H. A. Jules-Bois Papers

Idealist, scholar and mystic, Henri Antoine Jules-Bois wrote dramas, novels, poetry, essays and scholarly papers on psychology and trends of thought. A strong creative urge led to great and diversified activity in the fields of literature and philosophy. Henri Antoine Jules-Bois was born in Marseilles, France, in 1869 and educated there at the College of St. Ignatius at Aix-en- Provence and Montpelier where he received his A.B. and B.Sc.. He later attended the College de France where he was granted Litt.D. At the Sorbonne he studied under Dr. Berillon and received the degree of Doctor Psychology for his researches in the field of the 'superconscious.' Jules-Bois first wrote symbolic plays in verse, and then based several novels on women's emancipation in the 1890's such as The Eternal Doll, The New Era, Restless Womanhood, The New Sorrow and The Future Couple. His interest in preternatural manifestations in man prompted Mysteries of Evil and Lesser Religions of Paris, the former prefaced by Huysmans, his intimate friend. At the close of the century Jules-Bois travelled to the Near and Far East, to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Palestine and India. He became the friend of Venizelos and of Vivekananda and met Rabindranath Tagore. His Visions of India describes his search for the truth in Hindu philosophy.

While in Rome in 1902 he had a private audience with Leo XIII, which he described as one of the greatest moments of his life. In Paris he became active in the Astronomical Society, the Society for Psychological Research of Paris, of which he was later president, and the Institute of Psychophysiology, where he spent many hours in the clinics. At the School of Psychology he later held the chair of head professor of the superconscious. In 1903 he wrote of occultism, spiritism and theosophy in The Invisible World. Drama next occupied his interests. In 1904 appeared Hyppolytus Crowned and in 1905 The Fury, both plays in verse adapted from antiquity. Other plays by Jules-Bois include The Two Helens, Nail and Leilah. Other books by Jules-Bois followed, such as The Modern Prodigy, The Divine in Man, The Ship, The Eternal Return and Essay on Democracy. On his death on July 2, 1943, he was working on a book, The Psychology of Saints, of which there are many notes and manuscripts in this set of papers.