Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French

poet-diplomat Poet-diplomats are poets who have also served their countries as diplomats. The best known poet-diplomats are perhaps Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Wyatt; the category also includes recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Ivo Andrić, Gabriel ...

, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry." He was a major French diplomat from 1914 to 1940, after which he lived primarily in the United States until 1967.

Early life

Alexis Leger was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. His great-grandfather, a solicitor, had settled in Guadeloupe in 1815. His grandfather and father were also solicitors; his father was also a member of the city council. The Leger family owned two plantations, one of coffee (La Joséphine) and the other of sugar (Bois-Debout). In 1897,

Hégésippe Légitimus Hégésippe Jean Légitimus was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe on 8 April 1868 and died before the end of World War II in Angles-sur-l'Anglin, France, on 29 November 1944. He was a socialist politician from Guadeloupe who served in the Fr ...

, the first native Guadeloupan elected president of the Guadeloupe General Council, took office with a vindictive agenda towards colonists. The Leger family returned to metropolitan France in 1899 and settled in Pau. The young Alexis felt like an expatriate and spent much of his time hiking, fencing, riding horses and sailing in the Atlantic. He enrolled at

Lycée Louis-Barthou Lycée Louis-Barthou is a secondary school in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. History The school's history goes back to a religious establishment founded by Jesuits in 1640. It is named for French politician Louis Barthou. Academics The ...

and passed the ''baccalauréat'' with honours and began studying law at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a Lists of universities in France, public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Southern France, southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bor ...

. When his father died in 1907, the resulting strain on his family's finances led Leger to temporarily interrupt his studies, but he eventually completed his degree in 1910. In 1904, he met the poet Francis Jammes at

Orthez Orthez (; eu, Ortheze; oc, Ortès, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of New Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the sm ...

, who became a close friend. He frequented cultural clubs, and met

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 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. Early lif ...

, Odilon Redon,

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner ...

and

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

. He wrote short poems inspired by the story of

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

(''Images à Crusoe'') and undertook a translation of

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...

. He published his first book of poetry, ''Éloges'', in 1911.

Diplomatic service

In 1914, he joined the French diplomatic service, and spent some of his first years in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. When World War I broke out, he was a press corps attaché for the government. From 1916 to 1921, he was secretary to the French embassy in Peking. He probably had a secret relationship with Madame Dan Pao Tchao (née Nellie Yu Roung Ling), although according to the latter, he was just using her for obtaining information from Peking high society. In 1921 in Washington, DC, while taking part in a world disarmament conference, he was noticed by

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...

, Prime Minister of France, who recruited him as his assistant. In Paris, he got to know the fellow intellectual poet Larbaud, who used his influence to get the poem ' published, written during Leger's stay in China. Leger was warm to classical music and knew Igor Stravinsky,

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

, and

Les Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in ' ...

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs

While in China, Leger had written his first extended poem ''Anabase'', publishing it in 1924 under the pseudonym "Saint-John Perse", which he employed for the rest of his life. He then published nothing for two decades, not even a re-edition of his debut book, as he believed it inappropriate for a diplomat to publish fiction. After Briand's death in 1932, Leger served as the General Secretary of the French Foreign Office (Quai d'Orsay) until 1940. Within the Foreign Office he led the optimist faction that believed that Germany was unstable and that if Britain and France stood up to Hitler, he would back down. He accompanied the French Prime Minister

Édouard Daladier Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II. Daladier was born in Carpe ...

at the

Munich Conference The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

in 1938, where the cession of part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

to Germany was agreed to. He was dismissed from his post right after the Fall of France in May 1940, as he was a known anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

. In mid-July 1940, Leger began a long exile in Washington, DC.

Later life

In 1940, the

Vichy government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

dismissed him from the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

order and revoked his French citizenship (it was reinstated after the war). He was in some financial difficulty as an exile in Washington until Archibald MacLeish, the director of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

and himself a poet, raised enough private donations to enable the library to employ him until his official retirement from the French civil service in 1947. He declined a teaching position at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. During his American exile, he wrote his long poems ''Exil'', ''Vents'', ''Pluies'', ''Neiges'', ''Amers'', and ''Chroniques''. He remained in the US long after the end of the war. He travelled extensively, observing nature and enjoying the friendship of US Attorney General

Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...

and his spouse, philanthropist Beatrice Chanler, and author

Katherine Garrison Chapin Katherine Garrison Chapin (September 4, 1890December 30, 1977), sometimes known by her married name Katherine Biddle, was an American poet, librettist, and playwright. She is best known for two collaborations with composer William Grant Still: '' ...

