Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen (20 February 1880 – 5 November 1923) was a French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. His life forms the basis of a fictionalised 1959 novel by

Roger Peyrefitte Pierre Roger Peyrefitte (; 17 August 1907 – 5 November 2000) was a French diplomat, writer of bestseller novels and non-fiction, and a defender of gay rights and pederasty. Life and work Born in Castres, Tarn, to a middle-class bourgeo ...

entitled '' The Exile of Capri'' (''L'exilé de Capri''). In 1903, a scandal involving school pupils made d'Adelswärd ''persona non grata'' in the salons of Paris and dashed his marriage plans. For much of the rest of his life, he took up residence on

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

in self-imposed exile with his long-time lover,

Nino Cesarini Antonio Cesarini (30 September 1889 – 24 October 1943), better known by the diminutive name Nino, was a model for several artists, such as the photographer Wilhelm von Plüschow, painters Paul Hoecker and Umberto Brunelleschi and sculptor Fra ...

. He became a "character" on the island in the inter-war years, featuring in novels by

Compton MacKenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...

and others. His house,

Villa Lysis Villa Lysis (initially, La Gloriette; today, Villa Fersen) is a villa on Capri built by industrialist and poet Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen in 1905. "Dedicated to the youth of love" (''dédiée à la jeunesse d'amour''), it was Fersen's self-chose ...

, remains one of Capri's tourist attractions.

Early life

He was born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as Jacques d'Adelswärd on 20 February 1880, son of Axel d'Adelswärd and Louise-Emilie Alexandrine d'Adelswärd (''née'' Vührer; 1855–1935), who came from Catholic Alsatian family. As he was related on his paternal side to Axel von Fersen, a Swedish count who had had a supposed relationship with

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

, d'Adelswärd took on the name Fersen later in his life to advertise his link with his distant relative. On his father's side, his family can be traced back to Baron Georges Axel d'Adelswärd, a Swedish officer who was captured by the French in 1793 and imprisoned in

Longwy Longwy (; older , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. The inhabitants are known as ''Longoviciens''. In ...

. There, he married the daughter of the French notary Bernard. D'Adelswärd's grandfather, Renauld-Oscar (1811–1898), became a naturalized French citizen in 1832 and married Amélie Steiner in 1843. After serving in the army, he founded the steel industry in Longwy-Briey. D'Adelswärd went to school in Paris and studied briefly there at the

École libre des sciences politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

, and afterward at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. D'Adelswärd's maternal grandfather, Thomas Michel Alexandre Vührer (1817–1886), was a referendary at the French Ministry of State, director of ''Le Paris-Journal'' as well as founder of the Parisian newspaper ''Le Soir''. D'Adelswärd's father, Axel d'Adelswärd, died from fever in Panama when Jacques was seven years old. He was assigned a guardian, Viscount Elie Marie Audoin de Dampierre (1846–1909), who was a friend of the family. During d'Adelswärd's teenage years, the family spent long summer vacations at his grandfather's estate on

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, where d'Adelswärd reportedly had an intimate encounter with a blond Eton schoolboy. In 1897, d'Adelswärd visited Capri and other parts of Italy with his mother. The family steel furnaces had become profitable enough to make d'Adelswärd a rich and 'eligible' bachelor when he inherited at the age of 22. Apart from joining the military, he traveled extensively and settled down as a writer. He published ''Chansons légères'' (1900) and ''Hymnaire d'Adonis'' (1902), and other poems and novels. In 1902, he holidayed in Venice, where he associated with the novelist

Jean Lorrain Jean Lorrain (9 August 1855 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime – 30 June 1906), born Paul Alexandre Martin Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school. Lorrain was a dedicated disciple of dandyism and spent much of his time am ...

. On his return to Paris, he published a novel, ''Notre Dame des mers mortes''.

