Biography

Claude Roy (28 August 1915 – 13 December 1997) was a French poet and essayist. He was born and died in Paris. After the fall of France during World War II, Roy was captured as a prisoner of war. He later escaped and joined the French resistance. Initially associated with the political right, by 1943 Roy drifted towards the left under the influence of Louis Aragon and adhered to the French Communist Party, openly attacking fascism and Vichy sympathizers.