Henri Ghéon (15 March 1875 – 13 June 1944), born Henri Vangeon in

Bray-sur-Seine Bray-sur-Seine (, literally ''Bray on Seine'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Braytois''. Natives * Nicholas of Bray (fl. 1226), Fre ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, was a French playwright, novelist, poet and critic.

Biography

Brought up by a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

mother, he lost his faith in his early teens, while still at the Lycée in

Sens Sens () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second city of the department, the sixth in the region. It is crossed by the Yonne an ...

. Among the factors that brought this about, one stood out in his own mind: at school religion was taught without life or understanding. Ghéon did not miss it. As F. J. Sheed says, "His was a happy

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

." He replaced Catholicism with a semi-pagan cult of beauty in all its forms — nature, literature, music, painting. He moved to Paris in 1893 to study medicine. Around the same time, he started to write poetry, along with his colleagues

Francis Jammes Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his po ...

and

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

. He also published

avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...

criticism. In 1887 he met

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

, who became his literary guide and friend for twenty years. Ghéon, writes Gide's biographer

Alan Sheridan Alan Sheridan (1934 - 2015) was an English author and translator. Life Born Alan Mark Sheridan-Smith, Sheridan studied English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge before spending 5 years in Paris as English assistant at Lycée Henri IV and Lyc� ...

, "was Gide's closest friend and companion on innumerable homosexual exploits." Ghėon actually drafted a militant text in favour of homosexuality, ''La Vie secrète de Guillaume Arnoult'', which was one of the inspirations for Gide's '' Corydon''.Fabrice Hadjadj
"Henri Ghéon, un chrétien tourmenté"
''Le Figaro'', 18 June 2008. In 1909 they were founding members of the

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including An ...

(NRF). Ghéon also painted, studied music and travelled widely. It was the sceptic Gide who occasioned the first cracks in Ghéon's paganism when he invited him to visit Florence with him in 1912. There Ghéon discovered the religious art of

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

and

Fra Angelico Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his '' Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists''. Pengu ...

and was overwhelmed to the point of shedding tears. "At St Mark's," he wrote, "with Christ dying on the cross and the Virgin waiting for the angel in a bare and silent corridor..., even our senses had a soul. Art had transported me before, but never so high."Dom Antoine Marie osb
"Henri Ghéon"
''Letter of Saint-Joseph Abbey'', May 13, 2008. He served as an army doctor in the First World War. During this period he regained his Catholic faith, as described in his work ''L'homme né de la guerre'' (''The Man Born from the War''). His conversion was bound up with a devoutly Catholic naval officer, Pierre Dominique Dupouey, whom he met only three times in the space of a few weeks, but who impressed him greatly. It was again Gide who was the occasion for this fateful encounter: when Ghéon left for the Belgian front, Gide urged him to try to find Dupouey, who had once been his disciple and with whom he still corresponded. On

Holy Saturday Holy Saturday ( la, Sabbatum Sanctum), also known as Great and Holy Saturday (also Holy and Great Saturday), the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday (in Portugal and Brazil), Saturday of the Glory, Sabado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter ...

, 1915, Dupouey was killed in action on the

Yser The Yser ( , ; nl, IJzer ) is a river that rises in French Flanders (the north of France), enters the Belgian province of West Flanders and flows through the '' Ganzepoot'' and into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort. The source of the ...

. By Christmas, Ghéon had returned to the Catholic faith. He founded the "Compagnons de Notre Dame" (Companions of Our Lady), a sort of amateur theatre confraternity of young people, for which he wrote over 60 plays, usually on episodes from the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

or the lives of the saints. Ghéon's plays had clear similarities with the medieval mystery and miracle plays. The Companions of Our Lady performed with success in Paris and throughout France, as well as in Belgium, Holland and Switzerland, and Ghéon was awarded a prize for his work by the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. He also wrote poems, saints' biographies, and novels, among them a three-part work, ''Les Jeux de l'enfer et du ciel'' (''Games of Hell and Heaven''), centred on the Curè d'Ars. Ghéon died of cancer in a Paris clinic on 13 June 1944, a week after the Allied landing in Normandy and six days after the opening of his most recent play, ''Saint Gilles''.

Reputation

In 2008 the writer and philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj, reviewing Catherine Boschian-Campaner's biography of Ghéon in ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'', wrote, "Henri Ghėon is not a minor writer and his work speaks for itself. If his novels recall

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

, his theatre loses nothing in comparison with

Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an ad ...

and

Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His ...

. It was he alone who, in the first half of the 20th century, revived the popular burlesque and verticality of the medieval mystery plays, thus anticipating

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

." His ''Miroir de Peine'' was set to music by Hendrik Andriessen.

