Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen
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Baron Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen (February 20, 1880–November 5, 1923) was a French aristocrat and minor author and poet. In 1903, after a scandal involving Parisian schoolboys had made him a persona non grata in the salons and dashed his marriage plans, he took up residence in Capri, where he lived with his longtime boyfriend, Nino Cesarini, until his death in 1923.
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[edit] Early life
Born as Jacques d'Adelsward, he is related on his paternal side to Axel von Fersen, a Swedish Count who had a relationship with Marie Antoinette. D'Adelsward took on the name Fersen later in his life out of admiration for the distant relative. Later in Capri he dropped the "d'Adelsward" from his name and called himself simply Count Fersen.
D'Adelsward-Fersen's grandfather had founded the steel industry in Longwy-Briey, which was profitable enough that it made d'Adelsward-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'Adelsward-Fersen had already traveled extensively and published some poems in volumes such as Chansons Légères. At around this time, his homosexual leanings became apparent to him, which are also relatively clearly addressed in his poetry. Unfortunately for him, he was not sexually interested in adult men (which at the time in France would not have brought him into legal trouble) but in teenage boys between about 15 and 17 years old, i.e. he preferred pederastic relationships. This inclination eventually caused his undoing in French society.
[edit] The trial
In 1903, accusations surfaced that the Baron had held Black Masses in his house at 18 Avenue de Friedland. Supposedly these orgiastic feasts were attended by local Parisian schoolboys and involved sexual misconduct between the Baron and the boys. He was charged with indecent behavior with minors and served a six-month prison sentence, was fined 50 francs 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'Adelsward-Fersen was lucky in that his feasts, which he mockingly called Pink Masses, referring to their homosexual content, 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.
[edit] On Capri
After his marriage plans were foiled, d'Adelsward-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.
[edit] Lord Lyllian
Lord Lyllian, published in 1905, is one of d'Adelsward-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'Adelsward-Fersen himself.
[edit] Akademos
Akademos. Revue Mensuelle d'Art Libre et de Critique was d'Adelsward-Fersen's short-lived attempt at publishing a monthly journal promoting pederastic love. When the premiere issue of Akademos came out in 1909, it was the first publication of its kind in the French language. Thematically, 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'Adelsward-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 (i.e. there were twelve monthly issues). It is generally thought that the reason for its demise was that its production proved to be too costly for the Baron. However, other factors like the pressure generated by a hostile attitude of the press or society in general cannot be ruled out entirely. Still, the issues that were printed contain essays by such famous and diverse contributors as Xavier-Marcel Boulestin, Colette, Georges Eekhoud, Achille Essebac, Claude Farrère, Jean Ferval, Anatole France, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Joséphin Péladan and Laurent Tailhade.
[edit] Works about d'Adelsward-Fersen
[edit] Books
- Roger Peyrefitte: L'Exilé de Capri, 1959
- Alfred Jarry: La Chandelle verte, 1969
- Wolfram Setz [ed.]: Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen – Dandy und Poet. Bibliothek Rosa Winkel, 2006. ISBN 3-935596-38-3
- Foster, Stephen Wayne. Adelswärd Fersen, Baron Jacques D. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.), Garland Publishing, 1990. pp.11&12
[edit] Films
- Capri – Musik die sich entfernt, oder: Die seltsame Reise des Cyrill K., 1983. — Made-for-TV movie directed by Ferry Radax for the WDR featuring d'Adelsward-Fersen, Nino Cesarini, and a lot of other historical Capri celebrities.
