Henri Ghéon

Ghéon, Henri (pseud. of Henri-Léon Vangéon) (1875-1944). Critic and poet (Chansons d'aube, 1897), whose love of the theatre was encouraged by his friendship with Copeau. A meeting with Gide in 1897 proved decisive and, with Schlumberger and Copeau, he became a founder-member of the Nouvelle Revue Française in 1909, and a regular contributor. While on military service in 1916 he returned to Catholicism, and henceforth his activities were to be the ‘témoignage d'un converti’. He wrote lives of saints, religious and mystery plays—‘le théâtre pour le peuple fidèle’; Les Trois Miracles de Sainte Cécile (1919) and Job (1932) were performed in parish halls by his itinerant troupe, Les Compagnons de Notre Dame. However, his rushed and over-diversified output (over 50 plays) precluded success.

[Ethel Tolansky]

Henri Ghéon by Jean Veber

Henri Ghéon (March 15, 1875 - June 13, 1944^[1]), born Henri Vangeon in Bray-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Marne, was a French playwright, critic and poet. Educated in Sens, he moved to Paris in 1893 to study medicine. He started to write poetry around the same time, along with his colleagues Francis Jammes and Mallarmé. He also published avant garde criticism. In 1887 he met André Gide, who became his literary guide and friend for twenty years. He also wrote an article about the truth of Saint John.

In 1909 he was a founding member of the Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF).

He served as an army doctor in the First World War. During this period he regained his Catholic faith (as described in his work "L'homme né de la guerre", "The Man Born out of the War"). From then on much of his work portrays episodes from the lives of the saints.

References

1. ^ US National Centre for Biological Information

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