Germaine Brée

Germaine Brée (1907–2001) 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

References