. He was on good terms with the

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

and author

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

. In 1957, American friends gave him a villa at Giens, Provence, France. He then split his time between France and the United States. In 1958, he married the American Dorothy Milburn Russell. In 1960, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. After receiving the Nobel Prize, he wrote the long poems ''Chronique'', ''Oiseaux'' and ''Chant pour un équinoxe'' and the shorter ''Nocturne'' and ''Sécheresse''. In 1962, Georges Braque worked with master printmaker Aldo Crommelynck to create a series of etchings and aquatints, ''L'Ordre des Oiseaux'', which was published with the text of Perse's ''Oiseaux'' by Au Vent d'Arles. A few months before he died, Leger donated his library, manuscripts and private papers to Fondation Saint-John Perse, a research centre devoted to his life and work (Cité du Livre, Aix-en-Provence), which remains active to the present day. He died in his villa in Giens and is buried nearby.

Works

*''Éloges'' (1911, transl.

Eugène Jolas John George Eugène Jolas (October 26, 1894 – May 26, 1952) was a writer, translator and literary critic. Early life John George Eugène Jolas was born October 26, 1894, in Union Hill, New Jersey (what is today Union City, New Jersey). His pa ...

in 1928,

Louise Varèse Louise Varèse (; ; 20 November 1890 – 1 July 1989), also credited as Louise Norton or Louise Norton-Varèse, was an American writer, editor, and translator of French literature who was involved with New York Dadaism. Early life and educatio ...

in 1944, Eleanor Clark and Roger Little in 1965, King Bosley in 1970) *''Anabase'' (1924, transl.

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...

in 1930, Roger Little in 1970) *''Exil'' (1942, transl. Denis Devlin, 1949) *''Pluies'' (1943, transl. Denis Devlin in 1944) *''Poème à l'étrangère'' (1943, transl. Denis Devlin in 1946) *''Neiges'' (1944, transl. Denis Devlin in 1945, Walter J. Strachan in 1947) *''Vents'' (1946, transl.

Hugh Chisholm Hugh Chisholm (; 22 February 1866 – 29 September 1924) was a British journalist, and editor of the 10th, 11th and 12th editions of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Life He was born in London, a son of Henry Williams Chisholm (1809–1901), ...

in 1953) *''Amers'' (1957, transl.

Wallace Fowlie Wallace Fowlie (1908–1998) was an American writer and professor of literature. He was the James B. Duke Professor of French Literature at Duke University where he taught from 1964 to the end of his career. Although he published more than twen ...

in 1958, extracts by George Huppert in 1956, Samuel E. Morison in 1964) *''Chronique'' (1960, transl.

Robert Fitzgerald Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (; 12 October 1910 – 16 January 1985) was an American poet, literary critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students".Mitgang, Herbert (Janua ...

in 1961) *''Poésie'' (1961, transl.

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

in 1961) *''Oiseaux'' (1963, transl. Wallace Fowlie in 1963, Robert Fitzgerald in 1966, Roger Little in 1967, Derek Mahon in 2002) *''Pour Dante'' (1965, transl. Robert Fitzgerald in 1966) *''Chanté par celle qui fut là'' (1969, transl.

Richard Howard Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022; adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz) was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, w ...

in 1970) *''Chant pour un équinoxe'' (1971) *''Nocturne'' (1973) *''Sécheresse'' (1974) *''Collected Poems'' (1971) Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press. *''Œuvres complètes'' (1972),

Bibliothèque de la Pléiade The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...

, Gallimard. The definitive edition of his work. Leger designed and edited this volume, which includes a detailed chronology of his life, speeches, tributes, hundreds of letters, notes, a bibliography of the secondary literature, and extensive extracts from those parts of that literature the author liked. Enlarged edition, 1982.

