Man and work
Le Ravissement de Scapin
Arrangement based on Molière’s “Les Fourberies de Scapin”
Claudel wanted to tackle Les Fourberies de Scapin after seeing it at the Théâtre Marigny in February 1949,
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Joan of Arc at the stake
(1934-35, 1938)
Circumstances of composition
Joan of Arc at the stake is the result of an order from Ida Rubinstein. After seeing the Sorbonne student troupe Les Théophiliens breathe new life into medieval theatre at the beginning of 1934,
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The Book of Christopher Columbus
(1927-28)
Less valued, in the context of literary studies, than Claudel’s earlier dramatic works and less accomplished than The Satin Slipper, of which it appears as a kind of supplement,
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On Language
During the years between the World Wars, Claudel’s language was the object of violent attacks that came essentially from the neoclassical camp. We quote, for example, this remark from Joseph de Tonquéduc in 1917:
What is much more intolerable are the willful liberties that Claudel takes with grammar.
The Mass There
Critical editing and text study
This text of about thirty pages occupies p. 491-520 of the Poetic Works. “The Mass there”, a long poem, was composed by Claudel in Brazil,
Claudel and the Book
From the start of his career, Claudel conceived an ambitious vision of the Book: much more than a simple utilitarian object, it appears to him as a dynamic potentiality,
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Claudel translator of the Psalms
Between 1918 and 1953, Claudel composed a vast collection of “Psalms” translated from the Latin of the Vulgate. Only a small number were published during his lifetime in three thin collections.
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The Story of Tobias and Sarah
The Story of Tobias and Sarah holds an unprecedented place in the Claudelian corpus. Composed in June-July 1938, published by Gallimard in April 1942, the play borrows from multiple genres – theatre,
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Oratorios and Ballets
Man and His Desire (L’Homme et son désir), 1917–18, 1921
In 1917, when serving as Minister Plenipotentiary in Rio de Janeiro with Darius Milhaud as his secretary,
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Exegetical Works
Exegetical Works
Left for a long time in the shadows, the exegetical side of Claudel’s work is the most voluminous, however, and in many ways the most fascinating.
Claudel translator
Like Mallarmé translator of Poe, or Gide translator of Shakespeare, Claudel devoted himself to what he considered a “beautiful art”. He began by tackling Greek tragedy with a very personal version of the Aeschylean Oresteia.
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The Satin Slipper
“Sentimental and dramatic testament”, both “summation” and “reflection” of previous dramas, The Satin Slipper is the “opus mirandum”, the major work in which the author affirmed that he had brought together the essential matter of his life,
The Moon in search of itself
A radio extravaganza
In 1947, Claudel rewrites for the radio L’Endormie, his farce of 1887 which bothered him enormously. For this he mixes memories of
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Protée & L’Ours et la Lune
Two lyrical farces
Claudel composed Protée in 1913, taking up the title of a lost satirical drama that Aeschylus had imagined to complete his Oresteia.
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The Coûfontaine trilogy
L’Otage/The Hostage
Conceived in the beginning of 1908, while Claudel was posted to Beijing, L’Otage was not completed until 1910 in Prague, and was published in the NRF in December 1910 and January-February 1911.
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The Tidings Brought to Mary
In 1912, Paul Claudel’s first play to be performed « The Tidings Brought to Mary » remains his most popular and emblematic one. The story of this text is a long one,
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Break of Noon
(Partage de Midi)
1 – The drama
Partage de Midi is a drama in three acts, which bears everywhere the marks of high style while mixing, with the freedom of great art,