Akademos

Akademos was a French monthly review of free art and criticism (revue mensuelle d'art libre et de critique) founded in January 1909 in Paris by the aristocrat and poet Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Its first issue appeared on 15 January 1909, published by the Parisian publisher Albert Messein. The review ran for only about a year, producing twelve issues totalling 1,025 pages, and is remembered as the first French periodical to confront homosexuality directly and positively, apart from earlier legal publications such as the Annales de l'unisexualité (1897) and the Chroniques de l'unisexualité emanating from the journal Archives d'anthropologie criminelle (1907–1909). The review was conceived as a vehicle for defending what d'Adelswärd-Fersen called "l'Autre Amour" (the Other Love), combining poems and essays, literature and debates of ideas. It described itself as "la plus indépendante des revues" (the most independent of reviews). Its themes were similar to those of the German journal Der Eigene, published since 1896 by Adolf Brand. Encouraged by the Belgian writer Georges Eekhoud, d'Adelswärd-Fersen had read German publications that sought to promote the social acceptance of homosexuality before launching Akademos. The idea dates to late 1907, when he solicited advice and contributions from figures including Magnus Hirschfeld, the jurist Eugène Wilhelm, and the physician Charles Albert Guichard. The first issue, priced at 2.50 francs and printed on Ingres paper, ran to 160 pages. The editorial address was 25 rue Eugène-Manuel in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, and the manager was Nino Cesarini, at one time the companion of d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Subscribers were promised two artistic héliogravures as a premium. The first instalment contained a reproduction of a photograph of Raymond Laurent, the review's short-lived editorial secretary, who had just committed suicide at the age of 22 and to whom d'Adelswärd-Fersen paid tribute under the pseudonym "Sonyeuse". The graphic design was commissioned from George Auriol. The political and social context regarding homosexuality at the time was marked by the Moltke–Eulenburg scandal, a trial held in Berlin that dominated the press during 1907 and 1908. In June 1909, the trial of Pierre Renard, a maître d'hôtel accused without proof of murdering his employer, took place in Paris; Renard, who did not deny his homosexuality, was sent to the penal colony, and as the Eulenburg trial ended, the French press spoke of the "German vice". The following month, in issue 7, an article titled "Le préjugé contre les mœurs" took a particularly militant stance, arguing that homosexuality demanded respect and the revision of an iniquitous trial, and that it was no longer a matter of criminology or even pathology but of the common law of liberated love. The article was signed by a certain Guy Delrouze, who appears as Guy Debrouze in the review's table of contents and on the table of the second semester of the Christmas issue—perhaps, according to Kevin Dubout, a pseudonym of Charles Albert Guichard. Akademos lasted only a year. Yet in May 1909 d'Adelswärd-Fersen planned to continue the review in 1910 on a fortnightly basis, while lamenting a "derisory level of subscriptions". Wilhelm reports that d'Adelswärd-Fersen had spent more than 50,000 gold francs on the venture. It is unclear whether he received pressure from a hostile press or simply failed to find new momentum for his review. The first issue had nonetheless been praised by the Mercure de France. The tables of contents reveal contributions from important authors, including Henri Barbusse, Marcel Boulestin, Henri Bouvelet, Colette, Georges Eekhoud, Achille Essebac, Claude Farrère, Jean Ferval, Anatole France, Maxim Gorky, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Joséphin Peladan, Edmond Pilon, Léonard Sarluis, Arthur Symons, and Laurent Tailhade.