"''Messes noires''" scandal

In 1903, d'Adelswärd and his friend, Albert François (Hamelin) de Warren (1881–1928), brother of René de Warren, were rumoured to be holding "entertainments" – ''

tableaux vivants A (; often shortened to ; ; ) is a static scene (performing arts), scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or theatrical scenery, scenery, and may be s ...

'' of pupils from the best Parisian schools – in his house at 18 Avenue de Friedland. One of the first alleged "victims" was Eduardo (Bruno) de Warren (1886–1957), brother of Hamelin. D'Adelswärd and Hamelin were arrested on charges of inciting minors to commit debauchery. D'Adelswärd was arrested on 9 July by Octave Hamard, chief of the Paris police, and his deputy Blot by order of Charles de Valles, pretrial judge. The order stated the suspicion of indecent behaviour with minors and offending public decency. He was brought to

La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) ( or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice (France), Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the 14th arr ...

after arrest. The newspapers and magazines published alleged details of d'Adelswärd's and Hamelin's orgies, which they called ''messes noires'' (

Black Mass A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms, and the modern form is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous parody of a Catholic Mass. In the 19th century the ...

es), in their homes twice a week, with youngsters from the upper classes, mostly recruited from the

Lycée Carnot The Lycée Carnot () is a public secondary and higher education school at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. The Lycée Carnot was founded in 1869, first bearing the name of École Monge and then renamed in 1 ...

and the Chaptal, Condorcet, Janson-deSailly, and Saint-Joseph-des-Tuileries schools. According to Peyrefitte, the scandal started with a failed blackmail attempt by d'Adelswärd's former servant, demanding 100,000 francs in return for his silence. D'Adelswärd's mother refused to pay, so he went to the police. At the beginning, the police dismissed the allegations. But the story was later confirmed by another arrested blackmailer who was an intimate acquaintance of Albert François de Warren.

Will Ogrinc Willem Hubert Louis (Willy, Wil, Will) Ogrinc (Kerkrade, March 29, 1951 – Utrecht, March 21, 2018) was a Dutch poet and biographer. Biography Ogrinc was the son of miner Leonard Hubert Ogrinc and Johanna Catharina Crombach. In the year he wa ...

reported that, after investigating the French National Archives in 2003, he did not come across any documents about the failed blackmail attempt by d'Adelswärd's former valet and that it was probably invented by Peyrefitte. In the court documents, the valet, whose name was Velpry, told investigators about the periodic visits of brothers Croisé de Pourcelet to d'Adelswärd's apartment and that, after one of their visits, he had found obscene photos and handkerchiefs stained with semen on the table. He also claimed that he had let d'Adelswärd's mother know about it and quit his job. Some documents mention that d'Adelswärd was blackmailed by several rent boys with whom he had relations. The dossier mentions the names of six rent boys: Beret, Boscher, twenty-one-year-old Kothé, Lefebvre, nineteen-year-old Leroy, and fifteen-year-old Verguet, though there is no mention as to which of them might have been the blackmailer. Police started to watch some of the schoolboys, which at first sight confirmed the allegations. Hamelin fled to the United States on 27 June 1903, but d'Adelswärd was arrested. His aunt Jeanne d'Adelswärd and former guardian Viscount Audoin de Dampierre employed

Edgar Demange Edgar Demange (April 22, 1841 in Versailles – February 1925 in Paris) was a French jurist. He was, with Fernand Labori, the lawyer of Alfred Dreyfus during his trials in 1894 and 1899. Biography Demange was a winner of the national eloque ...

, a lawyer who previously defended

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the Fre ...

, in his defence.

