Saint-John Perse

(1887-1975)

   diplomat, poet, Nobel laureate

   Born in Point-à-Pitre in the overseas department of Guadeloupe, Alexis Leger, who was known as Alexis Saint-Leger Leger and then as Saint-John Perse, was the descendant of French colonists who had lived in the Antilles since the end of the 17th century. He began his studies in Point-à-Pitre, then continued at Pau and at bordeaux. There, he wrote Images à Crusoë (1904), soon followed by Éloges, in which he speaks of his nostalgia for his childhood on the family plantation. A meeting with paul claudel at the home of francis jammes in 1905 encouraged Saint-John Perse to write his first poetic essays and also directed him toward a diplomatic career. Meanwhile, he became friends with a group of writers of the NRF (Nouvelle Revue française), including paul valéry and andré gide, who would edit Éloges (1911). Joining the Foreign Ministry (1914), Saint-John Perse served successively as secretary to the ambassador to China (1916-21), director of the diplomatic cabinet of aristide briand (1925-32), then secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry (1933-40). A great opponent of fascism, he was removed from his post by the vichy regime and went to the United States. He returned to France in 1957 and was given the rank of ambassador. A philosopher and historian, but also a geologist, naturalist, and ethnologist, he studied as well archaeology and music, and brought much knowledge to his poetic writings. Awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1960, he was much admired by critics and other poets for his complexity of style. Among his other works, which also deal with the themes of solitude and exile, are Anabase (1924); Exil (1942), later enlarged; Oiseaux (1962), which recalls his collaboration with georges braque; and the collection Chant pour un équinoxe, published in 1975.