, his case illustrates the ambiguity and duplicity of the cultural diplomacy action carried out by the French Institute in Romania between 1940 and 1944, which was apparently apolitical in its outward appearance, but secretly supported the Gaullist movement.

Keywords: Michel Dard; French Institute; Romania; cultural diplomacy; French literature; Resistance.