Ann Margaret Jefferson, (born 3 November 1949) is a British scholar of French literature. She was a fellow and tutor in French at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, from 1987 to 2015, and professor of French at the University of Oxford from 2006 to 2015.

Early life and education

Jefferson was born on 3 November 1949 to Antony and Eirlys Jefferson.'JEFFERSON, Prof. Ann Margaret', '' Who's Who 2017'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 27 May 2017
/ref> She studied at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1971: as per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA) degree. She then moved to Wolfson College, Oxford, where she undertook postgraduate research and she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1976.

Academic career

From 1978 to 1982, Jefferson was a

junior research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. Then, from 1982 to 1987, she was a college lecturer at St John's College. In 1987, she was elected a fellow of

and appointed a college tutor in French. From 1987 to 2006, she was also a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in French in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages of the University of Oxford. In 2006, she was appointed professor of French literature by the University of Oxford. In 2015, she retired from full-time academia and was appointed an emeritus fellow of New College. Outside of Oxford, Jefferson has held a number of visiting scholar appointments. In 2006, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University in the United States. In 2008, she was a visiting professor at the Sorbonne in Parish, France. From February 2016 to June 2016, she was a fellow of the ''

Institut d'études avancées de Paris An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

'' (Paris Institute for Advanced Study).

Personal life

In 1971, Jefferson married Anthony Glees; they divorced in 1992. Together they had two sons and one daughter. In 2011, she married Michael Holland.

Honours

In 2001, Jefferson was appointed a Member of the '' Ordre des Palmes Académiques'' by the French government. In 2004, she 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. In 2012, she was promoted to Commander of the ''Ordre des Palmes Académiques''.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * *Jefferson, Ann (2020). ''Nathalie Sarraute: A Life Between''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Published in French as ''Nathalie Sarraute''. Paris: Flammarion (2019).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Ann 1949 births Living people Historians of French literature British women historians British literary historians British literary critics British women literary critics Literary critics of French Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Place of birth missing (living people)