Henri Ghéon
Encyclopedia
Henri Ghéon born Henri Vangeon in Bray-sur-Seine
, Seine-et-Marne
, was a French playwright, novelist, poet and critic. Brought up by a devout Roman Catholic mother, he lost his faith in his early teens, while still at the Lycée in Sens
. 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
." 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
and Mallarmé
. He also published avant garde criticism. In 1887 he met André Gide
, who became his literary guide and friend for twenty years. Ghéon, writes Gide's biographer Alan Sheridan
, "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
. In 1909 they were founding members of the Nouvelle Revue Française
(NRF). Ghéon also painted, studied music and travelled widely.
Ironically, 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 and Fra Angelico
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."
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 three times only in the space of a few weeks, but who impressed him greatly. Ironically, 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
, 1915, Dupouey was killed in action on the Yser
. 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
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
. 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 around the Curè d'Ars
.
Ghéon died of cancer in a Paris clinic on June 13, 1944, a week after the Allied landing in Normandy and six days after the opening of his most recent play, Saint Gilles.
In 2008 the writer and philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj
, reviewing Catherine Boschian-Campaner's biography of Ghéon in Le Figaro
, wrote, "Henri Ghėon is not a minor writer and his work speaks for itself. If his novels recall Dickens, his theatre loses nothing in comparison with Anouilh and Giraudoux. 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
."
His Miroir de Peine was set to music by Hendrik Andriessen
.
Bray-sur-Seine
Bray-sur-Seine is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-External links:* * *...
, Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
, was a French playwright, novelist, poet and critic. Brought up by a devout Roman Catholic mother, he lost his faith in his early teens, while still at the Lycée in Sens
Sens
Sens is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.Sens is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.-History:...
. 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
Frank Sheed
Frank Sheed, in full, Francis Joseph Sheed, , an Australian-born lawyer, was, like his wife Maisie Ward, a writer, publisher, and speaker. Famous in their day as the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild, their reputations have dimmed...
says, "His was a happy atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
." 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
Francis Jammes was a French poet. Coming from an ancient family, he spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his poems are known for their lyricism and for singing the pleasures of a humble country life...
and Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was 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 the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
. He also published avant garde criticism. In 1887 he met André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide 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 between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
, who became his literary guide and friend for twenty years. Ghéon, writes Gide's biographer Alan Sheridan
Alan Sheridan
-Life:Born Alan Mark Sheridan-Smith, Sheridan read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge before spending 5 years in Paris as English assistant at Lycée Henri IV and Lycée Condorcet. Returning to London, he briefly worked in publishing before becoming a freelance translator...
, "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
Corydon (book)
Corydon is a book by André Gide consisting of four dialogues on homosexuality. The name of the book comes from Virgil's pederastic character Corydon. Parts of the text were separately published from 1911 to 1920, and the whole book appeared in its French original in France in 1924 and in the United...
. In 1909 they were founding members of the Nouvelle Revue Française
Nouvelle Revue Française
La Nouvelle Revue Française is a literary magazine founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals, including André Gide, Jacques Copeau, and Jean Schlumberger...
(NRF). Ghéon also painted, studied music and travelled widely.
Ironically, 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 and Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
and was overwhelmed to the point of shedding tears. "At St Mark's
San Marco, Florence
San Marco is the name of a religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now a museum, has three claims to fame: during the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher, Girolamo Savonarola...
," 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."
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 three times only in the space of a few weeks, but who impressed him greatly. Ironically, 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
Holy Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...
, 1915, Dupouey was killed in action on the Yser
Yser
The Yser is a river that finds its origin in the north of France, enters Belgium and flows into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort.-In France:The source of the Yser is in Buysscheure, in the Nord département of northern France...
. 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
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
or the lives of the saints. Ghéon's plays had clear similarities with the medieval mystery and miracle plays
Mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...
. 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
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. 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 around the Curè d'Ars
Jean Vianney
Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney , commonly known in English as St John Vianney, was a French parish priest who in the Catholic Church is venerated as a saint and as the patron saint of all priests. He is often referred to as the "Curé d'Ars"...
.
Ghéon died of cancer in a Paris clinic on June 13, 1944, a week after the Allied landing in Normandy and six days after the opening of his most recent play, Saint Gilles.
In 2008 the writer and philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj
Fabrice Hadjadj
Fabrice Hadjadj is a French writer and philosopher, born in 1971 in Nanterre to Jewish parents of Tunisian heritage. In his teens he was an atheist and anarchist, and he maintained a nihilistic attitude for most of his twenties until, in 1998, he converted to Catholicism. His book Réussir sa mort:...
, reviewing Catherine Boschian-Campaner's biography of Ghéon in Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, wrote, "Henri Ghėon is not a minor writer and his work speaks for itself. If his novels recall Dickens, his theatre loses nothing in comparison with Anouilh and Giraudoux. 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 Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
."
His Miroir de Peine was set to music by Hendrik Andriessen
Hendrik Andriessen
Hendrik Franciscus Andriessen was a Dutch composer and organist. He is remembered most of all for his improvisation at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music in the Netherlands. Andriessen composed in a musical idiom that revealed strong French influences...
.
Selected works
- The Secret of the Curé d'Ars