Alan William Raitt, FRSL, FBA (21 September 1930 – 2 September 2006) was a British scholar of French literature, specialising in nineteenth-century French literature.[1] From 1992 to 1997, he was Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford.
Alan Raitt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alan William Raitt 21 September 1930 |
| Died | 2 September 2006 (aged 75) |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1971) Fellow of the British Academy (1992) Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1995) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | The King Edward VI School, Morpeth |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Thesis | (1957) |
| Doctoral advisor | Austin Gill |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | French literature |
| Sub-discipline | 19th-century French literature |
| Institutions | Magdalen College, Oxford Exeter College, Oxford University of Oxford |
Early life and education edit
Raitt was born on 21 September 1930 in Morpeth, Northumberland, England.[2] He was educated at The King Edward VI School, Morpeth, then an all-boys state grammar school.[3] He studied Modern Languages (French and German) at Magdalen College, Oxford,[4][2] graduating with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1951.[4] His undergraduate tutor had been Austin Gill.[4] He remained at Magdalen College to undertake postgraduate research on "Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and the Symbolist movement",[4] completing his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1957.[3]
Academic career edit
From 1953 to 1955, Raitt was a Fellow (by examination) of Magdalen College, Oxford.[3] From 1955 to 1966, he was Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.[4] In 1966, he returned to Magdalen College where he had been elected a fellow, and would remain there until his retirement in 1997; that year he was elected Fellow Emeritus.[3] He also held a number of positions at university level in the University of Oxford: he was a Special Lecturer in French Literature from 1976 to 1979, Reader from French Literature from 1979 to 1992, and Professor of French Literature from 1992 to 1997.[3][4]
Raitt also held a number of appointments outside of Oxford. He was visiting lecturer at the University of Georgia in 1986.[3] He was Visiting Professor at the Paris-Sorbonne University from 1987 to 1988.[3] From 1987 to 1997, he was General Editor of French Studies, the journal of the Society for French Studies.[4]
Personal life edit
In 1959, Raitt married Janet Taylor. Together, they had two daughters. They divorced in 1971. In 1974, he married Lia Noémia Rodrigues Correia; she outlived him.[3]
Honours edit
In 1971, Raitt was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).[2] In 1992, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the UK's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.[4] In 1995, he was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Commander of the Order of Academic Palms) by the French government.[3]
Selected works edit
- Raitt, A. W. (1965). Life and Letters in France: the nineteenth century. New York: Scribner's. ISBN 978-0684126197.
- Raitt, A. W. (1981). The life of Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 978-0198157717.
- Flaubert, Gustave (1994). Raitt, Alan (ed.). Pour Louis Bouilhet. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978-0859894418.
- Raitt, Alan (1996). A.C. Friedel et "Le nouveau théâtre allemand": un intermédiaire méconnu (in French). Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 978-9051837766.
- Raitt, Alan (1999). Flaubert et le théâtre (in French) (2nd ed.). Berne: P. Lang. ISBN 978-3906763194.
- Raitt, Alan (2002). The originality of Madame Bovary. Oxford: Verlag Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3906768441.
- Raitt, Alan (2005). Gustavus Flaubertus Bourgeoisophobus: Flaubert and the bourgeois mentality. Oxford: Verlag Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3039103089.
References edit
- ^ M. J. Freeman (2009). "Alan William Raitt 1930–2006". In Johnston, Ron (ed.). Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 161: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows VIII. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197264577.001.0001. ISBN 9780197264577.
- ^ a b c Potts, Denys (5 October 2006). "Alan Raitt". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "RAITT, Prof. Alan William". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. April 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Garfitt, Toby (5 September 2006). "Professor Alan Raitt". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
External links edit
- "Alan Raitt" (Fellows Remembered), The Royal Society of Literature