Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen
Encyclopedia
Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen (February 20, 1880 – November 5, 1923) was a novelist and poet
of the early 20th century; his modern fame is based on a mid-century fictionalised biography by Roger Peyrefitte
.
In 1903 a scandal involving Paris
ian schoolboys made him persona non grata in the salons of Paris and dashed his marriage plans, after which he took up residence in Capri
with his longtime lover, Nino Cesarini. He became one of the many "characters" of the island in the interwar years, featuring in novels by Compton MacKenzie
and others. His home, the Villa Fersen, remains one of Capri's major tourist attractions.
Count who had a relationship with Marie Antoinette
. D'Adelswärd took on the name Fersen later in his life out of admiration for the distant relative.
D'Adelswärd-Fersen's grandfather had founded the steel industry in Longwy-Briey
, which was profitable enough that it made d'Adelswärd-Fersen exceedingly wealthy when he inherited at age 22. Consequently, he was much sought-after in the higher circles, as families hoped to marry him to one of their daughters.
Apart from joining the military, d'Adelswärd-Fersen already traveled extensively and settled down as a writer. He published several volumes of poems, for instance Chansons Légères, and novels.
es in his house at 18 Avenue de Friedland, entertainments featuring tableaux vivants starring pupils from the best Parisian schools and attended by the cream of Parisian society. He was charged with indecent behavior with minors and served a six-month prison sentence, was fined 50 franc
s and lost his civil rights
for five years.
The scandal bears some similarities with the trial of Oscar Wilde
in 1895, who also experienced great social degradation after a public trial finding him guilty of "gross indecency with other male persons". Perhaps d'Adelswärd-Fersen was lucky in that his feasts were also attended by other notable figures of Parisian high society, which more or less forced the court to drop some charges to minimize the impact of the scandal.
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After his marriage plans were foiled, d'Adelswärd-Fersen remembered the island of Capri from his youth and decided to build a house there. He bought land at the top of a hill in the very northeast of the island, close to where the Roman emperor
Tiberius
had built his Villa Jovis
two millennia earlier. His house, initially called Gloriette, was eventually christened Villa Lysis
(later sometimes simply referred to as Villa Fersen) in reference to the Socratic dialogue
Lysis discussing friendship, and by our modern notion, homosexual love.
Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen died, allegedly a suicide achieved through a cocktail of champagne and cocaine, in 1923. His ashes are conserved in the non-Catholic cemetery of Capri.
It is a splendid building, described as "Liberty" style in some references, but it is not Liberty or Art Nouveau in the French manner. It is, perhaps best described as "Neoclassical decadent." The large garden is connected to the villa by a flight of steps which leads to a portico with ionic columns. In the atrium a marble stairway, with wrought iron balustrade, leads to the first floor where there are bedrooms with panoramic terraces, and a dining room. On the ground floor there is a lounge decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, facing out over the Gulf of Naples. In the basement there is the 'Chinese Room' in which opium was smoked.
The hero, Lord Lyllian, departs on a wild odyssey of sexual debauchery, is seduced by a character that seems awfully similar to Oscar Wilde, falls in love with girls and boys, and is finally killed by a boy. The public outcry about the supposed Black Masses is also caricatured. The work is an audacious mix of fact and fiction, including four characters that are alter egos of d'Adelswärd-Fersen himself.
, Henry Gauthier-Villars
, Laurent Tailhade
, Josephin Peladan
, Marcel Boulestin
, Maxim Gorky
, Georges Eekhoud
, Achille Essebac
, Claude Farrère
, Anatole France
, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
, Henri Barbusse
, Jean Moréas
and Arthur Symons
.
In each issue, very carefully, as is clear from Fersen's letters to Georges Eekhoud, a homosexual
element was introduced: a poem, an article, or a hint in the magazine's serial Les Fréquentations de Maurice by Boulestin. As a magazine with a homosexual agenda, it was the first publication of its kind in the French language
. However, only an estimated 10 % of Akademos may be counted as homosexual. Thematically, as for the gay part, it trod somewhat similar ground as the German
journal Der Eigene
, published between 1896 and 1931 by Adolf Brand
. This is not a coincidence, as d'Adelswärd-Fersen studied the German publications that tried to push for the social acceptance of homosexuality before launching Akademos. Also, he corresponded with both Brand and Magnus Hirschfeld
.
