Paul Claudel: An Incidental Diplomat

Paul Claudel, French poet and dramatist, brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel, and member of the Académie Française, is also a Sciences Po alumnus.

Although his academic track record at Sciences Po wasn’t so brilliant, the years he spent on the rue Saint-Guillaume were determinant in his choice to pursue a career in diplomacy. Alongside his consul posts, Claudel wrote poems, plays and essays which are praised for his distinct lyrical style. A devout Catholic, often controversial for his right-wing politics, Paul Claudel was a unique Symbolist.

Born 6 August 1868 in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, in the Aisne region, his father was a government official and his mother came from a family of farmers and priests. He spent his childhood in the Aisne region in the North-East of France until his parents moved the family to Paris in 1882, when Claudel was 14.

Paul Claudel began his studies at Sciences Po in 1885, and graduated in 1888. Claudel rarely mentioned his time at Sciences Po, then Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, perhaps because he was only an average student. Claudel was in the Administration section, which was predominantly public law and finance, undoubtedly quite dry subjects. Two essays that remain in his file today are entitled “Budget on Special Resources” and “Town Budget and Accounting vs. Department Budget and Accounting”. Professors gave him just passing grades and noted that “he did know enough”, or he could do better. Although they acknowledged his intelligence, they were frequently disappointed by his results. He graduated with an average grade of 22.625 points, with 20 being the minimum to obtain the diploma. 

Nonetheless, the years 1885-1888 were enlightening for Claudel in many other ways: it was in June 1886 that he discovered Rimbaud and his “Illuminations”, which would prove to be a major influence on his literary works. On the 25 December of the same year, he had a sudden revelation while listening to a choir in the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. In fact, it was this experience which led him to convert to Catholicism: an unbeliever in his youth, from that moment on his religion would play an essential role in his life. It was also in 1886 that Claudel was first published, and in 1887 that he started frequenting the mardis de Mallarmé. 

Paul Claudel did not hold any grudges against Sciences Po; he contributed to the school’s internal journal after having graduated and later in his life he would allow researchers to delve into his academic file. Nonetheless, the reasons why he chose Sciences Po remain somewhat unclear, but it is likely that he chose this education in order to follow in his father’s footsteps and lead a career in public service. Indeed, at the time, Sciences Po had four sections, three of which prepared for the exam to enter the public sphere: Diplomacy, Economics and Finance, and Administration. Claudel chose the latter, which reveals that he had not yet considered a career in diplomacy. What’s more, although French was the official diplomatic language, English was nonetheless important, and Claudel’s proficiency in English left much to be desired. At the time, Sciences Po was a two-year school, though it was possible to complete the diploma over three years, particularly for students who were simultaneously studying at university, which was the case for Claudel, who was also pursuing a degree in law.

When Claudel did choose to pursue a career in diplomacy it was neither by vocation nor by tradition. In his Mémoires Improvisés, he writes that what he desired above all else was to escape his social and familial surroundings: “Paris suffocated me. My family suffocated me. Above all, I wanted fresh air. That is why I needed to find a profession that would let me move on to  new pastures, and that would give me air.” He thought about becoming an interpreter, and attending the School of Oriental Languages, though he had never previously shown any particular skill or interest in languages. Emile Boutmy, founder and then-director of Sciences Po, discouraged him from undertaking this career and advised him to consider diplomacy instead. Finally, Claudel accepted and sent off, in December 1889 (more than a year after graduating), an application for the entry exam to take place that following January. To prepare for the exam, he was tutored by a professor - who remains unknown - but Claudel described the work as quite rudimentary. To his utter surprise, Claudel came in first place. His career in diplomacy then began in 1893, when he took a post as vice-consul in New York and later in Boston. In 1895, he was promoted to consul in Shanghai.

In 1900, between diplomacy posts, at the age of 32, Claudel attempted to join a Benedictine monastery at Ligugé, but his application was rejected. Five years later he would become an oblate for the same monastery. In the meantime, he returned to China to take up a post as consul, and from there he moved to Prague, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and finally to Rio de Janeiro. In 1922, he was appointed as ambassador of France in Tokyo, and then in Washington in 1928, and finally in Brussels in 1933. His career in diplomacy would later come to a close in 1936.

It is at this point that he settled permanently in Isère, where he had previously acquired the Château de Brangues to spend his summers. From then onwards, writing would become his main activity. Paul Claudel would be elected to the Académie française on 4 April 1946. He died in Paris in 1955.

Major Literary Works

• 1887: L’Endormie
• 1890-1901: Tête d’or
• 1910: Cinq grandes odes
• 1912: L’Annonce fait à Marie
• 1929: Le Soulier de satin
• 1946: Elected to the Académie française
• 1947: Honorary Degree l’Université catholique de Louvain
• 1951: Grand-Croix de la Légion d’honneur

Sources

• ALLAIN, Jérémie. “Paul Claudel à Sciences-Po”, Bulletin de la Société Paul Claudel, no. 177, 1er trim. (mars 2005).
• Encyclopedia Britannica