Trial

The trial started on 28 November 1903 in the Seine Tribunal. It was presided over by Judge Bondoux. It was a closed trial with the public barred from the hearings. Some schoolboys testified for the prosecution. The defence tried to prove d'Adelswärd's heterosexuality by making him testify about his encounters with women. D'Adelswärd and de Warren were found guilty, but having been in prison for five months already d'Adelswärd was set free immediately after the trial. He was also fined 50 francs and lost civil rights for five years. Hamelin stayed in prison and appealed his sentence to a higher court. The "entertainments" had been attended by the cream of Parisian society, including some Catholic priests and the writer

Achille Essebac Achille Essebac (29 January 1868 – 1 August 1936) was a French writer primarily known for his novel ''Dédé'', about an ill-fated homoerotic friendship between two schoolboys. Essebac was a pseudonym, since his original surname Bécasse is a ...

. This could be a factor which may have induced the court to drop some charges. According to Will Ogrinc, the court limited the case to "inciting minors to debauchery" because of illegal conduct between boys and two young men in their twenties, preventing implications against older participants. Many boys did not appear at the interrogations and trial, since they had been sent to the countryside by their parents to avoid embarrassing revelations. There is no detailed description of the boys' testimony, but Peyrefitte writes of

's report that, after ''

'', d'Adelswärd followed the boys who had been stimulated by the entertainment to the bathroom and masturbated them.

Failed marriage

The scandal foiled d'Adelswärd's plans to marry Blanche Suzanne Caroline de Maupeou (1884–1951), daughter of the respected aristocratic and wealthy Protestant industrialist Viscount de Maupeou. The court documents mention that one of the blackmail letters was sent to the Viscount prior to the scandal and that Blanche's family was happy to receive the information prior to his arrest and to cancel his marriage plans. After d'Adelswärd's release on 3 December 1903, he tried to visit his fiancée with the intent of explaining the affair, but was sent away by a servant. There were rumours in the press that he tried to end his life, but the accounts in ''Gazzetta Piemontese'' and ''Le Figaro'' differ.

On Capri

Construction of Villa Lysis and world travels

After his marriage plans were foiled, d'Adelswärd remembered the island of Capri from his youth, and decided to build a house there. The island had already attracted other homosexual or bisexual visitors, such as

Christian Wilhelm Allers Christian Wilhelm Allers (6 August 1857 – 19 October 1915) was a German painter and printmaker. Biography Allers, the son of a merchant, was born in Hamburg. He first worked as a lithographer, and in 1877 he moved to Karlsruhe where he c ...

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer. Early life E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshire, ...

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford University he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carr ...

, Robert Ross,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

Friedrich Alfred Krupp Friedrich Alfred Krupp (; 17February 185422November 1902) was a German steel manufacturer and head of the company Krupp. He was the son of Alfred Krupp and inherited the family business when his father died in 1887. Whereas his father had largely ...

Norman Douglas George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel ''South Wind''. His travel books, such as ''Old Calabria'' (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing. ...

, and Compton and Faith Mackenzie; and attracted many others during d'Adelswärd's stay. He stayed originally at the

Grand Hotel Quisisana The Grand Hotel Quisisana is the largest hotel on the island of Capri. It is located in the old town of Capri, opposite to the Hotel Residenza Capri and the Villa Sanfelice, to the south of the Piazza Umberto I. It was founded as a sanatorium in ...

and then bought land at the top of a hill in the northeast of the island, close to where the Roman emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

had built his ''

Villa Jovis Villa Jovis ("Villa of Jupiter") is a Roman palace on Capri, southern Italy, built by Emperor Tiberius and completed in 27 AD. Tiberius ruled mainly from there until his death in 37 AD. Villa Jovis is the largest of the twelve Tiberian ...

'' two millennia earlier. He commissioned his friend

Édouard Chimot Édouard Chimot (26 November 1880 – 7 June 1959) was a French artist, illustrator and editor whose career reached its peak in the 1920s in Paris, through the publication of fine quality art-printed books. As artist his own work occupies a characte ...

to design a villa, initially called ''Gloriette'', but was eventually christened ''

'' (later sometimes referred to as ''Villa Fersen'') in reference to Plato's

Socratic dialogue Socratic dialogue () is a genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works of Plato and Xenophon and all involve Socrates as the protagonist. These dialogues, and subse ...