Unfortunately, Akademos lasted only one year—there were twelve monthly issues, amounting to some 2000 pages. It is generally thought that the reason for its demise was that its production proved to be too costly for Adelswärd-Fersen. In one of his letters to Eekhoud, Fersen complained of the lack of interest of the press and the reading public. However, other factors like the pressure generated by a hostile attitude of the press or society in general cannot be ruled out entirely.
Nicole Renaud consists of four poems by Baron Fersen.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
of the early 20th century; his modern fame is based on a mid-century fictionalised biography by Roger Peyrefitte
Roger Peyrefitte
Roger Peyrefitte was a French diplomat, writer of bestseller novels and gossipy non-fiction, and a defender of gay rights.-Life and work:...
.
In 1903 a scandal involving Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian schoolboys made him persona non grata in the salons of Paris and dashed his marriage plans, after which he took up residence in Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
with his longtime lover, Nino Cesarini. He became one of the many "characters" of the island in the interwar years, featuring in novels by Compton MacKenzie
Compton Mackenzie
Sir Compton Mackenzie, OBE was a writer and a Scottish nationalist.-Background:Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton, a well-known...
and others. His home, the Villa Fersen, remains one of Capri's major tourist attractions.
Early life
Born in Paris, France as Jacques d'Adelswärd, he is related on his paternal side to Axel von Fersen, a SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Count who had a relationship with Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. D'Adelswärd took on the name Fersen later in his life out of admiration for the distant relative.
D'Adelswärd-Fersen's grandfather had founded the steel industry in Longwy-Briey
Longwy
Longwy is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are known as Longoviciens.-Economy:Longwy has historically been an industrial center of the Lorraine iron mining district. The town is known for its artistic glazed pottery.-History:Longwy initially...
, which was profitable enough that it made d'Adelswärd-Fersen exceedingly wealthy when he inherited at age 22. Consequently, he was much sought-after in the higher circles, as families hoped to marry him to one of their daughters.
Apart from joining the military, d'Adelswärd-Fersen already traveled extensively and settled down as a writer. He published several volumes of poems, for instance Chansons Légères, and novels.
The trial
In 1903 he was arrested on charges of holding Black MassBlack Mass
A Black Mass is a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Witches' Sabbath, which was a sacrilegious parody of the Catholic Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned; the most common idea is that...
es in his house at 18 Avenue de Friedland, entertainments featuring tableaux vivants starring pupils from the best Parisian schools and attended by the cream of Parisian society. He was charged with indecent behavior with minors and served a six-month prison sentence, was fined 50 franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
s and lost his civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
for five years.
The scandal bears some similarities with the trial of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
in 1895, who also experienced great social degradation after a public trial finding him guilty of "gross indecency with other male persons". Perhaps d'Adelswärd-Fersen was lucky in that his feasts were also attended by other notable figures of Parisian high society, which more or less forced the court to drop some charges to minimize the impact of the scandal.
On Capri
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
had built his Villa Jovis
Villa Jovis
Villa Jovis is a Roman palace on Capri, southern Italy, built by emperor Tiberius who ruled from there between AD 27 and AD 37...
two millennia earlier. His house, initially called Gloriette, was eventually christened Villa Lysis
Villa Lysis
Villa Lysis — initially called La Gloriette, today also known as Villa Fersen — is a villa on Capri built by industrialist and poet Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen in 1905...
(later sometimes simply referred to as Villa Fersen) in reference to the Socratic dialogue
Socratic dialogue
Socratic dialogue is a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon - either dramatic or narrative - in which characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a...
Lysis discussing friendship, and by our modern notion, homosexual love.
Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen died, allegedly a suicide achieved through a cocktail of champagne and cocaine, in 1923. His ashes are conserved in the non-Catholic cemetery of Capri.