Akademos was founded in January 1909 in Paris by the aristocrat and poet Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Titled Akademos : revue mensuelle d'art libre et de critique, its first issue appeared on 15 January 1909, published by the Parisian publisher Albert Messein. The issue ran to 160 pages, printed on Ingres paper, and sold for 2.50 francs. The editorial address was 25 rue Eugène-Manuel in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, and the manager was Nino Cesarini, at one time the companion of d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Subscribers were promised two artistic héliogravures as a premium. The first instalment contained a reproduction of a photograph of Raymond Laurent, the review's short-lived editorial secretary, who had just committed suicide at the age of 22 and to whom d'Adelswärd-Fersen paid tribute under the pseudonym "Sonyeuse". The graphic design was commissioned from George Auriol. The review represented d'Adelswärd-Fersen's brief attempt to defend pederasty (which he called "l'Autre Amour", the Other Love) through a monthly publication mixing poems and essays, literature and debates of ideas. It described itself as "la plus indépendante des revues" (the most independent of reviews). It was the first review of its kind to appear in French. Its themes were similar to those of the German journal Der Eigene, published since 1896 by Adolf Brand. Thanks to the advice of the Belgian writer Georges Eekhoud, d'Adelswärd-Fersen had read German publications that sought to promote the social acceptance of homosexuality before launching Akademos. The idea dates to late 1907; he solicited Magnus Hirschfeld, the jurist Eugène Wilhelm, and the physician Charles Albert Guichard, among others, to advise him and contribute. The political and social context regarding homosexuality at the time was marked by the Moltke–Eulenburg scandal. The trial held in Berlin dominated the press during 1907 and 1908. In June 1909, the trial of Pierre Renard, a maître d'hôtel accused without proof of murdering his employer, took place in Paris. Renard, who did not deny his homosexuality, was sent to the penal colony. As the Eulenburg trial ended, the French press spoke of the "German vice". The following month, in issue 7, an article titled "Le préjugé contre les mœurs" took a particularly militant stance: "Homosexuality is not only fascinating for our investigation, it demands our respect and the revision of an iniquitous trial. It no longer falls under criminology, nor even pathology, but under the common law of liberated love. It is therefore not a sect of vicious people demanding an immoral status, but thousands, millions of individuals gifted, valid, usable by an intelligent society and proscribed by ours for abolished motives. The corpse of a dead morality cannot counterbalance in the scales of justice the dignity, the freedom of so many men..." The article was signed by a certain Guy Delrouze, who appears under the name Guy Debrouze in the review's table of contents, its table of contents, and on the table of the second semester of the Christmas issue (perhaps, according to Kevin Dubout, a pseudonym of Charles Albert Guichard). Akademos lasted only a year. Yet in May 1909 d'Adelswärd-Fersen planned to continue the review in 1910 on a fortnightly basis, while lamenting a "derisory level of subscriptions". Did people fear buying it? Was the publication too expensive for the baron? Wilhelm reports that d'Adelswärd-Fersen had spent more than 50,000 gold francs on the venture. Did he receive pressure from a hostile press, or did he fail to find new momentum for his review? The first issue had nonetheless been praised by the Mercure de France. The tables of contents reveal contributions from important authors, including Henri Barbusse, Marcel Boulestin, Henri Bouvelet, Colette, Georges Eekhoud, Achille Essebac, Claude Farrère, Jean Ferval, Anatole France, Maxim Gorky, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Joséphin Peladan, Edmond Pilon, Léonard Sarluis, Arthur Symons, and Laurent Tailhade. Recent studies (by Kevin Dubout, Patrick Cardon, Mirande Lucien, Paul Snijders, Viveka Adelswärd, and Michael Rosenfeld) show that d'Adelswärd-Fersen envisaged the support of Magnus Hirschfeld, with whom he was put in contact through Georges Eekhoud, Eugène Wilhelm, and Éric Simac (pseudonym of Dr Charles Albert Guichard), in order to transform his review into an international organ, written in several languages and devoted exclusively to homosexuality and its acceptance, while retaining an aesthetic dimension. It seems this idea did not receive the hoped-for support, either from the French or the German side. In his Journal littéraire, Paul Léautaud wrote on 26 August 1908 that he had declined the proposal made to him during the preparation of the first issue of Akademos to take charge of theatrical criticism for the publication. In the Mercure de France of 1 December 1909, Léautaud wrote in his theatrical column (signed under the pseudonym Maurice Boissard) that he had declined the proposal made to him during the preparation of the first issue of Akademos to "report on the theatres". He ended with the comment: "I regretted it a little, for a time. People used to say 'our uncle Sarcey'. Perhaps they would have said 'our aunt Boissard'." The complete run of Akademos comprises twelve issues, or 1,025 pages. It does not exist in complete form in any library or public archive collection.

• 1910

  The review ceases publication after one year and twelve issues (1,025 pages).

• 1909

  First issue published on 15 January 1909 by Albert Messein; 160 pages, priced 2.50 francs.

• 1909

  In May 1909, d'Adelswärd-Fersen plans to continue the review in 1910 on a fortnightly basis.

• 1909

  Issue 7 publishes the militant article "Le préjugé contre les mœurs".

• 1909

  On 1 December 1909, Paul Léautaud mentions in Mercure de France that he declined to report on theatres for Akademos.

• 1908

  On 26 August 1908, Paul Léautaud declines the proposal to handle theatrical criticism for Akademos.

• 1907

  Idea for the review dates to late 1907; d'Adelswärd-Fersen solicits advice from Magnus Hirschfeld, Eugène Wilhelm, and Charles Albert Guichard.

Self-described as "la plus indépendante des revues" (the most independent of reviews), a literary and artistic monthly that openly and positively addressed homosexuality.

• Akademos : revue mensuelle d'art libre et de critique

  Monthly literary and arts review, 12 issues, 1,025 pages, published 1909.

1. 1Akademos — Wikipédiafr.wikipedia.org
2. 2Akademos — Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3À propos | Gallicagallica.bnf.fr
4. 4Advanced search | Gallicagallica.bnf.fr