Lysis Lysis ( ; from Greek 'loosening') is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ...

'' discussing friendship (or, according to modern notions, homosexual love). When the construction started, d'Adelswärd left Capri to visit the Far East. He mostly spent time on

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, where he wrote ''Lord Lyllian''. He returned to Capri in the autumn of 1904, visiting the United States on the way back. At some point after his return, he had to flee Capri temporarily, since some islanders blamed d'Adelswärd for a local worker's accidental death during the construction of Villa Lysis. He went to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he met a fourteen-year-old construction worker selling newspapers,

. D'Adelswärd fell in love with the boy immediately. He obtained Cesarini's family's permission to take him as secretary. In the spring of 1905 d'Adelswärd and Cesarini visited Sicily, where they met with

Wilhelm von Gloeden Wilhelm Iwan Friederich August von Gloeden (September 16, 1856 – February 16, 1931), commonly known as Baron von Gloeden, was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. He is mostly known for his pastoral nude studies of Sicilian boys ...

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...

. The construction of the villa was completed in July 1905. ''Villa Lysis'' is a notable building. Its style is described by some as "Liberty" but is not Liberty or

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

in the French manner but may perhaps be described as "Neoclassical decadent". The large garden is connected to the villa by steps leading to an Ionic portico. 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. The ground-floor sitting-room, decorated with blue majolica and white ceramic, overlooks the Gulf of Naples. In the basement there is a 'Chinese Room', in which opium was smoked. D'Adelswärd and Cesarini travelled to Paris, where d'Adelswärd delivered a manuscript to publishers and went directly to Oxford. After returning to Capri, d'Adelswärd, Cesarini and their four boy-servants travelled to China. They all returned to

at the beginning of 1907.

Temporary exile from Capri

D'Adelswärd published his novel about Capri ''Et le feu s'éteignit sur la mer…'' ('And the fire was smothered by the sea') in 1909. The novel told the story of young sculptor Gérard Maleine on Capri. The book was highly criticized, since d'Adelswärd wrote quite frivolously about Caprian habits and morals. Some islanders, recognising themselves in the book, tried to prevent its distribution. Roberto Ciuni reports that the Communal Council of Capri decided to pursue d'Adelswärd's expulsion from the island at its formal meeting on 16 September 1909. Villa Lysis and its inhabitants had a nasty reputation among locals.

Giorgio Amendola Giorgio Amendola (21 November 1907 – 5 June 1980) was an Italian writer and politician. He is regarded and often cited as one of the main precursors of the Olive Tree. Born in Rome in 1907, Amendola was the son of Lithuanian intellectual and ...

, the future leader of the Italian Communist Party, who lived on Capri when he was an eleven-year-old boy, led a small gang of boys and girls in 1918, and wrote in his autobiography: Local authorities used the parties d'Adelswärd threw to celebrate Cesarini's army enlistment and twentieth birthday as an additional reason for expelling him from the island. The parties were held in the Matermània grottos and included theatrical shows with d'Adelswärd playing handsome young

Hypatos (; : , ) and the variant (; ) was a Byzantine court dignity, originally the Greek translation of Latin (the literal meaning of is 'the supreme one', which reflects the office, but not the etymology of ''). The dignity arose from the honorary ...

and Cesarini playing the role of a soldier of

Mithra Mithra ( ; ) is an ancient Iranian deity ('' yazata'') of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth ( ...

