Paul Claudel (French: [pɔl klodɛl]; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He is most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism, and for institutionalizing his sister.
He was born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère (Aisne), into a family of farmers and government officials. His father, Louis-Prosper, dealt in mortgages and bank transactions. His mother, the former Louise Cerveaux, came from a Champagne family of Catholic farmers and priests. Having spent his first years in Champagne, he studied at the lycée of Bar-le-Duc. In 1881 his mother moved the family to Paris for further education. His father stayed in the north, working to support them. There Paul studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
An unbeliever in his teenage years, Claudel experienced a conversion at age 18 on Christmas Day 1886 while listening to a choir sing Vespers in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris: "In an instant, my heart was touched, and I believed." He remained an active Catholic for the rest of his life. In addition, he discovered Arthur Rimbaud's book of poetry Illuminations. He worked towards "the revelation through poetry, both lyrical and dramatic, of the grand design of creation".
Claudel studied further at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
The young Claudel considered entering a monastery, but instead had a career in the French diplomatic service. He entered it at age 25, serving from 1893 to 1936.
Claudel was first vice-consul in New York (April 1893), and later in Boston (December 1893). He was French consul in China during the period 1895 to 1909, with time in Shanghai (June 1895). On a break in 1900, he spent time at Ligugé Abbey, but his proposed entry to the Benedictine Order was postponed.
Claudel returned to China as vice-consul in Fuzhou (October 1900). He had a further break in France in 1905–6, when he married. He was one of a group of writers enjoying the support and patronage of Philippe Berthelot of the Foreign Ministry, who became a close friend; others were Jean Giraudoux, Paul Morand and Saint-John Perse.
Because of his position in the Diplomatic Service, at the beginning of his writing career Claudel published either anonymously or under a pseudonym, "since permission to publish was needed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".:11
For that reason, Claudel remained rather obscure as an author until 1909; he was unwilling to ask permission to publish under his own name because the permission might be refused.:11 In that year, the founding group of the Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF), and in particular his friend André Gide, a poet, were keen to recognise his work. Claudel sent them, for the first issue, the poem Hymne du Sacre-Sacrement, to glowing praise from Gide, and it was published under his name.
He had not sought permission to publish, and there was a furore in which he was criticised. In February of that year, attacks based on his religious views were affecting production of one of his plays.:15–17 Berthelot's advice was to ignore the critics.:18 note 42 This marked the beginning of Claudel's long collaboration with the NRF.:12
Claudel also wrote extensively about China from his diplomatic experience. A definitive version of his Connaissance de l'Est was published in 1914 by Georges Crès and Victor Segalen. In his final posting to China, he had served as consul in Tianjin (1906–1909).
In a series of European postings leading up to the outbreak of World War I, Claudel was in Prague (December 1909), Frankfurt am Main (October 1911), and Hamburg (October 1913). In this period he was also interested in the theatre festival at Hellerau, which produced one of his plays, and the ideas of Jacques Copeau.
During and soon after the war, Claudel's postings ranged widely: Rome (1915–1916), ministre plénipotentiaire in Rio de Janeiro (1917–1918), Copenhagen (1920), ambassador in Tokyo (1921–1927), Washington, D.C. (1928–1933, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in 1933) and Brussels (1933–1936).
While serving in Brazil during World War I, he supervised the continued provision of food supplies from South America to France. His secretaries during the Brazil mission included Darius Milhaud, who wrote incidental music to a number of Claudel's plays.
In 1935 Claudel retired to Brangues in Dauphiné, where he had bought a château in 1927. He still spent winters in Paris.
During World War II, Claudel made his way to Algeria in 1940, after the Battle of France when German troops occupied Paris. He offered to serve Free France. Not having a response to the offer, he returned to Brangues. He supported the Vichy regime, but disagreed with Cardinal Alfred Baudrillart's policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany.
Close to home, Paul-Louis Weiller, married to Claudel's daughter-in-law's sister, was arrested by the Vichy government in October 1940. Claudel went to Vichy to intercede for him, to no avail. Weiller escaped (with Claudel's assistance, the authorities suspected) and fled to New York.
Claudel wrote in December 1941 to Isaïe Schwartz, the Great Rabbi of France, expressing his opposition to the Statut des Juifs enacted by the regime. The Vichy authorities responded by having Claudel's house searched and keeping him under observation.