'A Life Between': Ann Jefferson on writing Nathalie Sarraute's biography
Ann Jefferson discusses her biography of the 20th-century French writer Nathalie Sarraute and the challenges of a reluctant biographee

Nathalie Sarraute (1900-1999) was a leading exponent of the nouveau roman and one of France’s most cosmopolitan literary figures; her life was bound up with the intellectual and political ferment of twentieth-century Europe. She was initially associated with the existentialist circle of Beauvoir and Sartre, before becoming the principal theorist and practitioner of the avant-garde French novel of the 1950s and 1960s. Her tireless exploration of the deepest parts of our inner psychological life produced an oeuvre that remains daringly modern and resolutely unclassifiable.

Ann Jefferson will speak about her biography of Sarraute, Nathalie Sarraute: A Life Between (2020), followed by a Q&A chaired by Hermione Lee.

Ann Jefferson is professor emerita of French at the New College, Oxford is Commandeur dans l’ordre des palmes académiques (2012). Her research on French novel from Stendhal to Sarraute as well as on biography as genre is widely recognized.
Hermione Lee is a biographer and Emeritus Professor of English Literature in the English Faculty at Oxford University.
This event will take place in the Buttery, Wolfson College (accessibility information).OCLW advises caution by wearing masks and not attending if you are feeling unwell.
Date: 22 November 2022, 13:30 (Tuesday, 7th week, Michaelmas 2022)
Venue: Wolfson College, Linton Road OX2 6UD
Venue Details: The Buttery
Speaker: Professor Ann Jefferson (French)
Organising department: Oxford Centre for Life-Writing
Booking required?: Recommended
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-life-between-ann-jefferson-on-writing-nathalie-sarrautes-biography-tickets-431012569197
Audience: Public
Editor: Charles Pidgeon