AProf Jean Anderson

Associate Professor,
School of Languages and Cultures

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Otago, D3e cycle Montpellier

Profile

Educated at the University of Otago (BA Hons, I), the Université Paul Valéry III, Montpellier (D. 3e cycle). Taught French at Queen’s University (Canada), the University of Otago and Massey University before taking up a position at Victoria University of Wellington in 1992. Programme director for French, 2002 – 2008; founding Director of the New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation / Te Tumu Whakawhiti Tuhinga o Aotearoa

Current research projects

Literary translation, particularly of Pacific writing; late 19th century women writers; 21st century women’s writing; the short story

Research supervision

Literary translation; francophone writing; late 19th century women’s writing

Currently has students working on:

Translation of New Zealand literature; Calixthe Beyala; reception of literary translation

Major achievements

Chevalier dans l’ordre des Palmes académiques 2007; Fulbright Travel Award 2008; John Dunmore medal 2008

Teaching interests

Maupassant; Quebec literature; translation; Franco-Pacific fiction

Selection of publications

Critical Works:

 ‘Can the Subjected speak? - Giving a voice to the voiceless in Ananda Devi’s Moi l’interdite and Maryline Desbiolles’ Une femme de rien, in Nadine Bérenguier et al (eds.), Eclectic Expressions: Women’s Triumphs, Past and Present (Women in French Studies Special Issue), 2008, pp. 108-115.

‘Fictions of Another World: Exotic Elements in Selected Stories by Annie Saumont’, New Zealand Journal of French Studies, 29: 1, 2008. pp. 31-44.

'Revisiting Simone de Beauvoir's monstrum: Old Women Protagonists in Short Stories by Contemporary French Women Writers (1990-2005)', in Adalgisa Giorgio and Julia Waters (eds.), Women's Writing in Western Europe: Gender, Generation and Legacy, (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), pp. 347-61.

Edited Book (translations)

Been there, Read That! Stories for the Armchair Traveller Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2008.

Translations

Le Bataillon maori (Tu, Patricia Grace) with France Grenaudier-Klijn. Papeete : Au Vent des îles, 2010.

The Collector’s Dream (Le Rêve du collectionneur). Wellington : VUP, 2010.

Les Enfants de Ngarua (Dogside Story, Patricia Grace) with France Grenaudier-Klijn. Papeete : Au Vent des îles, 2009.

Island of Shattered Dreams (L’Île des rêves écrasés, Chantal Spitz). Wellington: Huia Books, 2007.

Bluebeard’s Workshop (L’Atelier de Barbe-bleue, Pierre Furlan). Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2007.

Le Lagon (The Lagoon, Janet Frame) with Nadine Ribault. Paris: Editions des femmes, 2006.

Les Yeux volés (Baby No Eyes, Patricia Grace) with France Grenaudier-Klijn. Papeete: Au Vent des îles, 2006.

Electrique cité (Electric City, Patricia Grace) with Anne Magnan-Park. Papeete : Au Vent des îles, 2006.