Robert Lethbridge (born 24 February 1947) is a

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-born British academic who was Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 2005–2013 and Provost of the

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from 2010–2013.

Career

Born in the USA in 1947, Lethbridge received a bachelor's degree at the

University of Kent at Canterbury A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1969, a master's at McMaster University in

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1970, and a

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in 1975. He was a Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 1973–92 and Senior Tutor at the same college from 1982–92. He then moved to

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, where he was employed as a

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of French Language and Literature and successively as Head of Department, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice-Principal. In 2005 he returned to Fitzwilliam College as its Master, holding the post until he retired in 2013. During his mastership, Fitzwilliam moved from 13th place to 20th place (out of 29) in Cambridge University's intercollegiate Tompkins Table. Until 1994 he lectured and worked as a researcher at Cambridge University's Department of French, and is currently an Honorary Professor of Nineteenth-Century French Literature at the University. His main interest is late 19th century France and specifically the relationship between literature and visual arts in that period. At the 2013

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exhibition he gave a lecture on ''Manet and the Writers of his Time''. He has held Visiting Professorships at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at the

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and is also an Emeritus Professor of French Language and Literature at the

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. Between 2001 and 2006 he was Honorary President of the Society of Dix-neuvièmistes, a group founded in

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in 2001, mainly comprising British and Irish academics with an interest in 19th century France. In 2012 he was appointed a Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

, chivalric order established in 1955 for services to French culture and scholarship, having been an Ordinary member since 1988. In 2010-2013 he was Provost of the

Controversy regarding elitism and failure

In 2012, after the Boat Race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge was disrupted by a protester against elitism, Lethbridge criticised left-wing politicians for criticising Cambridge University. He called critics "lazy" and "uninformed", and told the ''

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'' that there was a problem with a mindset which "doesn't want anyone to fail". In response, critics accused him of being "arrogant", having "vile manners", and "never (having) done a stroke (of work)".Master of Fitzwilliam attacks "Class War" view of Cambridge
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Publications

* Maupassant: Pierre et Jean (1984) * Zola and the Craft of Fiction (ed 1990) * Artistic Relations, Literature and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth-Century France (ed 1994) * Editions of novels by Guy de Maupassant (2001) and by Émile Zola (1995, 2000, 2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lethbridge, Robert 1947 births Living people Educators from New York City Alumni of the University of Kent McMaster University alumni Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Masters of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques

Career

Controversy regarding elitism and failure

Publications

See also

References