Albert Chavannes
Encyclopedia
Albert Chavannes was a Swiss-born American author, philosopher, and sociologist, active primarily in the late 19th century. He is best known for his two utopian novels, The Future Commonwealth and In Brighter Climes, which discuss a fictional futuristic society, "Socioland," where the economy is governed by socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 ideals rather than capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

, and where morality is based on social scientific experimentation, rather than traditional religion. Chavannes was also one of the earliest social theorists to extensively discuss exchange theory
Social exchange theory
Social exchange theory is a social psychological and sociological perspective that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties. Social exchange theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective cost-benefit analysis and...

, and his ideas on "magnetism" influenced writers such as John William Lloyd
John William Lloyd
J. William Lloyd was an American individualist anarchist. Lloyd was born in New Jersey, and later moved to Grahamville, Florida. He based his individualist anarchism upon natural law, rather than on egoism as Benjamin Tucker did; this was a source of conflict amidst otherwise friendly relations...

 and Ida C. Craddock.

Biography

Chavannes was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, one of six children of Reverend Adrian Chavannes and his wife, Anna Francillon. In 1848, the Chavanneses migrated to East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...

, which had been advertised as having ample farmland and a climate similar to that of Switzerland. The family initially settled in Wartburg, Tennessee
Wartburg, Tennessee
Wartburg is a city in Morgan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 890 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County.-Geography:...

, atop the Cumberland Plateau
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...

, but finding the land unsuitable for farming, soon afterward moved to northern Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...

. By 1855, the Chavanneses had been joined by several other French-speaking Swiss families, comprising one of the county's largest immigrant groups.

Albert Chavannes married fellow French Swiss immigrant Cecile Bolli in 1857, and the two settled down to a life of dairy farming. One of Chavannes' earliest writings was an article entitled, "How Manure Is Made in Switzerland," published in the agricultural journal, The Cultivator, in 1858. This article was inspired by a trip Chavannes had made to his home country the previous year.

During the Civil War, Chavannes supported the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. He was part of the citizens-guard that defended Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 from a raid by Union general William P. Sanders
William P. Sanders
William Price Sanders was an officer in the Union Army in the American Civil War, who died at the Siege of Knoxville.-Birth and early years:...

 in June 1863, and later provided an account of this raid in his book, East Tennessee Sketches. In 1864, following the occupation of Knoxville by Union forces, Chavannes moved to Berkshire, New York
Berkshire, New York
Berkshire is a town in Tioga County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,366. The town is named after Berkshire County, Massachusetts....

, where he opened a woodworking shop. His experiences in New York would later inspire his novel, Lizzie Melton, A Self-Reliant Girl. In 1870, he moved back to Knox County, where he established a new dairy farm in the Adair Creek area north of Knoxville.

Around the age of 40, Chavannes began questioning the religious traditions with which he was raised, his chief inspiration being the Theory of Evolution. Between 1883 and 1885, Chavannes published a journal, The Sociologist. In the late 1880s, Chavannes began to theorize on emotional and sexual exchanges between humans, which he called "magnetism" (John William Lloyd, with whom Chavannes had been corresponding, later wrote that he had suggested the term to Chavannes). In 1888, Chavannes published his theories on magnetism in Vital Force and Magnetic Exchange.

By the 1890s, Chavannes was exchanging ideas with socialists Lester Frank Ward
Lester Frank Ward
Lester F. Ward was an American botanist, paleontologist, and sociologist. He served as the first president of the American Sociological Association.-Biography:...

 and Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000. He was a very influential writer during the Gilded Age of United States history.-Early life:...

. In 1892, Chavannes published his first Socioland novel, The Future Commonwealth. That year, Chavannes ran for the state legislature on the Populist ticket, but lost badly. His wife, Cecile, wrote an account of their canvassing trip across rural East Tennessee that was included in their book, East Tennessee Sketches.

Chavannes wrote a non-fiction follow-up to The Future Commonwealth in 1893 entitled, The Concentration of Wealth, and published his second Socioland novel, In Brighter Climes, in 1895. He published several more works on magnetism in the late 1890s. Chavannes died in 1903, and is buried in the Spring Place Presbyterian Church Cemetery in northeast Knoxville.

Family

Albert Chavannes was related to several prominent Knoxville businessmen, whose careers stand somewhat in contrast to his socialist ideals. His sister, Emma, was married to Edward J. Sanford
Edward J. Sanford
Edward Jackson Sanford was an American manufacturing tycoon and financier, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the late 19th century...

, one of the city's leading financiers. The Sanford children included Supreme Court justice Edward Terry Sanford
Edward Terry Sanford
Edward Terry Sanford was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1923 until his death in 1930. Prior to his nomination to the high court, Sanford served as an Assistant Attorney General under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1905 to 1907, and...

 and iron manufacturer Hugh Sanford. In 1894, Chavannes' son, Adrian Leon Chavannes (1871–1938), founded the Chavannes Lumber Company, which operated a large mill in North Knoxville until the 1950s. Albert Chavannes' grandson, Edward Chavannes, served as Mayor of Knoxville from 1946 to 1947.

