Revelation by Andre Birabeau

New York : Viking, 1930

Published in French as La Débauche in what was likely a limited edition in 1923 and followed by a 1924 edition from Flammarion, Revelation is a novel written in the modernist style. The familial and romantic relationships are presented through a Freudian lens, while the bulk of the novel is presented through the internal dialogue of its main character.

Madame Mathilde Casseneuil's husband Jean is a reporter who travels extensively and is rarely home in Paris. Mathilde's primary relationship then is with their son, Dominique. Dominique has recently taken a job with a motorcar company in Avignon and his mother has struggled with the distance now between them.

When Madame Casseneuil receives a telegram notifying her of Dominque's death in a car accident, she rushes to Avignon. She arrives at Dominique's apartment where the landlady and an unnamed gentleman recommend she not look at her son because of the damage from the car accident. The man takes her to a hotel where she can rest. The following day, while going through her son's rooms, she sees for the first time the things he surrounded himself with; a yellow silk kimono, a few pictures including a reproduction of a nude statue of Apollo, a cigarette holder. In his desk, she discovers a packet of love letters that she at first assumes are from a girl. Upon closer inspection, she realizes they are from a man and is horrified.

The remainder of the story largely takes place in Madame Casseneuil's mind as she remembers events in Dominique's life and tries to understand how her memories of him can be reconciled with what she now knows. She still thinks of her son as an innocent; not as a sexual being. Her sometimes lengthy internal dialogues are punctuated with intrusions of the present time emphasizing her sense of loss and her fumbling through the days trying to make sense of it all.

This English translation of La Debauche was performed by Lady Una Troubridge, a British sculptor and translator who is probably best known as the partner of Radclyffe Hall, author of the famous lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness (1928).

While the UK edition of Revelation (London : Victor Gollancz, 1930) was issued with a serviceable binding and the yellow paper dustjacket typical of Gollancz publications, one must draw attention to the luxe presentation by Viking Press. The deco inspired dustjacket art and corresponding binding is paired with thick cotton-heavy pages. While Revelation is a fascinating early story of a mother coming to terms with her son's homosexuality, the book itself is also a beautiful literary object.


Bibliographies & Ratings: Cory (IV); Garde (P 38**); Mattachine Review (IV); Young (284*)

Pagan Light : Dreams of Freedom and Beauty in Capri by Jamie James

New York : Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2019

Beginning with the Roman Emperor, Tiberius, Capri has a long history of accepting the eccentric and exiled from the less permissive parts of Europe. After establishing Capri's history in the Roman era, the author focuses primarily on the period from the Wilde trials through the mid 1930s during which time many sought artistic and sexual freedom there. The rise of the fascists, the focus of the final quarter of the book, brought significant change, not only to Capri, but to the world in general.

Pagan Light is a reference to maybe the most well known novel set in Capri, Norman Douglas' South Wind. Part travelogue, part literary and art history, James' book is difficult to define. It offers a series of vignettes of varying length connecting a veritable who's who of famous (and not-so-famous) literary and artistic expats. The minor players are offered as mere asides and provide a more complete sense of Capri's expat society. Pagan Light is anchored with biographical accounts of the little known novelist and poet, Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen and the artist Romain Brooks.

Adelswärd-Fersen flees Paris after his proclivities run afoul of the law. Interestingly it wasn't his sexual interest in teenage boys that was the problem, it was his use of them in his theatrical 'messes noires' (a supposed satanic ritual) to which he invited his friends. The details of this scandal would later be memorialized in his 1905 novel Messes Noires : Lord Lillian. An English translation of the novel, issued by Elysium Press, was published in 2005.

On Capri, Brooks was able to become an independent woman and present herself the way she was most comfortable. She cut her hair short and styled herself in trousers and jackets instead of dresses. She interacted within the society of lesbians of the time including Radclyffe Hall (author of the classic lesbian novel, The Well of Loneliness), Lady Una Troubridge (Hall's longtime lesbian partner), and American poet, Natalie Barney (Brooks' great love). Brooks is known for her portraits of important women in this lesbian circle as well as an early portrait of Jean Cocteau.

Adelswärd-Fersen and Brooks make for interesting subjects in that what we know of their lives is largely based on less than reliable depictions of them in their own and others writing. Adelswärd-Fersen's story is mostly known through The Exile of Capri, a roman à clef by Roger Peyrefitte, while Brooks' story largely comes from her own unpublished memoir as well as Compton Mackenzie's novel Extraordinary Women.

Ricardo Esposito, who runs the Capriot small press Edizioni La Conchiglia, sums up the importance of Capri nicely when he says, "Capri was an international laboratory for the avant-garde, a place where ideas were born, a new artistic vision, and given to the world." (p.288)