Paul Claudel
Poet
French poet, playwright, and diplomat known for such long, free-verse plays as Le Partage de Midi. He became a member of the prestigious Academie Francaise in 1946.
He converted to Catholicism at the age of eighteen and considered entering a monastery; instead, he joined the French Diplomatic Corps.
He sparked a controversy by committing his artist sister, Camille Claudel, to a mental institution for the final thirty years of her life. Sadly, she may not have been psychologically disturbed enough to justify such measures.
He married Reine Sainte-Marie Perrin.
He was influenced by the work of Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud.