French Author and Poet. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay on January 16, 1884, his parents had settled there from France to join a family banking business started by his father's brother and his wife. When he was a baby, his parents returned with him to France for a family visit and his parents died suddenly, either from cholera or poisoned by tap water. In 1886 his father's brother brought him back to Uruguay and he and his wife (his uncle and aunt) raised him. In 1894 his uncle and aunt relocated to Paris, France, where he received his secondary education. Four years later, he began reading the poetic works of Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Leconte de Lisle, and Sully Prudhomme and started writing poetry. From 1902 until 1906 he continued his studies, from the baccalaureate to the licence of literature and completed his military service. In 1912 he settled in Paris and from 1914 until 1917 he was conscripted into the French Army during World War I, working in the Ministry of War. In 1919 his poems came to the attention of French writers Andre Gide and Paul Valery and they introduced him to the Nouvelle Revue Francaise, a French literary magazine. In 1922 he published "Debarcaderes," his first important collection of poems and the following year he published his first novel, "L'Homme de la pampa." In 1931 he published his first important collection of fantastical short-stories, "L'Enfant de la haute mer." With the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, combined with his financial difficulties and health issues, he relocated back to Uruguay. In 1940 the family's bank closes and he his financially ruined, but he still maintains his literary activity and his plays are assembled thereafter by important directors, among which was Louis Jouvet. In 1946 he returns to France, having been named cultural correspondent to the legation of Uruguay in Paris and publishes his first mythological tales under the title "Orphee." In 1947 his "Sheherazade" is one of the three plays directed by Jean Vilar at the first festival d'Avignon and in 1951 he published an autobiographical account entitled "Boire à la source," some of which elaborates on his conception of poetry. In 1959 he published his last collection of poetry, "Le Corps tragique." In 1960 he is elected Prince des poètes ("Prince of poets") by his peers, and on May 17, 1960 he died at his home in Paris, France, at the age of 76.