Germaine Brée (2 October 1907 – 22 September 2001) was a French-American literary scholar, who wrote extensively on Marcel Proust, Andre Gide, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre.[1]
Born in Paris, Germaine Brée grew up in the English-speaking Channel Islands. After graduating from the University of Paris, she taught in Algeria from 1932 to 1936. Appointed to teach at Bryn Mawr in 1936,[2] she returned to France to fight for the Free French when World War II broke out. She joined a volunteer ambulance unit, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and was assigned to the intelligence section of the Free French in Algiers. She received a Bronze Star and was named to the Legion of Honor. At this time Brée befriended Albert Camus.[3]
In 1953 Brée was appointed chair of the French department at New York University College of Arts & Science, the second woman to be appointed a department chair at the university.[3] From 1960 until 1973 she was Professor of French at the University of Wisconsin.[2] From 1973 until 1984 she was Kenan professor of humanities at Wake Forest University.[3] In 1975 she served as president of the Modern Language Association.[2] She was an elected member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4] [5]