Literature Network

The Literature Network held its first meeting of 2011 on 12 April at Shirley House when Dr Wendy Michallat of Sheffield University’s French Department gave a talk about Madeleine Blaess to a capacity audience.

Madeleine Blaess was, for much of her career, a lecturer in the same department at Sheffield, taking up an appointment as a specialist in Medieval French in October 1948 and remaining at the University until her retirement in 1983.

Dr Michallat’s focus, however, was not so much on Madeleine Blaess’ links with Sheffield as on her earlier life which is documented in private papers and memorabilia which she left to the University.

Dr Wendy Michallat

Born in June 1918 to French parents, Madeleine was brought up in York, and later  attended the University of Leeds, graduating in 1939 with a First Class degree in French. Eager to pursue her academic education, she    enrolled that autumn at the University of Paris and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. This proved a momentous decision. Having “missed the last boat home”, in January 1940, Madeleine had to stay in Paris for the duration of the war, only returning to the UK in 1945.

Throughout this time she kept a diary which, today, provides fascinating insights into life under the German occupation. “All I have done is battled hard to survive, to not die of starvation and exhaustion”, Madeleine wrote wryly of her wartime experiences.

Yet, in gifting her personal papers to Sheffield University, she has left an invaluable legacy. It is through accounts such as hers that we can engage with the immediacy of lives lived at such times.

Dr Michallat supplemented extracts from the diary with a number of contemporaneous photographs, the interior of Madeleine’s small room the view from her window, the round-ups and deportations that she witnessed.

Altogether this was a fascinating talk, providing an introduction to one of Sheffield University’s hidden gems.

Literature Network  -   2011 and 2012

The Network continues to expand its range of activities. Judith Vernier is in charge of our autumn meeting which is open to all SU3A members and their guests. Her speaker is a specialist on the life and work of Virginia Woolf. See the next issue of Links for      further details.

In 2012 Ernest Shoobridge and I will be experimenting with city   centre walkabout days with a literary slant. There is also the   possibility of a new creative writing course and an anthology of SU3A writings.

Further news of these will be in later issues of Links and on this page of the SU3A website.

Peter Barclay……………………………………….(0114) 230 4327