Homages

* A bronze monument, ''Hommage à Saint-John Perse'', sculpted by Patrice Alexandre (ordered by the

french Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...

in 1985), was inaugurated in 1992 in the garden of the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. * András Beck notably produced a bronze mask of Saint-John Perse, covered with gold leaf, which served as a cover vignette for his work in the edition of the

. * The Saint-John Perse Museum is partly dedicated to him in Point-à-Pitre, his birthplace. * His name was given to various streets and libraries in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. * The 2007 promotion of heritage curators from the french National Heritage Institute bears his name. * A

Reims tramway Reims tramway (french: Tramway de Reims) is a tram system in the French city of Reims, which opened in April 2011. It travels north to south, through the city, along of route. Operation and routes The system has 24 stops, with a further two p ...

station bears his name. * In October 1980, the French Post dedicated a stamp to him with a face value of 1.40 + 0.30 francs, available simultaneously in Pointe-à-Pitre and Aix-en-Provence. For the centenary of the creation of the

Nobel Prizes The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...

, the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

issued in 2001 a 40-cent stamp bearing his image. * The Saint-John Perse high school in Pau bears his name.

Secondary literature in English

1936 *S. A. Rhodes, "Poetry of Saint-John Perse", ''The Sewanee Review'', vol. XLIV, no. 1, January – March 1936 1944 *Paul Rosenfeld, "The Poet Perse", ''The Nation'', New York, vol. CLVIII, no. 20, 15 May 1944 *

John Gould Fletcher John Gould Fletcher (January 3, 1886 – May 10, 1950) was an Imagist poet (the first Southern poet to win the Pulitzer Prize), author and authority on modern painting. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to a socially prominent family. After a ...

, "On the Poetry of Alexis Saint-Leger Leger", ''Quarterly Review of Literature'', vol. II, Autumn 1944 *Edouard Roditi, "''Éloges and other poems'', Saint-John Perse", ''Contemporary Poetry'', Baltimore, vol. IV, no. 3, Autumn 1944 1945 *

Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short ...

, "''Rains'', by Saint-John Perse. Whole Meaning or Doodles", ''New Republic'', Washington, no. CXII, 16 April 1945 1948 *David Gascoigne, "''Vents'' by Saint-John Perse", ''Poetry'', London, June–July 1948 1949 *

, préface à ''Anabasis'', translated by Jacques Le Clerq, in ''Anabasis'', New York, Harcourt, Brace and C°, 1949 *

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-cl ...

, préface à ''Anabasis'', translated by James Stern, ibid. *

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experi ...

, préface à ''Anabasis'', translated by Adrienne Foulke, ibid. * Archibald MacLeish, "The Living Spring", ''Saturday Review'', vol. XXXII, no. 24, 16 July 1949 *Hubert Creekmore, "An Epic Poem of the Primitive Man", ''New York Times Book Review'', 25 December 1949 1950 *

Allen Tate John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and poet laureate from 1943 to 1944. Life Early years Tate was born near Winchester, ...

, "Hommage to Saint-John Perse", ''Poetry'', Chicago, LXXV, January 1950 *Harold W. Watts, "''Anabase'': The Endless Film", ''University of Toronto Quarterly'', vol XIX, no. 3, April 1950 *

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...

, "Tribute to Saint-John Perse", ''Cahiers de la Pléiade'', Paris, Summer–Autumn 1950 1952 *Amos Wilder, "Nature and the immaculate world in Saint-John Perse", in ''Modern Poetry and the Christian tradition'', New York, 1952 *Katherine Garrison Chapin, "Saint-John Perse. Notes on Some Poetic Contrasts", ''The Sewanee Review'' 1953 *

, "A Poem by St.-John Perse", translation by Hugh Chisholm, in ''Winds'', New York, Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series, no. 34, 1953. *

Gaëtan Picon Gaëtan Picon (19 September 1915 – 6 August 1976) was a French author: essayist, art and literature critic, and art and literature historian. He was director of the ''Mercure de France'' and Director-General of Arts and Letters under André Malrau ...

, "The Most Proudly Free", translation by Willard R. Trask, ibid, 1st edition in ''Les Cahiers de la Pléiade'', no. 10, été–automne 1950. *Albert Béguin, "A Poetry Marked by Scansion", translation by Willard R. Trask, ibid, 1st edition in ''Les Cahiers de la Pléiade'', no. 10, été–automne 1950. *Gabriel Bounoure, "St.-John Perse and Poetic Ambiguity", translation by Willard R. Trask, ibid, 1st edition in ''Les Cahiers de la Pléiade'', no. 10, été–automne 1950 *

, "The Poetics of Saint-John Perse", ''Poetry,'', Chicago, vol. LXXXII, no. 6, September 1953 *Hayden Carruth, "''Winds'' by Saint-John Perse... Parnassus stormed", ''The Partisan Review'', vol. XX, no. 5, September–October 1953 *

Henri Peyre Henri Maurice Peyre (21 February 1901 – 9 December 1988) was a French-born American linguist, literary scholar and Sterling Professor of French Emeritus at Yale University. Peyre graduated from the École Normale Superieure and the Sorbonne an ...

