Grace Constant Lounsbery (1876 – 1964) was an American author, poet and playwright. She also founded a Buddhism society in France.

Biography

Her mother named her Grace Constant. She adopted the last name Lounsbery from a prestigious branch of her family, writing as G. Constant Lounsbery. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College. Lounsbery was friends with Gertrude Stein and often hosted gatherings at the family home in

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. Lounsbery's play ''L'Escarpolette'' (in English, ''The Swing'') opened at

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

's playhouse in Paris in 1904. The play is based upon an 18th-century painting of the same name, which depicts a flirtation between a young man and a woman on a

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

. Bernhardt played the young man. The play was a benefit for

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. Her doings in Paris were reported back to the United States by gossip columnists. They found her fascinating and often remarked on her masculine manner of dress and behavior, with one reporter calling her "an out-door lady of manly sports" who used the initial G to obscure her feminine name. Lounsbery moved in a circle of

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s in Paris. Gertrude Stein wrote of an early romantic relationship with Lounsbery in ''Q.E.D.'' (''Quod Erat Demonstrandum''), written in 1903 but not published until 1950. Lounsbery also hosted literary and artistic salons; Stein and Ernest Hemingway met

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at one of these evenings. In the poem ''Satan Unbound'' Lounsbery advocated for a spirit of rebellion embodied by the figure of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

. She reminded the reader that the American Revolution was a rebellion, and felt that a similar rebellion was needed to bring about socialism. She was inspired to write about Satan and rebellion by the work of

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. In 1929 Lounsbery founded a Buddhism society in France which was influential in popularizing Buddhism for French and Western people.

Selected work

*
An Iseult Idyll and Other Poems
' (1901) London, New York: John Lane *
Delilah, a drama in three acts
' (1904) New York: Scott-Thaw company *
Poems of revolt, and Satan unbound
' (1911) New York: Moffat, Yard and company *''Buddhist Meditation in the Southern School: Theory and Practice for Westerners'' (1950) London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lounsbery, Grace Constant 1876 births 1964 deaths American poets American dramatists and playwrights Satanism in popular culture Organization founders Women founders American LGBT dramatists and playwrights