French-American literary scholar (1907–2001)
Germaine Brée (2 October 1907 – 22 September 2001) was a French-American literary scholar, who wrote extensively on Marcel Proust, Andre Gide, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre.[1]
Life
Born in Paris, Germaine Brée grew up in the English-speaking Channel Islands. After graduating from the University of Paris,[2] she taught in Algeria from 1932 to 1936. Appointed to teach at Bryn Mawr in 1936,[3] she returned to France to fight for the Free French when World War II broke out. She joined a volunteer ambulance unit, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and was assigned to the intelligence section of the Free French in Algiers. She received a Bronze Star and was named to the Legion of Honor. At this time Brée befriended Albert Camus.[2]
In 1953 Brée was appointed chair of the French department at New York University College of Arts & Science, the second woman to be appointed a department chair at the university.[2] From 1960 until 1973 she was Professor of French at the University of Wisconsin.[3] From 1973 until 1984 she was Kenan professor of humanities at Wake Forest University.[2] In 1975 she served as president of the Modern Language Association.[3] She was an elected member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4][5]
Works
- Marcel Proust and Deliverance From Time, 1955
- Camus, 1959
- Gide, 1963
- Camus and Sartre: Crisis and Commitment, 1972
- Women Writers in France, 1973
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