, "''Exile'' by Saint-John Perse", ''Shenandoah'', Lexington, vol. V, Winter 1953 1956 *"Tribute to Saint-John Perse", ''The Berkeley Review'' (Arthur J. Knodel,

René Girard René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the aut ...

, Georges Huppert), vol. I, no. 1, Berkeley, 1956 1957 *Archibald MacLeish, "Saint-John Perse. The Living Spring", in ''A continuing journey. Essays and Addresses'', Boston, 1957 *Wallace Fowlie, "Saint-John Perse", in ''A Guide to Contemporary French Literature, From Valéry to Sartre'', New York, 1957 *Anonymous, "Saint-John Perse, Poet of the Far Shore", ''Times Literary Supplement'', London, 2 March 1957 *Paul West, "The Revival of Epic", ''The Twentieth Century'', London, July 1957 1958 *

, ''A Reviewer's A.B.C., Collected criticism from 1916'', New York, 1958 *Jacques Guicharnaud, "Vowels of the Sea: ''Amers''", ''Yale French Studies'', no. 21, Spring–Summer 1958 * Martin Turnell, "The Epic of Saint-John Perse", ''The Commonweal'', LXX, 17 July 1958 *

, "A Song of Life's Power to Renew", ''New York Times Book Review'', vol. LXIII, no. 30, 27 July 1958 *Melvin Maddocks, "Perse as Cosmologist", ''Christian Science Monitor'', 4 September 1958 *John Marshall, "The Greatest Living French Poet", ''The Yale Review'', XLVIII, September 1958 *Katherine Garrison Chapin, "Perse On the Sea With Us: ''Amers''", ''The New Republic'', Washington, CXXXIX, 27 October 1958 1959 *H.-J. Kaplan,"Saint-John Perse: The Recreation of the World", ''The Reporter'', XV, 22 January 1959 *Raymond Mortimer, "Mr Eliot and Mr Perse: Two Fine Poets in tandem", ''Sunday Times'', London, May 1959 *

Philip Toynbee Theodore Philip Toynbee (25 June 1916 – 15 June 1981) was a British writer and communist. He wrote experimental novels, and distinctive verse novels, one of which was an epic called ''Pantaloon'', a work in several volumes, only some of whi ...

, "A Great Modern Poet", ''The Observer'', London, 31 May 1959 *Charles Guenther, "Prince Among the Prophets", ''Poetry'', Chicago, vol. XCIII, no. 5, 1959 1976 *Joseph Henry McMahon, ''A Bibliography of works by and about Saint-John Perse'', Stanford University, 1959 1960 *Stanley Burnshaw, "Saint-John Perse", in ''The Poem Itself'', New York, 1960 *Joseph MacMahon, "A Question of Man", ''Commonweal'', LXXIII, 13 January 1960 *Byron Colt, "Saint-John Perse", ''Accent'', New York, XX, 3, Summer 1960 *Joseph Barry, "Science and Poetry Merge in the Crucial Stage of Creation", ''New York Post'', 12 December 1960 1961 *Bernard Weinberg, ''The Limits of Symbolism. Studies of Five Modern French Poets. Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Valéry, Saint-John Perse'', Manchester, 1961 *Anthony Hartley, "Saint-John Perse", ''Encounter'', London, no. 2, Feb. 1961 *

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

, "Saint-John Perse as Historian", ''The Nation'', New York, 17 June 1961 *Donald Davis, "''Chronique'' by Saint-John Perse", ''New Statesman'', London, LXII, 26 July 1961 *John Montague, "The Poetry of Saint-John Perse", ''Irish Times'', Dublin, 25 August 1961 *Léon-S. Roudiez, "The Epochal Poetry of Saint-John Perse", ''Columbia University Forum'', New York, vol. IV, 1961 1962 *Anthony Curtis, "Back to the Elements", ''The Sunday Telegraph'', London, 7 January 1962 *Amos Wilder, "St-John Perse and the Future of Man", ''Christianity and Crisis'', New York, vol. XXI, no. 24, 22 January 1962 *Ronald Gaskell, "The Poetry of Saint-John Perse", ''The London Magazine'', vol. I, no. 12, March 1962 *Peter Russel, "Saint-John Perse's Poetical works", ''Agenda'', London, May–June 1962 *Cecil Hemley, "Onward and Upward", ''Hudson Review'', XV, Summer 1962 1963 *Eugenia Maria Arsenault, ''Color Imagery in the '' Vents'' of Saint-John Perse'', Catholic University of America, Washington, 1963 1964 *Arthur J. Knodel, "Towards an Understanding of ''Anabase''", ''PMLA'', June 1964 *Eugenia Vassylkivsky, ''The Main Themes of Saint-John Perse'', Columbia University, 1964 1966 *Arthur J. Knodel, ''Saint-John Perse. A Study of His Poetry'', Edimburg, 1966 *R. W. Baldner, "Saint-John Perse as Poet Prophet" in ''Proceedings of the Pacific Northwest Conference on Foreign Languages'', vol. XVII, no. 22, 1966 1967 *Roger Little, ''Word Index of the Complete Poetry and Prose of Saint-John Perse'', Durham, 1966 and 1967 *M. Owen de Jaham, ''An Introduction to Saint-John Perse'', University of South Western Louisiana, 1967 1968 *Kathleen Raine, "Saint-John Perse, Poet of the Marvellous", ''Encounter'', vol. IV, no. 29, October 1967; ''idem'' in ''Defending Ancient Springs'', Oxford, 1968 1969 *Roger Little, "T. S. Eliot and Saint-John Perse", ''The Arlington Quarterly Review'', University of Texas, vol. II, no. 2, Autumn 1969 1970 *Charles Delamori, "The Love and Aggression of Saint-John Perse's ''Pluies''", ''Yale French Studies'', 1970 *Richar O. Abel, ''The Relationship Between the Poetry of T. S. Eliot and Saint-John Perse'', University of Southern California, 1970 1971 *Roger Little, ''Saint-John Perse. A Bibliography for Students of His Poetry'', London, 1971 *Ruth N. Horry, ''Paul Claudel and Saint-John Perse. Parallels and Contrasts'', University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1971 *

Pierre Emmanuel Noël Mathieu (3 May 1916, Gan, Pyrénées-Atlantiques – 22 September 1984, Paris) better known under his pseudonym Pierre Emmanuel, was a French poet of Christian inspiration. Biography He was the third member elected to occupy seat 4 of the ...

, ''Praise and Presence, with a Bibliography'', Washington, 1971 *Candace Uter De Russy, ''Saint-John Perse's'' Chronique'': A study of Kronos and Other Themes through Imagery'', Tulane University, 1971 *Marc Goodhart, ''Poet and Poem in Exile'', University of Colorado, 1971 1972 *

René Galand René Marie Galand (Reun ar C'halan in Breton) (January 27, 1923 - May 28, 2017) was a writer and Professor of French. He was born in Châteauneuf-du-Faou in Brittany. Biography René Galand was born on January 27, 1923, in Châteauneuf-du-Fao ...

, ''Saint-John Perse'', New York, 1972 *Richard Ruland, ''America as Metaphor in Modern French Letters. Celine, Julien Green and Saint-John Perse'', New York, 1972 1973 *Roger Little, ''Saint-John Perse'', University of London, 1973 *Carol Nolan Rigolot, ''The Dialectics of Poetry: Saint-John Perse'', University of Michigan, 1973 1974 *Richard-Allen Laden, ''Saint-John Perse's ''Vents'': From Theme to Poetry'', Yale University, 1974 1976 *Elizabeth Jackson, ''Worlds Apart Structural Parallels in the Poetry of Paul Valéry, Saint-John Perse, Benjamin Perret and René Char'', The Hague, 1976 *Arthur J. Knodel, ''Saint-John Perse: Lettres'', Princeton, 1979 *Edith Jonssen-Devillers, ''Cosmos and the Sacred in the Poetics of Octavio Paz and Saint-John Perse'', San Diego, University of California, 1976 *John M. Cocking, "The Migrant Muse: Saint-John Perse", ''Encounter'', London, XLVI, March 1976 *Elizabeth Jennings, "Saint-John Perse: the Worldly Seer", in ''Seven Men of Vision: an Appreciation'', London, 1976 *Roger Little, "A Letter About Conrad by Saint-John Perse", ''Conradiana'', Lubbock, Texas, VIII, no. 3, Autumn 1976 *Anonymous, "An Exile for Posterity", ''The Times Literary Supplement'', London, no. 3860, 5 March 1976 1977 *Roger Little, "The Eye at the Center of Things", ''Times Literary Supplement'', London, no. 3941, 7 October 1977 *Roger Little, "Saint-John Perse and Joseph Conrad: Some Notes and an Uncollected Letter", ''Modern language Review'', Cambridge, LXII, no. 4, October 1977 *Roger Little, "The World and the Word in Saint-John Perse", in ''Sensibility and Creation: Essays in XXth Century French Poetry'', London and New York, 1977 *John D. Price, "Man, Women and the Problem of Suffering in Saint-John Perse", ''Modern Language Review'', Cambridge, LXII, no. 3, July 1977 1978 *Reino Virtanen, "Between Saint-John and Persius: Saint-John Perse and Paul Valéry", ''Symposium'', Summer 1978 *Roger Little, "Saint-John Perse and Denis Devlin: A ''compagnonage''", ''Irish University Review'', Dublin, VIII, Autumn 1978 1979 *Roger Little, "Claudel and Saint-John Perse. The Convert and the Unconvertible", ''Claudel Studies'', VI, 1979 1982 *Steven Winspur, "Saint-John Perse's ''Oiseaux'': the Poem, the Painting and Beyond", '' L'Esprit Créateur'', Columbia University, XXII, no. 4, Winter 1982 1983 *

William Calin William Compaine Calin (born April 4, 1936 in Newington, Connecticut, died May 20, 2018 in Lake City, Florida) was a senior scholar of Medieval French literature and French poetry at the University of Florida. His work has focused on Occitan Stu ...

