Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen

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 suicide from an overdose of cocaine in 1923.

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.

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 was basically the French version of what had happened just a few years earlier to Oscar Wilde. 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.

After what is known today about the circumstances, d'Adelsward-Fersen's Pink Masses were likely much more harmless than was alleged in certain circles of society at the time. Mostly they seemed to have consisted of reading poetry and the formation of living pictures of mythological scenes (involving mostly semi-clad boys, obviously). D'Adelsward-Fersen also masturbated some of the boys on at least one occasion.

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.

Villa Lysis was designed by Edouard Chimot in Liberty style, the Italian take on Art Nouveau. In the basement there is a large smoking room where d'Adelsward-Fersen consumed his opium and finally committed suicide. A Latin inscription over the entrance reads: Amori et dolori sacrum — "A shrine to love and sorrow". The villa had been in a very bad condition for decades, but thanks to a restoration in the early 2000s initiated by the City Council of Capri it is now open for tourists.

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.

Akadémos

Akadémos. 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 Akadémos 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 Akadémos.

Unfortunately, Akadémos 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 contributors as Achille Essebac, Claude Farrère, Jean Ferval, and Anatole France.

Works about d'Adelsward-Fersen

Books

Roger Peyrefitte: L'Exilé de Capri, 1959
Alfred Jarry: La Chandelle verte, 1969
Wolram Setz ^*: Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen – Dandy und Poet. Bibliothek Rosa Winkel, 2006. ISBN 3935596383
Foster, Stephen Wayne. Adelswärd Fersen, Baron Jacques D. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.), Garland Publishing, 1990. pp.11&12

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.

External links

Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen | Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen | Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen

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