Paul Claudel (French: [pÉ"l klÉ"dÉ›l]; 6 August 1868 â€" 23 February
1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger
brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his
verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Claudel was
nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in six different
years.[1]He was born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère (Aisne), into a family of
farmers and government officials.[2] 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 and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1881, when
his parents moved to Paris. An unbeliever in his teenage years, he
experienced a sudden conversion at the age of eighteen 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 would remain an active Catholic for the rest of his
life. He studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (better
known as Sciences Po).The young Claudel seriously considered entering
a Benedictine monastery, but in the end began a career in the French
diplomatic corps, in which he would serve from 1893 to 1936. He was
first vice-consul in New York (April 1893),[2] and later in Boston
(December 1893). He was French consul in China (1895â€"1909),
including consul in Shanghai (June 1895), and vice-consul in Fuzhou
(October 1900), consul in Tianjin (Tientsin) (1906â€"1909), in Prague
(December 1909), Frankfurt am Main (October 1911), Hamburg (October
1913), Rome (1915â€"1916), ministre plénipotentiaire in Rio de
Janeiro (1917â€"1918), Copenhagen (1920), ambassador in Tokyo
(1921-1927),[2] Washington, D.C. (1928â€"1933, Dean of the Diplomatic
Corps in 1933)[3] and Brussels (1933â€"1936).[2] While he served in
Brazil during the First World War he supervised the continued
provision of food supplies from South America to France. (His
secretaries during the Brazil mission included Darius Milhaud, later
world-famous as a composer, who wrote incidental music to a number of
Claudel's plays.)
1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger
brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his
verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Claudel was
nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in six different
years.[1]He was born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère (Aisne), into a family of
farmers and government officials.[2] 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 and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1881, when
his parents moved to Paris. An unbeliever in his teenage years, he
experienced a sudden conversion at the age of eighteen 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 would remain an active Catholic for the rest of his
life. He studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (better
known as Sciences Po).The young Claudel seriously considered entering
a Benedictine monastery, but in the end began a career in the French
diplomatic corps, in which he would serve from 1893 to 1936. He was
first vice-consul in New York (April 1893),[2] and later in Boston
(December 1893). He was French consul in China (1895â€"1909),
including consul in Shanghai (June 1895), and vice-consul in Fuzhou
(October 1900), consul in Tianjin (Tientsin) (1906â€"1909), in Prague
(December 1909), Frankfurt am Main (October 1911), Hamburg (October
1913), Rome (1915â€"1916), ministre plénipotentiaire in Rio de
Janeiro (1917â€"1918), Copenhagen (1920), ambassador in Tokyo
(1921-1927),[2] Washington, D.C. (1928â€"1933, Dean of the Diplomatic
Corps in 1933)[3] and Brussels (1933â€"1936).[2] While he served in
Brazil during the First World War he supervised the continued
provision of food supplies from South America to France. (His
secretaries during the Brazil mission included Darius Milhaud, later
world-famous as a composer, who wrote incidental music to a number of
Claudel's plays.)
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