Paul Claudel, la foi et I’histoire

Abstract

In this article an attempt is made to describe Paul Claudel’s attitude towards the historical events of his time, and to show how his religious faith profoundly influenced his reactions. Claudel sometimes behaves as a member of an established Church and judges a policy or a fact according to its consequences on the position of the Catholics in general and of the Clerics in particular, with a hostile attitude towards the atheists and even the Protestants. But he sometimes also interprets the events in the light of his biblical culture and, at an even superior level, by conforming himself to the spirit of the Gospels - so that his faith may sometimes inspire him with sectarian and conformist judgments, while allowing him also to take bold and original points of view.