Joan DeJean was a pioneer in the feminist literary critical movement, especially as it relates to the reading of French texts. DeJean was Trustee Professor Emerita of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. She was born on October 4, 1948, in southwest Louisiana and grew up in a French-speaking family. She received her BA in 1969 from Tulane University's Newcomb College and her PhD from Yale University in 1974, where she studied with Sterling Professor of French, and later Yale Provost, Georges May. DeJean was recognized with numerous honors and awards for her work on women's writing, the history of sexuality, the development of the novel, and material culture in 17th- and 18th-century France. As both an author and an editor, she campaigned for better recognition of female French novelists. DeJean was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania, the National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, the Morse fellowship at Yale University, a Guggenheim fellowship, and in 2003 she won the Modern Language Association Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Studies for her book The Reinvention of Obscenity: Sex, Lies, and Tabloids in Early Modern France. In 2020, DeJean was elected a fellow of the prestigious British Academy for the humanities and social sciences. She was also an aficionado of opera and a devoted supporter of the arts. She died on December 2, 2023, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
This collection consists of the professional papers of Joan DeJean, Trustee Professor Emerita of Romance Languages at University of Pennsylvania. She was a scholar of French literature focused on the history of women's writing, sexuality, the development of the novel, and material culture in 17th- and 18th-century France. The collection dates from 1974 to 2022 and is arranged into one series. Materials in this collection include audio cassettes of an interview with Germaine Brée (1907–2001), a French literary scholar who volunteered to fight for the Free French when World War II broke out, and audio cassettes of Modern Language Association conferences. Correspondence relates to both the Brée interview and the conferences. Typed and handwritten drafts of talks include "Editing Women Writers: Does it Matter?" and "French Studies and the French Nation." This collection is arranged alphabetically by record type. Original folder titles are written in quotations. The processor created all other folder titles.
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the John Hay Library are requested to complete a Notice of Intent to Publish, available on the John Hay Library website or by request, prior to reproducing, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
[Folder Title], Joan E. DeJean papers, Ms.2024.001, Box [#], Folder [#], Pembroke Center Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University.
This collection is arranged into one series.
There are no restrictions on access for analog materials, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Advance notice is required to view born-digital records. Born-digital materials in this collection may not have been reformatted yet. Researchers may request access to copies by contacting the John Hay Library with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed to hay@brown.edu.
Gift of Joan DeJean in 2018.