Léon Bloy and the Limits of Religious Tolerance

“My anger is the effervescence of my pity.” So wrote the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French writer Léon Bloy in a letter to his most famous disciple, Jacques Maritain. Indeed, it was this anger that brought him both praise and repudiation throughout his career, which began in 1882, when he started writing for the journal of the notorious Le Chat Noir cabaret, and lasted until his death in 1917. Over the course of these thirty-five years, he wrote thirty books, both novels and works of nonfiction. He was also a dedicated correspondent and kept a private diary that was published posthumously. Though his output was prodigious, he is deemed by even his most devoted biographers and scholars to be rather unknown in his own time, especially in contrast to giants of the age such as Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, and Maurice Barrès.  Read Full Article »