It is a splendid building, described as "Liberty" style in some references, but it is not Liberty or Art Nouveau in the French manner. It is, perhaps best described as "Neoclassical decadent." The large garden is connected to the villa by a flight of steps which leads to a portico with ionic columns. In the atrium a marble stairway, with wrought iron balustrade, leads to the first floor where there are bedrooms with panoramic terraces, and a dining room. On the ground floor there is a lounge decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, facing out over the Gulf of Naples. In the basement there is the 'Chinese Room' in which opium was smoked.
Lord Lyllian
Lord Lyllian, published in 1905, is one of d'Adelswärd-Fersen's novels and perhaps his most important work, satirizing the scandal around himself in Paris, with touches of the Oscar Wilde affair thrown in for good measure.The hero, Lord Lyllian, departs on a wild odyssey of sexual debauchery, is seduced by a character that seems awfully similar to Oscar Wilde, falls in love with girls and boys, and is finally killed by a boy. The public outcry about the supposed Black Masses is also caricatured. The work is an audacious mix of fact and fiction, including four characters that are alter egos of d'Adelswärd-Fersen himself.
Akademos
Akademos. Revue Mensuelle d'Art Libre et de Critique (1909) was d'Adelsward-Fersen's short-lived attempt at publishing a monthly literary journal. It was magazine of a very luxurious kind, each issue printed on several sorts of deluxe paper, with contributions by many famous authors, like ColetteColette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
, Henry Gauthier-Villars
Henry Gauthier-Villars
Henry Gauthier-Villars or Willy, his nom-de-plume, was a French fin-de-siecle writer and music critic who is today mostly known as the mentor and bisexual first husband of Colette...
, Laurent Tailhade
Laurent Tailhade
Laurent Tailhade was a French satirical poet, anarchist polemicist, essayist, and translator, active in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s...
, Josephin Peladan
Joséphin Péladan
Joséphin Péladan was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism.-Biography:...
, Marcel Boulestin
Marcel Boulestin
Xavier Marcel Boulestin was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world....
, Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
, Georges Eekhoud
Georges Eekhoud
Georges Eekhoud was a Belgian novelist of Flemish descent, but writing in French.Eekhoud was a regionalist best known for his ability to represent scenes from rural and urban daily life. He tended to portray the dark side of human desire and write about social outcasts and the working...
, Achille Essebac
Achille Essebac
Achille Essebac was a French writer primarily known for his novel Dédé about an ill-fated homoerotic friendship between two schoolboys...
, Claude Farrère
Claude Farrère
Claude Farrère, pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone , was a French author of novels set in such exotic locations as Istanbul, Saigon, and Nagasaki. One of his novels, Les civilisés won the Prix Goncourt for 1905. He was elected for a chair at the Académie Française on 26 March 1935...
, Anatole France
Anatole France
Anatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti was an Italian poet and editor, the founder of the Futurist movement, and a fascist ideologue.-Childhood and adolescence:...
, Henri Barbusse
Henri Barbusse
Henri Barbusse was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party.-Life:...
, Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas , was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth.-Background:...
and Arthur Symons
Arthur Symons
Arthur William Symons , was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.-Life:Born in Milford Haven, Wales, of Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy...
.
In each issue, very carefully, as is clear from Fersen's letters to Georges Eekhoud, a homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
element was introduced: a poem, an article, or a hint in the magazine's serial Les Fréquentations de Maurice by Boulestin. As a magazine with a homosexual agenda, it was the first publication of its kind in the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. However, only an estimated 10 % of Akademos may be counted as homosexual. Thematically, as for the gay part, it trod somewhat similar ground as the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
journal Der Eigene
Der Eigene
Der Eigene was the first gay journal in the world, published from 1896 to 1932 by Adolf Brand in Berlin. Brand contributed many poems and articles himself...
, published between 1896 and 1931 by Adolf Brand
Adolf Brand
Adolf Brand was a German writer, individualist anarchist and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality.-Biography:...
. This is not a coincidence, as d'Adelswärd-Fersen studied the German publications that tried to push for the social acceptance of homosexuality before launching Akademos. Also, he corresponded with both Brand and Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a...
.
Unfortunately, Akademos lasted only one year—there were twelve monthly issues, amounting to some 2000 pages. It is generally thought that the reason for its demise was that its production proved to be too costly for Adelswärd-Fersen. In one of his letters to Eekhoud, Fersen complained of the lack of interest of the press and the reading public. However, other factors like the pressure generated by a hostile attitude of the press or society in general cannot be ruled out entirely.