André Caplet André Caplet (23 November 1878 – 22 April 1925) was a French composer and conductor of classical music. He was a friend of Claude Debussy and completed the orchestration of several of Debussy's compositions as well as arrangements of severa ...

's oratorio-like ''Le Miroir de Jésus'' composed in September 1923 uses texts by Ghéon as meditations on the fifteen decades of the

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or ...

. The chorus announces each section's title but the female soloist delivers most of the text. The music of the central movements that take Christ's passion as their subject are, according to one commentator, "remarkable for its restraint as for its dissonance".

Works

* ''La Solitude de l'été. Les campagnes simples'' (1897) * ''Le Pain. Tragédie populaire en 4 actes et 5 tableaux'' (1912) * ''Foi en la France poèmes du temps de guerre per patriam ad dominum'' (1916) * ''L'Homme né de la guerre'' * ''Jeux et miracles pour le peuple fidèle'' (1922) * ''Partis Pris. Réflexions sur l'art littéraire'' (1923) * ''La Bergère au pays des loups'' (1923) * ''Les Trois Miracles de Sainte Cécile'' (1923) * ''La Merveilleuse Histoire du jeune Bernard de Menthon. En trois journées et un épilogue'' (1924) * ''Le Triomphe de Saint Thomas d'Aquin'' (1924) * ''Le Comédien et la grâce, pièce d'après la vie de Saint Genès'' (1925) * ''Sainte

Thérèse de Lisieux Therese or Thérèse is a variant of the feminine given name Teresa. It may refer to: Persons Therese * Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1773–1839), member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a Duchess of Mecklenburg * Therese of ...

'' * ''La Parade du Pont du diable d'après la légende de Saint Kado'' (1926) * ''La Vie Profonde de Saint François d'Assise'' (1926) * ''Les Trois Sagesses du vieux Wang'' (1927) * ''Demos esclave et roi'' (1927) * ''La Fille du sultan et le bon jardinier. Conte en trois tableaux d'après une chanson flamande'' (1928) * ''Les Jeux de l'enfer et du ciel'' (1929) * ''La Vieille Dame des rues'' (roman), Fkammarion, (1930) * ''Sainte Anne d'Auray'' (1931) * ''Épiphanie ou le voyage des trois rois'' (1931) * ''Promenades avec Mozart, l'homme, l'œuvre, le pays'' (1932) * ''Le Saint Curé d'Ars'' (1933) * ''Le Noël sur la place ou les enfances de Jésus'' (1935) * ''Noêl ! Noël !'' (1935) * ''Le Pauvre sous l'escalier. Trois Épisodes d'après la vie de saint Alexis'' * ''Saint Jean Bosco'' * ''Féerie le petit Poucet, impromptu en trois actes pour les enfants'' (1935) * ''Les Détours imprévus'' (1937) * ''La Quête héroïque du Graal. Action romanesque et féerique en cinq parties et dix tableaux'' (1938) * ''Marie, Mère de Dieu'' (1939) * ''Judith. Œdipe ou le crépuscule des dieux'' * ''L'Art du théâtre'' * ''Dramaturgie d'hier et de demain'' * ''Saint

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

'' (1941) * ''Sainte Claire d'Assise'' (1944) * ''Les Jeux de l’enfer et du ciel'' * ''La Cathédrale Incendiée'', music by Albert Alain * ''Correspondance Henri Ghéon - André Gide'', t. 1 1897-1903, t. II 1904-1944, Paris : Gallimard, NRF, 1976 * ''Correspondance Vielé-Griffin - Ghéon'', édition critique edited by Catherine Boschian-Campaner, Paris : H. Champion, 2004 ()

Bibliography

* Henri Brochet, ''Henri Ghéon'', Les presses d'Ile-de-France, 1946 * Maurice Deléglise, ''Le théâtre d'Henri Ghéon : Contribution à l'étude du renouveau théâtral'', Sion, 1947 * Geneviève Duhamelet, ''Henri Ghéon. L'homme né de la guerre''. Foyer Notre-Dame (Coll. « Convertis du XXe siècle », 1), Bruxelles 1951. *

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

, ''Henri Ghéon,'' dans ''Œuvres complètes, ''volume III, , éditions universitaires Fribourg Suisse, éditions Saint Paul Paris, 1984'' * Catherine Boschian-Campaner, ''Henri Ghéon, camarade de Gide : Biographie d'un homme de désirs'', Presses de la Renaissance, 2008

References

External links

''The Secret of the Little Flower''
*''The Secret of the Curé d'Ars'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gheon, Henri People from Seine-et-Marne 1875 births 1944 deaths Deaths from cancer in France Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism French biographers French medical writers 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists French poets French Roman Catholics Gay poets Gay novelists LGBT Roman Catholics Roman Catholic writers French LGBT poets French LGBT novelists Gay dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male writers 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers