About
Saint-John Perse, pseudonym of Alexis Leger, was a French poet and diplomat born in Pointe-à-Pitre in 1887. He had a brilliant diplomatic career, becoming Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1933. Dismissed by the Vichy regime in 1940, he went into exile in the United States until 1957. His poetic work, marked by exile and the sea, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960. He died in 1975 in Hyères.
* 1887-05-28 — † 1975-09-20
Major works
- Éloges (1911)poetry collection
- Anabase (1924)poem
- Exil (1942)poem
- Vents (1946)poem
- Amers (1957)poem
Key milestones
- 1933Appointed Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- 1940Dismissed by the Vichy regime and stripped of French citizenship.
- 1960Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Themes
exileseparationthe seahuman conditionpoetic tradition
Sources: britannica.com · nobelprize.org · fondationsaintjohnperse.fr