Obituaries : Rene Char, 80; ‘Greatest French Poet of the Century’

Rene Char, called “the greatest French poet of the 20th Century” by Premier Jacques Chirac, died in Paris on Friday, according to the publishing company Gallimard. He was 80.

Gallimard said he died at the military hospital of Val-de-Grace. It did not disclose the cause of death.

Among Char’s most famous poems are “Hammer Without a Master,” written in 1934, and “Return Uphill,” written in 1966. “Hammer Without a Master” was later set to music by Pierre Boulez.

His poetry borrowed imagery from nature and from his childhood in southern France. Char also wrote criticism and plays for nearly half a century.

Char is to be buried Tuesday in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the Provencal village where he was born on June 14, 1907.

After completing his education at the university in Aix-en-Provence, he moved to Paris, where he became friendly with the Surrealists Andre Breton and Paul Eluard. Char also was friends with the artists Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Nicolas de Stael.

He fought against the forces of rebel Gen. Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War and led a Resistance unit in the French Alps during World War II under the nom de guerre “Captain Alexander.”

He was later awarded the Medal of the Resistance and the Croix de Guerre and was named to the Legion of Honor.

In 1945, Char moved to the Luberon mountains, not far from his birthplace.

“In our darkness, there is not a place for beauty,” he once said. “Every place is for beauty.”