Jennifer Ann Moss, (''née'' Poole; 21 January 1938 – 13 August 2018) was a British scholar of
French literature and
classical reception, specialising in the
French Renaissance.
She was
Professor of French at the
University of Durham from 1996 to 2003. In retirement, she became a lay minister in the
Church of England.
Early life and education
Moss was born on 21 January 1938 to John Shakespeare Poole and Dorothy Kathleen Beese (née Sills). She was educated at
Barr's Hill School
Barr's Hill School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Radford, Coventry, England.
Location
Barr's Hill is situated on a spacious green field site just north of Coventry city centre on the B4098 (former A51), south of the ...
, then a grammar school in Coventry, West Midlands.
She studied the Medieval and Modern Languages
Tripos at
Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating with a
first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1959:
as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a
Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree.
She then began postgraduate studies at Cambridge under the supervision of
Ian McFarlane
Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017.
As a journalist ...
.
However, marriage, children and the beginning of her career put her research on pause, before finally completing her
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1975.
Her
doctoral thesis was titled "A study of the Latin editions of Ovid and commentaries printed in France, 1487–1600".
Academic career
From 1963 to 1964, Moss was an
assistant lecturer in the French Department of the
University College of North Wales in Bangor: she had to give up this job to care for her two young children.
After separating from her husband, she joined the newly formed
Trevelyan College, Durham
, motto_English = Truth more readily than falsehood
, scarf =
, named_for = George Macaulay Trevelyan
, namesake = George Macaulay Trevelyan
, established = 1966
, principal = Adekunle Adeyeye
, vice_principal = I ...
as a resident tutor in 1966, living in nearby accommodation with her children and a nanny. She was also a part-time university lecturer while working at Trevelyan from 1966 to 1979. She became a full-time lecturer in French at the
University of Durham in 1979, and was promoted to
senior lecturer in 1985 and to
reader in 1988. She was appointed
Professor of French in October 1996, and served as head of the School of Modern European Languages between 2000 and 2003.
She was made
Professor Emerita
''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 ...
on her retirement 2003,
and appointed an
honorary research fellow of the now named School of Modern Languages to continue her research and lecturing.
Moss's research interests ranged from
16th-century French literature
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582).
The 16th centur ...
, including
Pierre de Ronsard and
Michel de Montaigne
Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
, to
neo-Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
and
history of the book
The history of books became an acknowledged academic discipline in the 1980s. Contributors to the discipline include specialists from the fields of textual scholarship, codicology, bibliography, philology, palaeography, art history, social hi ...
. Her second monograph ''Poetry and Fable: Studies in Mythological Narrative in Sixteenth-Century France'' (1984) bridged her doctoral studies on
Ovid and her more recent interests in French literature. In ''Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought'', described by the British Academy as her "landmark monograph", she traced the development of
commonplace books
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...
from the ancient world into the Middle Ages and then through the age of the printing press. She also had an interest in post-Medieval Latin writings, and regualary spoke at the congresses of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies.
Outside of her university posts, Moss was active in the administration of the
British Academy.
She was a member of its Publications Committee from 1999 to 2004 and its council from 2003 to 2006.
She served as chair of its Early Modern Languages and Literatures Section from 2007 to 2010.
Personal life
In 1960, she married John Michael Barry Moss (1931–1985), a fellow academic who specialised in the
philosophy of science.
Together they had two daughters.
They divorced in 1966, and she would go on to raise their children as a single parent.
Moss was additionally an active member of the
Church of England. She trained as a lay minister in retirement, serving as a
reader from 2005 to 2010.
She was first assigned to
St Oswald's Church, Durham
St Oswald's Church is a Church of England parish church in Durham, County Durham. The church is a grade II* listed building and it dates from the 12th century.
History
The present church dates from the late 12th century. It is likely built on the ...
and then to St Paul's Church, Spennymoor.
Moss died on 13 August 2018 in
Morden College
Morden College is a long-standing charity which has been providing residential care in Blackheath, south-east London, England for over 300 years.
It was founded by philanthropist Sir John Morden in 1695 as a home for 'poor Merchants... and su ...
,
Blackheath Blackheath may refer to:
Places England
*Blackheath, London, England
** Blackheath railway station
**Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England
*Blackheath, Surrey, England
** Hundred of Blackh ...
, London, aged 80.
Her funeral mass was held at
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...
.
Honours
In 1998, Moss was elected a
Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.
A ''
Festschrift'' titled ''(Re)Inventing the Past'' was published in her honour on her retirement in 2003.
On 28 January 2013, she was awarded the Chancellor's Medal by Durham University in recognition of distinguished service.
Selected works
*
*
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Ann
1938 births
2018 deaths
Scholars of French literature
British literary critics
British women literary critics
British literary historians
British women historians
Literary critics of French
Academics of Durham University
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of French literature
British Anglicans
People educated at Barr's Hill School
Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
Academics of Bangor University
Anglican lay readers