The elaboration of pan-Latinism in French intellectual circles, from the turn of the nineteenth century to World War I

Abstract

Pan-Latinism, one of the nineteenth century’s pan-nationalist movements, appeared in different Romance-language countries. In France, it developed strongly at the turn of the nineteenth century and became a major paradigm in the vision of nationalist writers who reflected the Germanophobia following the defeat of 1870. Nationalism, Germanophobia and pan-Latinism all grew in French intellectual circles during World War I, even among the internationalized avant-garde Parisians. The case of Guillaume Apollinaire is particularly revealing in this respect: influenced by French cultural nationalism, both as a foreigner and as an avant-garde creator, he himself adopted pan-Latinism in order to obtain cultural legitimacy. Pan-Latinism was also used by French intellectuals anxious to promote their country’s influence in Italy and Hispanic America, namely in other ‘Latin’ countries. Although it never reached the stage of concrete political realization, new avatars of pan-Latinism, conveyed by the Latin Union founde...