Le Trait d'Union : Organe des Jeunesses de l'Inde Française. Vol. 11 issue 3 to Vol. 16, issue 2 PER 10 (1954/1958)

Vol and Issue: Vol. 11 issue 3 to Vol. 16, issue 2

Missing issues: Vol. 11, issue 3 and Vol. 16, issue 1. Vol. 11, issue 6 has been bound twice. Vol. 13, issue 3 is wrongly numbered as issue 2 and vol. 16, issue 2 as Vol. 15, issue 2. Vol.11, issue 12 (Oct. 1954), Vol. 12, issue 5 (March 1955), Vol. 12, issue 6 (Apr. 1955), Vol. 12, issue 12 (Oct. 1955), Vol. 13, issue 2 (Dec. 1955), Vol. 13, issue 5 (Mar. 1956) have supplements.Vol. 11, issue 12 and Vol. 12, issue 5 are special issues. Also pp. I-IV of the Apr.1955 supplement issue (i.e. supplement of Vol. 12, no. 6) are bound upside down and in reverse order.

Scope and content: The volume contains fictional pieces (including a serialized novel titled “Sacré Rabbit”), poems, articles about Pondichéry/French India and their history, local news, book reviews, announcements and advertisements etc. The period covered in this volume coincides with the deconolization of Pondichéry and its merger with the Indian Union. So there is information on the developments leading up to the merger, negotiations between the French and Indian governments and the eventual handing over of power, visits of the Indian Prime Minister and President and the French Ambassador to Pondichéry, elections in Pondichéry, the inauguration of the French Institute of Pondichéry etc. The themes of some of the other articles are: the future of Pondichéry and of Indo-French cultural relations, the place of French culture in Pondichéry and its future, the name “Pondichéry”, Le Corbusier, history of Ariancoupom, the Pondichéry port, history of the Pondichéry Public Library, Muslims of South India, French in secondary education etc. There are also some articles on literature and philosophy (both French and Indian), medicine, science etc.