, "Saint-John Perse", in ''A Muse for Heroes: Nine Centuries of the Epic in France'', University of Toronto Press, 1983 *Steven Winspur, "The Poetic Significance of the Thing-in-itself", ''Sub-stance'', no. 41, 1983 *Joseph T. Krause, "The Visual Form of Saint-John Perse's Imagery", Aix-en-Provence, 1983 *Peter Fell, "A Critical Study of Saint-John Perse's ''Chronique" '' . MA dissertation, University of Manchester, 1983 1984 *''Saint-John Perse: Documentary Exhibition and Works on the Poem'' Amers, Washington, 1984–1985 1985 *Erika Ostrovsky, ''Under the Sign of Ambiguity: Saint-John Perse/Alexis Leger'', New York, 1985 1988 *Steven Winspur, ''Saint-John Perse and the Imaginary Reader'', Geneva, 1988 *Peter Baker, "Perse on Poetry", ''The Connecticut Review'', Willimantic, XI, no. 1, 1988 *Peter Baker, "Saint-John Perse, Alexis Leger, 1960", ''The Nobel Prize Winners: Literature'', April 1988 1990 *Peter Baker, "Exile in Language", ''Studies in 20th century Literature'', Manhattan (Kansas) and Lincoln (Nebraska), XIV, no. 2, Summer 1990 *Erika Ostrovsky, "Saint-John Perse", ''The Twentieth Century'', New York, 1990 1991 *Luigi Fiorenzato, Anabasis/Anabase'': T. S. Eliot translates Saint-John Perse'', Padova, 1991–1992 *Peter Baker, "Metric, Naming and Exile: Perse, Pound, Genet", in ''The Scope of Words in Honor to Albert S. Cook'', New York, 1991 *Peter Baker, ''Obdurate Brilliance: Exteriority and the Modern Long Poem'', University of Florida Press, 1991 1992 *Josef Krause, "The Two Axes of Saint-John Perse's Imagery", ''Studi Francesi'', Torino, XXXVI, no. 106, 1992 *Carol Rigolot, "Ancestors, Mentors and 'Grands Aînés': Saint-John Perse's ''Chronique''", ''Literary Generations'', Lexington, 1992 1994 *Richard L. Sterling, ''The Prose Works of Saint-John Perse. Towards an Understanding of His Poetry'', New York, 1994 1996 *Richard A. York, "Saint-John Perse, the Diplomat", ''Claudel Studies'', XXIII, 1–2, 1996 1997 *Judith Urian, ''The Biblical Context in Saint-John Perse's Work'', Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997 1999 *Mary Gallagher, "Seminal Praise: The Poetry of Saint-John Perse", in ''An Introduction to Caribbean Francophone writing'', Oxford, 1999 *Carol Rigolot, "Saint-John Perse's ''Oiseaux'': from Audubon to Braque and Beyond", in ''Resonant Themes: Literature, History and the Arts in XIXth and XXth Century Europe'', Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1999 *Judith Urian, "Delicious Abyss: the Biblical Darkness in the Poetry of Saint-John Perse", ''Comparative literature studies'', XXXVI, no. 3, 1999 2000 *Jeffrey Mehlman, ''Émigré New York. French Intellectuals in Wartime, Manhattan, 1940–1944'', Baltimore and London, 2000 *Zeyma Kamalick, ''In Defense of Poetry: T. S. Eliot's Translation of ''Anabase'' by Saint-John Perse'', Princeton, 2000 2001 *Emmanuelle Hériard Dubreuil, ''Une certaine idée de la France: Alexis Leger's Views During the Occupation of France June 1940 – August 1944'', London School of Economics, 2001 *Pierre Lastenet, ''Saint-John Perse and the Sacred'', University of London, 2001 *Marie-Noëlle Little, ''The Poet and the Diplomat'' orrespondence Saint-John Perse/Dag Hammarskjöld Syracuse University Press, 2001 *Marie-Noëlle Little, "Travellers in Two Worlds: Dag Hammarskjöld and Alexis Leger", in ''Development Dialogue'', Uppsala, 2001 2002 *Carol Rigolot, ''Forged Genealogies: Saint-John Perse's Conversations with Culture'', The University of North Carolina Press, 2002 2003 *Mary Gallagher, "Remembering Caribbean Childhoods, Saint-John Perse's ''Éloges'' and Patrick Chamoiseau's ''Antan d'enfance''", in ''The Francophone Caribbean Today: Literature, Language, Culture'', The University of West Indies Press, 2003 2004 *Colette Camelin, "Hermes and Aphrodite in Saint-John Perse's ''Winds'' and ''Seamarks''", in ''Hermes and Aphrodite Encounters'', Birmingham, 2004 *Patrick Chamoiseau, "Excerpts Freely Adapted From ''Meditations for Saint-John Perse''", ''Literature and Arts of the Americas'', XXXVII, no. 1 2005 *Henriette Levillain, ''Saint-John Perse'', Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Paris, 2005 *Joseph Acquisto, "The Lyric of Narrative: Exile, Poetry and Story in Saint-John Perse and Elisabeth Bishop", ''Orbis Litterarum'', no. 5, 2005 *Xue Die, "Saint-John Perse's ''Palm Trees''", ''American Letters and Commentary'', no. 17, 2005 *Valérie Loichot, "Saint-John Perse's Imagined Shelter: ''J'habiterai mon nom'', in ''Discursive Geographies, Writing Space and Place in French'', Amsterdam, 2005 *Carol Rigolot, "Blood Brothers: Archibald MacLeish and Saint-John Perse", ''Archibald MacLeish Journal'', Summer 2005 *Carol Rigolot, "Saint-John Perse", in ''Transatlantic relations, France and the Americas, Culture, Politics, History'', Oxford and Santa Barbara, 2005 2007 *Valérie Loichot, ''Orphan Narratives: The Postplantation Literature of Faulkner, Glissant, Morrison and Saint-John Perse'', University of Virginia Press, 2007 *Harris Feinsod, "Reconsidering the 'Spiritual Economy': Saint-John Perse, His Translators and the Limits of Internationalism", "Benjamin, Poetry and Criticism", ''Telos'', New York, no. 38, 2007 *Peter Poiana, "The Order of Nemesis in Saint-John Perse's ''Vents''", ''Neophilologus'', vol. 91, no. 1, 2007 *Jeffrey Meyers, "The Literary Politics of the Nobel Prize", ''Antioch Review'', vol. 65, no. 2, 2007

Notes

External links

Fondation Saint-John Perse, Aix-en-Provence
Website of the Aix-en-Provence Fondation about the poet and diplomat (in French) *
Saint-John Perse, le poète aux masques
site devoted to the author (in French)
Liste de diffusion ''SJPinfo'' (news)
devoted to Saint-John Perse {{DEFAULTSORT:Perse, Saint-John 1887 births 1975 deaths People from Pointe-à-Pitre Nobel laureates in Literature French Nobel laureates French diplomats French male poets 20th-century French poets