Pure littérature

Cecil Georges-Bazile was the founder and editor of the remarkable periodical Cahiers britanniques et américains, which he single-handedly ran, translating and publishing numerous texts by Kipling, Wells, G. B. Shaw and Oscar Wilde during the First World War, with the aim of introducing French readers to British and American literature.

This issue presents three texts by Wilson: “Mere Literature,” “The Author Himself” and “On an Author’s Choice of Company.”

In June 1918, with more than two million American soldiers engaged in the war and victory seemingly assured, President Wilson hoped to radically reshape the world order. As early as January 1918, he had delivered an address to Congress outlining the Fourteen Points necessary for peace, calling notably for the creation of a League of Nations, and he traveled in person to the Paris Peace Conference on 14 February — the first time a sitting American president had traveled to a foreign country.

Also in June, he presented the Treaty of Versailles to Congress for ratification, which the Republicans opposed; he then decided to tour the United States (in September) to promote the idea of a League of Nations. His declining health forced him to abandon this tour. On 20 November 1919, Woodrow Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role during the First World War.

It was probably during the summer of 1919 that Cecil Georges-Bazile sent Wilson this publication, which Wilson signed and returned to him.

Wilson left office in 1921 and retired to his house in Washington, continuing nonetheless to support his idea of a League of Nations. He died on 3 February 1924 and was buried in the Washington National Cathedral: he remains the only president buried in the American capital.