Henri Gheon (1875 -1944)

Henri Ghéon (March 15, 1875 – June 13, 1944), 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.