Paris 2015: Marcel Schwob and Léon Cahun, Cimetière du Montparnasse #8

Marcel Schwob by Félix Valotton

 

Léon Cahun

 

 

The grave of Marcel Schwob (1867–1905) isn't easy to find, and my thanks go to 'le promeneur' on Philippe Landru's excellent 'Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs' website for posting clear directions very soon after my enquiry as to its exact whereabouts. Schwob's name and dates are now scarcely visible on the tomb. He was the son of the publisher George Schwob and Mathilde (née Cahun): Mathilde was the sister of the orientalist and aventure novelist Léon Cahun (1841–1900), and Cahun is also buried here. Cahun's most successful novels were his first two: Les Aventures du capitaine Magon, ou Une exploration phénicienne mille ans avant l'ère chrétienne (1875) and La Bannière bleue: Aventures d'un musulman, d'un chrétien et d'un païen à l'époque des croisades et de la conquête mongole (1877).

Marcel Schwob was a friend of Théodore de Banville and Théophile Gautier. The works he is most noted for (in chronological order) are Cœur double (1891), Le Roi au masque d’or (1892), Mimes (1893), Le Livre de Monelle (1894), La Croisade des enfants (1896) and Vies imaginaires (1896). He died of flu at the age of thirty-seven.