Mary Ann Caws was born and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. Her father was Harmon Chadbourn Rorison, of Scottish heritage (McDonald of the Isle of Skye), her mother, Margaret Devereux Lippitt, was the only daughter of the painter Margaret Walthour Lippitt. Professor Caws attended the National Cathedral School, and went on to get her B.A. (cum laude) at Bryn Mawr in 1954, her M.A. at Yale University (1956), her doctorate from the University of Kansas in 1962; she holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Union College (1983).
Professor Caws is Distinguished Professor Emerita of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. Professor Caws was co-Director of the Henri Peyre French Institute from 1980 to 2002. She is an Officier of the Palmes Académiques and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (awarded by the French Minister of Education) and a former Trustee of the Alliance Francaise (Washington, D.C.)
.
Professor Caws married Dr. Boyce Bennett on November 3rd, 2007. She has two children from her previous marriage with Peter James Caws (married 1956, divorced 1987): Hilary and Matthew.
Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown Limited, 10 Astor
Place, New York NY 10003.
Elected Positions and Positions Held
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (inducted 2009)
- President, Association for Study of Dada and Surrealism, 1971-75
- President, Modern Language Association of America, 1983
- President, Academy of Literary Studies, 1984-5
- President, American Comparative Literature Association, 1989-91
- Life member, Clare Hall, Cambridge University
- Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Lecturer
- Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies (School of Advanced Studies, University of London) Honorary Senior Fellow
- New York Institute for the Humanities, Fellow
Teaching
- Barnard College, lecturer in French, 1962-63
- University of Kansas, visiting assistant professor in French, 1963
- City University of New York: Hunter College, lecturer, 1964-65, assistant professor of French, 1966-67, Hunter College and Graduate School and University Center, associate professor, 1970-74, professor of Romance languages and comparative literature, 1974--, distinguished professor of French and comparative literature, 1983--, distinguished professor of French, English, and
comparative literature, 1987--
- Sarah Lawrence College, visiting professor in French, 1965-66
- Princeton University, comparative literature, 1979-80
- Dartmouth College School of Theory and Criticism, 1988
- School of Visual Arts, 1994-95
- Université de Paris VII (Jussieu)
Evaluations and Selections (selection)
Visiting Committees and Evaluations of Institutions (selection)
- Princeton University, Comparative Literature
- MIT, Humanities
- Harvard University, Romance Languages, Visiting Committee
(and various ad hoc committees)
- Marquette University, Humanities
- San Diego State, Romance Languages
- Loyola University, Humanities
- University of Notre Dame, Humanities
- Rutgers University, French Department
- Columbia University, Romance Language Department
- Rutgers University, Comparative Literature Program
- UCLA, Comparative Literature Program
Listings
- Who's Who in the World
- Who's Who in America
- Who's Who in the East
- World Who's Who of Women
- Who's Who of American Women
- World Who's Who of Women in Education
- Writer's Directory
- Contemporary Authors
- Directory of American Scholars
- Dictionary of International Biography
- International Who's Who of Authors
- Who's Who in Poetry and International Poet's Encylopedia
Fellowships
Editorships and Advisorships
- Editorial Board, Journal of Surrealism and the Americas
- Advisor to the DC International Poetry Festival sponsored by WordFest, Chapters: A Literary Bookstore
- Editor, Dada/Surrealism (annual, 1972-1992): Queens College Press (issues 1-9); University of Iowa, co-edited with Rudolf E. Kuenzli (issues 10-18)
- Editor, Le Siècle éclaté (Paris: 1973-6)
- Co-Editor, Dada and Surrealism, 1980-
- Chief Editor, HarperCollins World Reader, 1994
- Editorial Board, Publications of the Modern Language Association ,1979-81
- French Review , 1970-80
- New York Literary Forum
- Diacritics
- Twentieth Century Studies
- Comparative Literature Studies
- Comparative Studies
- Modern Fiction Studies
- College Literature
- Contemporary World Writers
- Sites
- Orbis Litterarum
- Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern Poetry
- Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies Reader
Memberships
Chairs and Committees (sample)
for Modern Language Association:
- Division of Literature and the Other Arts
- Division of French 20th Century
- Division of Comparative Literature
- Division of Poetry
- Division of Autobiography and Life-Writing
