VARIOT Jean (1881-1962). French scholar, essayist, novelist - Lot 64

Lot n° 64
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150 - 200 EUR
VARIOT Jean (1881-1962). French scholar, essayist, novelist - Lot 64
VARIOT Jean (1881-1962). French scholar, essayist, novelist and playwright. Small autograph manuscript on the United States. ca 1920-1930. 11 double-sided leaves in small in-8 format, numbered. Erasures and corrections. Legible handwriting. Unpublished and critical reflections on the United States. The author, Jean James Joseph Gaston dit Jean Variot (1881-1962), revisits the words of the Académie de Lyon, which in 1782 asked whether "the discovery of America has been useful or harmful to mankind". He begins by openly criticizing the thinking behind the question, taking as an example the allegedly hostile relations between Spain and America: "The cruelty attributed to the Spaniards must be one of those lies of political origin of the same order as the lies uttered by the aforementioned school against the splendid past of France...". He deflects by evoking the "qualities" of South Americans, "men of the old race, who have the qualities of the old races, but for the u.s.a. the yankees (...) it is difficult to say the same...". Then, the author asserts his categorical position: "one name will be mentioned right away, Wilson (...) whom statesmen, responsible for European affairs, considered to be the arbiter of the world (...) because, after all, Wilson was and is a madman, and this madman was convenient; he was the screen for a full mass of voters...". In the end, Variot tries to persuade his reader: "Americans who love France, and there are some, think exactly what I've just said. That's precisely why they love France! Probably written after the 14-18 War and the Fourteen Points of Wilson, then President of the USA, for peace... Variot, a folklorist in love with Alsace, ended up collaborating with the Germans, having started out as an anti-Dreyfusard. In 1910, he published his first novel, La Très véridique histoire de deux gredins, a portrait of Dreyfusard circles, followed in 1913 by Les Hasards de la guerre. ANTI-AMERICANISM.
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