. Fearing the scandal, authorities asked d'Adelswärd's brother-in-law, marquis Alfredo di Bugnano, who was married to d'Adelswärd's sister Germaine, to intervene. The marquis summoned d'Adelswärd to Naples and presented him with two options – either to leave Italy voluntarily or be expelled officially. D'Adelswärd chose to leave. He returned to France in November 1909 and stayed briefly in Paris at 24 rue Eugène Manuel. Cesarini left Capri with d'Adelswärd. The couple did not stay in Paris for long. They left for

Porquerolles Porquerolles (; ), also known as the Île de Porquerolles, is an island in the Îles d'Hyères, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. Its land area is and in 2004, its population has been about 200. Porquerolles, the largest and most west ...

on the

Îles d'Hyères The Îles d'Hyères (), also known as Îles d'Or (), are a group of four Mediterranean islands off Hyères in the Var department of Southeastern France. Their old name is the Stoechades Islands from ''Stoikhádes'' from ''stoikhás'' meaning ...

near

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, and later moved to Villa Mezzomonte in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Luigi Luzzatti Luigi Luzzatti (; 11 March 1841 – 29 March 1927) was an Italian financier, political economist, social philosopher, and jurist. He served as the 20th prime minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911. Luzzatti came from a wealthy and cultured Jew ...

as a celebration of his return.

Later life

When war broke out in 1914, d'Adelswärd was asked to report for military service by the French authorities. He was found unfit for service by specialists in the French consulate in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and sent to a hospital for opium addiction. It was reported that he secretly used

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

while in hospital to compensate for opium. At that time he met Italian sculptor

Vincenzo Gemito Vincenzo Gemito (July 16, 1852 – March 1, 1929) was an Italian sculptor and artist. Although he worked in various studios of well-known artists in his native Naples, Rome and Paris, he is considered to have largely been self-taught, the reason ...

. After d'Adelswärd came back to Capri, doctors declared him incurably ill. He mostly spent his days without leaving the villa, either working in his study or using opium in the smoking room, which was called his Opiarium by the Naples newspaper ''

Il Mattino ''Il Mattino'' (English: "The Morning") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Naples, Italy. History and profile ''Il Mattino'' was first published on 16 March 1892 by the journalists Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao. Since 1999, the ...

''. In 1920, d'Adelswärd met fifteen-year-old

Corrado Annicelli Corrado Annicelli (1 September 1905 – 28 August 1984) was an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Naples, Annicelli made his stage debut in 1927, cast by Dora Menichelli to play a fascinating officer in the drama play ''Guerra in tempo ...

, son of a notary from

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

, who came for a vacation to Capri with his parents. He spent the rest of his life based in Capri, and died there in 1923 – allegedly by suicide achieved through drinking a cocktail of champagne and cocaine. His ashes are conserved in the non-Catholic cemetery of Capri. His lover,

, returned to Rome.

''Lord Lyllian''

''Lord Lyllian'', published in 1905, is one of d'Adelswärd's more important novels, 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 who 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 himself. ''Lord Lyllian'' was translated and first published in English in 2005. Akademos 1909

''Akademos'' revue

''Akademos. Revue Mensuelle d'Art Libre et de Critique'' (1909)See Mirande Lucien: Akademos. Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen et 'la Cause homosexuelle'. Lille, Cahiers Gay-Kitsch-Camp, 2000 (p. 152), which reprints some of the key articles of the magazine. ''Akademos'' itself is extremely rare nowadays. was d'Adelswärd's short-lived attempt at publishing a monthly literary journal. It was a periodical of a luxurious kind, each issue printed on several sorts of deluxe paper, with contributions by well-known authors, like

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

Henry Gauthier-Villars Henry Gauthier-Villars (8 August 1859 – 12 January 1931), known by the pen name Willy , was a French '' fin de siècle'' writer and music critic who is today mostly known as the first husband of Colette. Other pseudonyms used by Gauthiers-Villa ...

Laurent Tailhade Laurent Tailhade (; April 16, 1854, Tarbes – November 1, 1919, Combes-la-Ville) was a French satirical poet, anarchist polemicist, essayist, and translator, active in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s. In April 1894, Tailhade was injured in ...

, Josephin Peladan,

Marcel Boulestin Xavier Marcel Boulestin (1878 – 20 September 1943) was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world. Born in Poitiers in France (Poitou region), Boulestin tried a ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

Georges Eekhoud Georges Eekhoud (27 May 1854 – 29 May 1927) 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 th ...

