Suzanne Lavaud

Suzanne Lavaud (August 8, 1903 – January 14, 1996) was a French librarian. The first deaf person in France to obtain a Doctor of Letters, she is best known for her analysis of the writing of Marie Lenéru.

Suzanne Lavaud
Lavaud in a hat and coat standing on the steps of a building.
Lavaud in 1932 on the day of her doctoral defense
Born(1903-08-08)August 8, 1903
Puy-en-Velay, France
DiedJanuary 14, 1996(1996-01-14) (aged 92)
Nice, France

Lavaud was born in Puy-en-Velay, France, on August 8, 1903. Her mother was the principal of Lycée Victor Duruy and her father the principal of Lycée Charlemagne.[1][2] Deaf from birth, Lavaud was taught by her parents how to follow conversations as a child by lipreading.[3][4] She graduated with a masters of art in history from the Faculté d’Aix-en-Provence at the age of 22.[5]

Lavaud was the first to significantly study the work of Marie Lenéru.[6] Lenéru, a French writer and dramatist, became deaf and blind after contracting the measles as a child.[7]: 221  Lavaud orally defended the thesis for her Doctor of Letters, "Marie Lenéru, sa vie, son journal, son theatre," at the Sorbonne on January 8, 1932.[3]: 94 [8] She was assisted by her mother, who repeated questions from the examiners when their movements or enunciation made lipreading a challenge.[9][8][4] As a speaker unable to hear her own voice, Lavaud had a unique speaking style that was commented on in news coverage about her defense.[2] Professor Félix Gaiffe noted that despite a hoarse and monotonous timber, the defense was delivered with intelligible ease.[3] While coverage in Le Temps said that she spoke clearly with a "convincing vivacity" and spoke with authority about her area of expertise.[9] Lavaud passed the defense with honorable mention and expressed a desire to work in a library when asked by journalists what she planned to do next.[4]

Following graduation, Lavaud worked as a librarian at the Sorbonne.[10] She also served as France's representative with the World Federation of the Deaf.[11] Lavaud was the third deaf woman to become a member of Société des gens de lettres, after Yvonne Pitrois and Louise Asser.[12]

She died in Nice on January 14, 1996.

Awards

Select publications
  • Marie Lenéru : sa vie, son journal, son théâtre (Thesis). SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE D'ÉDITIONS LITTÉRAIRES ET TECHNIQUES. 1932. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  • "The French Deaf Under the German Occupation". The Silent Worker. 2 (10): 13–14. June 1950.

References
  1. Régis, Roger. "Les livres and la vie : Marie Lenéru par Suzanne Lavaud". Numéro Les Dimanches de la femme : supplément de la "Mode du jour" (in French). p. 12.
  2. "Revue universitaire". 41. Librairie Armand Colin. 1: 151. 1932.
  3. Gaiffe, Félix (1932). "Marie Lenéru Et Sa Biographe Suzanne Lavaud: Une Belle Œuvre, Un Admirable Exemple D'énergie Féminine". The French Review. 6 (2): 93–103.
  4. Rollot, Jean (9 January 1932). "Sourde et muette, Mlle Suzanne Lavaud a conquis ce matin, en Sorbonne, le titre de doctor es lettres". Paris-soir (in French). pp. 1, 3. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  5. "Echos". La Press (in French). Paris. 8 April 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  6. Goldberg, Nancy Sloan (2002). "Women, War, and H. G. Wells: The Pacifism of French Playwright Marie Lenéru" (PDF). War, Literature & the Arts. 14 (1–2). Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  7. Lang, Harry G.; Meath-Lang, Bonnie (1995). Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313291708. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  8. D., C. (9 January 1932). "En Sorbonne : Une these originale sur Marie Leneru". Gallica (in French). No. Comoedia. p. 1. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. "Au jour le jour - A propos d'une soutenance de these". Le Temps (in French). 9 January 1932. p. 3. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  10. Lange, Paul (April 1957). "With the Foreign Deaf." The Silent Worker. 9 (8).
  11. "The Bureau of the W. F. D." The Silent Worker. 9 (13): 23. September 1957. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  12. Cantin, Yann (2014). Les Sourds-Muets de la Belle Époque, une communauté en mutation (Thesis).
  13. "Académies, Universités, Écoles". Le Temps (in French). 30 July 1932. p. 3. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
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