Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy was a French writer born on July 11, 1846, in Périgueux, France, to parents with contrasting religious beliefs—an atheist father and a mystic mother. He studied art in Paris before converting to Catholicism in 1870, influenced by writer Jules Amedee Barbey d'Aurevilly, and later served in the Franco-Prussian War. Bloy's experiences during the war informed his literary work, particularly his collection of short stories, *Sueur du Sang*. Throughout his career, he wrote for various publications and even founded his own, *Pal*. Bloy is associated with the Decadence movement, showcasing themes of extremity, morality, and societal perversions in his writings. His notable works, *Le Désespéré* and *Le Femme pauvre*, feature complex characters grappling with their desires and often lead to tragic outcomes. Despite his extensive writing, few of his works have been translated into English, and his legacy is marked by controversial themes, including anti-Semitism and fanaticism. Bloy remains a compelling figure for those interested in the intersections of literature, religion, and societal critique during a tumultuous period in French history.
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Subject Terms
Léon Bloy
Novelist
- Born: July 11, 1846
- Birthplace: Périgueux, France
- Died: November 2, 1917
- Place of death: Bourg-la-Reine, France
Biography
Léon Bloy was born on July 11, 1846, in Perigueux, France, to parents at religious extremes: his father professed atheism and his mother mysticism. In 1863, he studied art in Paris. In 1870, influenced by writer and critic Jules Amedee Barbey d’Aurevilly, Bloy converted to Catholicism; he also volunteered for the French army in the Franco-Prussian War. The war formed the background for his collection of short stories Sueur du sang (1871), which showcased the cruelty of forces and individuals on both sides of the conflict. From 1895 until 1917, Bloy was a reporter for Figaro and Gil Blas, and in 1895, he began his own publication, Pal. In the 1880’s he became a recluse. One of his friends, Anne Marie Roule, a former prostitute, was imprisoned; another, Berthe Dumont, died of tetanus, and a third, Jeanne Molbech, married Bloy in 1890. Two of their four children died of malnutrition.
From the Decadence movement, Bloy drew a fascination with extremes, abnormalities, and perversions, and his writings center on debased behaviors, anti-Semitism, and fanaticism. The life of Marchenoir, protagonist of Le Désespéré (1886), Bloy’s seminal novel, echoes Bloy’s own life, most notably the religious fanaticism shared with a former prostitute, named Véronique in the novel, which ultimately drives her to self-destructive acts, madness, and prison. Some of the same characters reappear in Le Femme pauvre (1897; The Woman Who Was Poor, 1939), a tale about a painter’s model who eventually marries and begins a family, only to see her life fall apart as her family is harassed by a neighbor who goes mad. Many of Bloy’s characters are repulsive, consumed by their own perverted desires to the exclusion of the outside world. In his essays he wrote about Barbey d’Aurevilly as well as Joris- Karl Huysmans, whose novel A rebours (1884) is regarded as the archetypal work of the Decadence movement.
Bloy was a prolific writer, but very few of his works have been translated into English. Some critics note the beginnings of a fascist rhetoric in his hyperbolic tone and strident, often anti-Semitic, themes. In much of his work, baseness is not illuminated by hope for the human spirit, yet Bloy is often categorized as a religious writer. She Who Weeps: Our Lady of La Salette, an Anthology of Leon Bloy’s Writings on La Salette (1956), edited and translated by Emile La Douceur, offers one of the few English translations of Bloy’s work. Writing at the crux of the Decadence and nationalist movements, his writings embody the currents of the times taken to their extreme.