Saint-John Perse

Perse, Saint-John (1887–1975), French poet and diplomat whose real name was Alexis Saint-Léger. Under his real name, he was the secretary-general of the ministry of foreign affairs (1933–40). When the Nazis occupied France, he went into exile in the United States. Under his pseudonym he authored many books of lyrical poetry, including the long poem Anabasis (1924). Other works written in his exile include Exile (1942) and Seamarks (1957). He returned to France in 1959 and won the 1960 Nobel Prize for literature.