Ann Margaret Jefferson, (born 3 November 1949) is a British scholar of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

. She was a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

in French at New College, Oxford, from 1987 to 2015, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of French at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 2006 to 2015.

Early life and education

Jefferson was born on 3 November 1949 to Antony and Eirlys Jefferson.'JEFFERSON, Prof. Ann Margaret', ''

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 27 May 2017
/ref> She studied at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1971: as per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

(MA) degree. She then moved to

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research a ...

, where she undertook

postgraduate research Postgraduate research represents a formal area of study that is recognized by a university or institute of higher learning. By definition, the notion of “postgraduate” (United States) carries the implication that the candidate undertaking such ...

and she completed her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(DPhil) degree in 1976.

Academic career

From 1978 to 1982, Jefferson was a

junior research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a ...

at St John's College, Oxford. Then, from 1982 to 1987, she was a college lecturer at St John's College. In 1987, she was elected a

of New College, Oxford and appointed a college tutor in French. From 1987 to 2006, she was also a lecturer in French in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 2006, she was appointed

of French literature by the University of Oxford. In 2015, she retired from full-time academia and was appointed an

emeritus fellow ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of New College. Outside of Oxford, Jefferson has held a number of

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

appointments. In 2006, she was a visiting professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in the United States. In 2008, she was a visiting professor at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Parish, France. From February 2016 to June 2016, she was a fellow of the '' Institut d'études avancées de Paris'' (Paris Institute for Advanced Study).

Personal life

In 1971, Jefferson married Anthony Glees; they divorced in 1992. Together they had two sons and one daughter. In 2011, she married Michael Holland.

Honours

In 2001, Jefferson was appointed a Member of the ''

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/ concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

'' by the French government. In 2004, she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...

for the humanities and social sciences. In 2012, she was promoted to Commander of the ''Ordre des Palmes Académiques''.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * *Jefferson, Ann (2020). ''Nathalie Sarraute: A Life Between''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Published in French as ''Nathalie Sarraute''. Paris: Flammarion (2019).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Ann 1949 births Living people Historians of French literature British women historians British literary historians British literary critics British women literary critics Literary critics of French Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Place of birth missing (living people)