Valéry is promoted to Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
Poet involved
What happened
In 1938, Valéry was promoted to Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. The distinction followed his earlier appointment as Commander and recognised his exceptional standing in French cultural and intellectual life. By this period he was simultaneously an academic, poet, essayist and public cultural figure.
Literary impact
The promotion illustrates the extraordinary institutional recognition Valéry had achieved by the late 1930s. His public authority enabled him to speak about poetry and culture not merely as a literary practitioner but as one of France's leading intellectual representatives.
Source: Wikipedia
