Mary Ann Caws (born 1933) is an American author, translator, art historian and literary critic. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita in Comparative Literature, English, and French at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, and on the film faculty. She is an expert on Surrealism and modern English and French literature, having written biographies of Marcel Proust,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

, and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

. She works on the interrelations of visual art and literary texts, has written biographies of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

, and edited the diaries, letters, and source material of Joseph Cornell. She has also written on André Breton, Robert Desnos, René Char,

Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016 Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was pr ...

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of the New York School, which also inc ...

, and Edmond Jabès. She served as the senior editor for the ''HarperCollins World Reader'', and edited anthologies including ''Manifesto: A Century of Isms'', ''Surrealism'', and the ''Yale Anthology of 20th-Century French Poetry''. Among others, she has translated Stéphane Mallarmé,

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

, Pierre Reverdy, André Breton, Paul Éluard, Robert Desnos, and René Char. Among the positions she has held are President, Association for Study of Dada and Surrealism, 1971–75 and President, Modern Language Association of America, 1983, Academy of Literary Studies, 1984–85, and the

American Comparative Literature Association The American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) is the principal learned society in the United States for scholars whose work connects several different literary traditions and cultures or that examines the premises of cross-cultural liter ...

, 1989-91. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the

New York Institute for the Humanities The New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) is an academic organization founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, writers, and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the publ ...

. In October 2004, she published her autobiography, ''To the Boathouse: a Memoir'' (University Alabama Press), and in November 2008, a cookbook memoir: ''Provençal Cooking: Savoring the Simple Life in France'' (Pegasus Books). She was married to

Peter Caws Peter J. Caws (May 25, 1931 - April 20, 2020) was a British American philosopher and administrator, and University Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Human Sciences at the George Washington University. Biography Peter Caws was born in Sout ...

and is the mother of Hilary Caws-Elwitt and of

Matthew Caws Matthew Rorison Caws (born August 5, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Nada Surf. Caws is also a member of the indie rock duo Minor Alps, alon ...

, lead singer of the band

Nada Surf Nada Surf is a New York City-based American alternative rock band formed in the 1990s, consisting of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums), Doug Gillard (guitar, backing vocals), and Daniel Lorca (bass, backing vocals). History ...

. She is married to Dr. Boyce Bennett; they live in New York City.

References

External links

Mary Ann Caws official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caws, Mary Ann 1933 births Living people Surrealism Women art historians Graduate Center, CUNY faculty American women historians American art historians Presidents of the Modern Language Association