Socioland

Chavannes' two novels, The Future Commonwealth and In Brighter Climes, discuss a fictional country known as "Socioland." Socioland, according to Chavannes, was located in central Africa, about 300 miles inland along the shores of the fictional Lake Norlay. The new country had been formed circa 1900 by American colonists disenchanted with the ills of American society and the lack of progress in fixing the ills, in spite of the nation's rapidly-growing wealth. Though both books are set in the 1950s, Chavannes makes virtually no speculations regarding technological innovations.

In The Future Commonwealth, Socioland is described as a country where major industries and modes of transportation are publically owned, but are controlled by popularly-elected directors, rather than by the central government. Individuals may earn profits, though the accumulation of interest is barred. Land is publically owned, but leases tantamount to ownership can be granted. All children receive the same educational opportunities, and are required to serve a 6-year apprenticeship. The government provides health care, utilities, bread, and basic services such as laundry. Because work is more evenly divided, individuals only work for a few hours per day.

In Brighter Climes follows Charles Morrill and his wife Mary, who were inspired by Chavannes' The Future Commonwealth to migrate to Socioland. When the Morrills arrive, they find that the Sociolanders are concerned that elements of capitalism are creeping into their economy, and eventually decide to implement a communist-style system. Laws regarding marriage are lax, and divorce is much easier to obtain for both males and females. Artists and writers receive no money for their work, with Sociolanders likening selling one's genius to prostitution. In his introduction to the book, Chavannes states that Mary's letters were written by an "unnamed female," though he wrote the remainder of the book.

Magnetism

Chavannes used the term "vital force" to describe the intellectual, emotional and sexual energy stored within the body. Intellectual vital force, he believed, is stored in the brain, emotional vital force is stored behind the heart, and sexual vital force is stored in the genitalia. Memory is the result of modifications to a person's vital force.

"Magnetism," according to Chavannes, is the exchange of vital force between two individuals. Intellectual magnetism involves the exchange of thoughts, emotional magnetism involves the exchange of sympathy and affection, and sexual magnetism is exchanged through ejaculation during sexual intercourse. Chavannes believed that individuals require magnetic equilibrium, and suggested that misbehavior and general unpleasantness result from too much or too little stored vital force.

Chavannes argued that the exchange of magnetism through ejaculation ruined an individual's equilibrium. He suggested that individuals therefore practice sexual continence
Coitus reservatus
Coitus reservatus , also known as sexual continence, is commonly thought of as a form of sexual intercourse in which the penetrative partner does not attempt to ejaculate within the receptive partner, but instead attempts to remain at the plateau phase of intercourse for as long as possible...

. Chavannes' ideas on sexual magnetism would later provide inspiration for the Karezza method developed by John William Lloyd.

Other works

East Tennessee Sketches is a collection of six articles, two of which ("Canvassing the District" and "Adair Creek Notes") are written by Chavannes' wife, Cecile. "Canvassing the District" describes the Chavanneses' 1892 canvass. "Adair Creek Notes" describes how cheese was made on the Chavannes farm. "Saunders' Raid" is an eyewitness account of General William Sanders's attack on Knoxville in June 1863. "Coming Home to Knoxville" details the Chavannes' trek from the Virginia coast back to Knoxville following a trip to Switzerland in 1897. "An Old Reprobate," is the story of a man who became an alcoholic following the deaths of his two sons from smallpox. "A War Episode" describes the confiscation of Chavannes' prized cane by a Union officer in 1864.

Chavannes considered his 1900 work, Lizzie Melton, A Self-Reliant Girl, to be his only full-fledged novel. The book is essentially a critique of Victorian morals regarding women, with the title character being ostracized by the community after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The novel is set in Richland, New York
Richland, New York
Richland is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 5,824 at the 2000 census.The Town of Richland is in the northeast part of Oswego County.- History :The town was first settled around 1801....

, with characters and scenes inspired by Chavannes' experiences in the region following the Civil War.

Pamphlets

  • The Law of Happiness
  • The Law of Individual Control
  • The Law of Exchange
  • The Law of Environment
  • Heredity, Cross-Breeding, Pre-Natal Influences

Books

  • Vital Force and Magnetic Exchange (1888)
  • The Future Commonwealth, Or, What Samuel Balcom Saw in Socioland (1892)
  • The Concentration of Wealth: A Study as to Its Causes, Results and Remedies (1893)
  • In Brighter Climes, Or, Life in Socioland: A Realistic Novel (1895)
  • Vital Force, Magnetic Exchange and Magnetism (1897)
  • Magnetism and Its Relation to Health and Character (1898)
  • The Nature of the Mind, and Its Relation to Magnetism; Also an Inquiry Whether Individuality Can Persist After Death (1898)
  • The Law of Conduct, As Based Upon a Correct Knowledge of the Nature of the Mind (1899)
  • East Tennessee Sketches (1900) (coauthored with Cecile Chavannes)
  • Lizzie Melton, A Self-Reliant Girl (1900)
  • Studies In Sociology, In Four Parts (1901)
  • Mental Science, As a Guide to Health, Happiness and Business Success (1902)

External links

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