Books by Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen
- Conte d'amour (1898), poetry
- Chansons légères (1900), collection of poetry
- Musique sur tes lèvres (Ebauches et Débauches) (1901)
- L'Hymnaire d'Adonis: à la façon de M. le marquis de Sade (1902)
- Notre-Dame des mers mortes (Venise) (1902)
- Les cortèges qui sont passés (1903)
- L'Amour enseveli: poèmes (1904)
- Lord Lyllian (1905) : novel ; republished Montpellier (France) QuestionDeGenre/GKC, 2011 with a preface by Jean de Palacio and postface by Jean-Claude Féray
- Ainsi chantait Marsyas... (1907)
- Une jeunesse (1907)
- Le baiser de Narcisse (1907): novel; republished in 1912 with illustrations by Ernest Brisset (1872–1923)
- Et le feu s’éteignit sur la mer (1909)
- Hei Hsiang (Le parfum noir) (1921)
Biographical
- Patrick Cardon (ed.): Dossier Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Lille, Cahiers Gay-Kitsch-Camp, 1993
- Norman DouglasNorman DouglasGeorge Norman Douglas was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind.-Life:Norman Douglas was born in Thüringen, Austria . His mother was Vanda von Poellnitz...
: Looking Back, 1933 - Wolfram SetzWolfram SetzWolfram Setz is a German historian and author.- Life :After school Setz studied history. Setz worked at Monumenta Germaniae Historica in Munich. Since 2004 Setz lives in Hamburg. He is publisher of Bibliothek rosa Winkel, an edition of over 50 books to LGBT history. From 1987 to 2007 Setz was a...
[ed.]: Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen – Dandy und Poet. Bibliothek Rosa Winkel, 2006. ISBN 3-935596-38-3 - James Money: Capri : Island of Pleasure, 1986
- Robert Aldrich: The Seduction of the Mediterranean. Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-09312-0
Fictionalized
- Edwin CerioEdwin CerioEdwin Cerio was a prominent Italian writer, engineer, architect, historian, and botanist. He was born on the island of Capri to an English artist mother and a well-known local physician, Ignazio Cerio.-Early life:...
: 'Il Marchese di Pommery', c. 1927 - Alfred JarryAlfred JarryAlfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
: La Chandelle verte, 1969 - Compton MackenzieCompton MackenzieSir Compton Mackenzie, OBE was a writer and a Scottish nationalist.-Background:Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton, a well-known...
: Vestal Fire, 1927 - Xavier Mayne: 'Out of the Sun', 1913
- Roger PeyrefitteRoger PeyrefitteRoger Peyrefitte was a French diplomat, writer of bestseller novels and gossipy non-fiction, and a defender of gay rights.-Life and work:...
: L'Exilé de Capri, 1959
Film
- Capri – Musik die sich entfernt, oder: Die seltsame Reise des Cyrill K., 1983. — Made-for-TV movie directed by Ferry RadaxFerry RadaxFerry Radax is an Austrian film maker born in Vienna. He has been active in many genres since 1949. He studied at Vienna's Film Institute in 1953-54, followed by Cinecittà, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, in Rome in 1955-56. He has produced films all around Europe, and also in South...
for the WDR featuring d'Adelswärd-Fersen, Nino Cesarini, and a lot of other historical Capri celebrities.
- Music video of neo soprano, Nicole Renaud, singing Baron Fersen's poem, "Mon Coeur est un Bouquet ...". Shot in super 8 film at Villa Lysis, Capri, by Karine Laval
Music
The lyrics of the song "Les Amants solitaires", by French sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Nicole Renaud consists of four poems by Baron Fersen.
External links
- Article about the life of d'Adelsward-Fersen
- Article about the book "L'hymnaire d'Adonis" of Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen
- Pictures of Villa Lysis today
- Photo of d'Adelswärd-Fersen's tombstone on the Capri cemetery
Digitized books
- Scans of books by d'Adelswärd-Fersen at Gallica digital library
- The premiere issue of Akademos
- Issues #7 through #12 of Akademos at Gallica digital library