Claude Farrère Claude Farrère (), pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone (; 27 April 1876, in Lyon – 21 June 1957, in Paris), was a French Navy officer and writer. Many of his novels are based in exotic locations such as Istanbul, Saigon, or Nagasaki. On ...

Anatole France (; born ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and 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 Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...

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and

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic, translator and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France an ...

. In each issue, as is clear from d'Adelswärd's letters to Georges Eekhoud, a homosexual element was carefully introduced: a poem, an article, or a hint in the magazine's serial ''Les Fréquentations de Maurice'' by Boulestin. As a magazine with homosexual agenda it was the first of its kind in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

, although only about 10% of ''Akademos'' may be counted as homosexual. In its 'gay' content it trod similar ground to that of the German journal, ''

Der Eigene ''Der Eigene'' (, ) was the first Homosexuality, gay journal in the world, published from 1896 to 1932 by Adolf Brand in Berlin. Brand contributed many poems and articles; other contributors included writers Benedict Friedlaender, Hanns Heinz Ewe ...

'', published between 1896 and 1931 by

Adolf Brand Gustav Adolf Franz Brand (1874–1945) was a German writer, egoist anarchist, and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality. Early life Adolf Brand was born on 14 November 1874 in Berlin, which was then par ...

. This is not a coincidence, as d'Adelswärd studied the German publications that tried to push for the social acceptance of homosexuality before launching ''Akademos''. Also he corresponded with Brand and

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, Sexology, sexologist and LGBTQ advocate, whose German citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government.David A. Gerstner, ''Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer ...

. ''Akademos'' lasted only one year—there were twelve monthly issues, amounting to some 2,000 pages. Perhaps its production costs were too great; but in a letter to Eekhoud, d'Adelswärd complained of the lack of interest of the press and the public; and a general hostility from press or society cannot be ruled out.

Film

*
Capri – Musik die sich entfernt, oder: Die seltsame Reise des Cyrill K.
'', 1983. — Made-for-TV movie directed by

Ferry Radax Ferry Radax (20 June 1932 – 9 September 2021) was an Austrian film maker born in Vienna, Austria. Career Radax was active in many genres since 1949. He studied at Vienna's Film Institute in 1953–54, followed by ''Cinecittà'', Centro Sperime ...

for the

WDR WDR may refer to: * Waddell & Reed (stock ticker: WDR), an American asset management and financial planning company * Walt Disney Records, an American record label of the Disney Music Group * WDR neuron, a type of neuron involved in pain signalli ...

featuring d'Adelswärd-Fersen, Nino Cesarini, and other historical Capri celebrities. * Music video of soprano Nicole Renaud singing d'Adelswärd-Fersen's poem, ''Mon cœur 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 soprano Nicole Renaud consist of four poems by d'Adelswärd-Fersen.

References

External links

Will H.L. Ogrinc, ''Frère Jacques. A shrine to love and sorrow. Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen (1880-1923). Fourth, revised edition''
Retrieved August 20, 2023.

* ttp://www.pbase.com/adalberto_tiburzi/capri_villa_lysis_ Pictures of Villa Lysis todaybr>Nicole Renaud & Mario Bindi "Les amants solitaires"
based on Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen poem * Massimo Colella, ''Profilo biografico di attori partenopei del XX secolo: VI. Corrado Annicelli'', 2022 (https://www.centrostuditeatro.it/2022/03/corrado-annicelli/).

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Adelsward-Fersen, Jacques D 1880 births 1923 suicides 1923 deaths Writers from Paris 20th-century French poets Gay poets Gay novelists LGBTQ nobility Capri, Campania French LGBTQ rights activists French LGBTQ poets French LGBTQ novelists Drug-related suicides in Italy 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French male poets French male novelists French expatriates in Italy