Dorothy Sara Blair, ''nee'' Greene (1913–1998) was an English scholar and translator of Francophone African literature.

Life

Marjorie Greene was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. She studied at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

before training to teach French at Cambridge. In 1939 she married Maurice Blair, and moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She was a university lecturer at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

before becoming professor of romance languages at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

. On retirement she returned to England, living in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and carrying out freelance literary translation from French.Fonds DBG - Dorothy Blair Archive
University of Westminster Archive. Accessed 26 December 2020. Her papers are held at the

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

Works

* ''Jules Supervielle, a modern fabulist''. 1957. * ''African literature in French: a history of creative writing in French from west and equatorial Africa''. 1976 * (tr.) ''Snares without end'' by

Olympe Bhêly-Quénum Olympe Bhêly-Quenum (born 20 September 1928) is a Beninese writer, journalist and magazine editor. He is the nephew of anthropologist Maximilien Quenum-Possy-Berry. Born in the city of Ouidah, Benin (formerly Dahomey), Bhêly-Quenum had his prim ...

. 1981. * (tr.) ''The beggars' strike, or, The dregs of society'' by Aminata Sow Fall. 1981. * ''Senegalese literature: a critical history''. 1984. * (tr.) ''Fantasia, an Algerian cavalcade'' by Assia Djebar. 1985. * (tr.) ''Scarlet song'' by Mariama Bâ. 1986. * (tr.) ''My life story: the autobiography of a Berber woman'' by Fadhma A. M Amrouche. 1988. * (tr.) ''The first century after Beatrice'' by

Amin Maalouf Amin Maalouf (; ar, أمين معلوف; born 25 February 1949) is a Lebanese-born French"Amin ...

. 1992. * (tr.) ''Africa dances'' by Michael Huet and Claude Savary. 1995. * (tr.) ''The gardens of light : a novel by Amin Maalouf. 1996. * (tr.) ''The battle of Kadesh'' by Christian Jacq. 1998. * (tr.) ''Sherazade'' by

Leïla Sebbar Leïla Sebbar (born 1941) is a French-Algerian author. Early life Leïla Sebbar was born on 9 November 1941, in Aflou. The daughter of a French mother and an Algerian father, she spent her youth in French Algeria before leaving aged seventeen fo ...

. 1999.

References

1913 births 1998 deaths 20th-century British translators Academic staff of the University of Cape Town Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London English Africanists 20th-century English translators French–English translators People from Birmingham, West Midlands Scholars of African literature Scholars of French literature {{UK-translator-stub