Raymond Gay-Crosier
Professor Emeritus
Areas of Interest/Research
Modern French Literature, Albert Camus, Critical Theory (esp. Irony)
Background
COORDINATES
Raymond Gay-Crosier
Professor Emeritus
Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
e-mail: gaycros@ufl.edu
CONCISE CURRICULUM VITÆ
1. Education, Major Positions and Activities
Born and raised in Switzerland,educated in Switzerland (Universities of Basel and Berne, doctorat-ès-lettres,1965) and France (Sorbonne), Raymond Gay-Crosier is a specialist in modern French literature. He taught one year at Trent University (Peterborough,Ont.,Canada), before joining the University of Florida as an Associate Professor in 1967and was promoted to Full Professor in 1973. After a ten-year stint as Graduate Coordinator of French (1970 to 1980), he was elected Chair of the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures and later reelected for three additional terms (1981-1993).
Past and current research and professional service activities include the publication of books and articles on French literature and other topics (see below) and several editorial positions : Principal co-editor of vols. I and II, and editor-in-chief of vols. III and IV of the Œuvres complètes by A. Camus (Paris, Gallimard, Pléiade), Editor-in-chief of the Camus series (1986-2010) published by Lettres Modernes (Paris), General Editor (1989-2000) of the «Ars Interpretandi» series published by P. Lang (Munich/NewYork), and Assistant Editor oft the French Review (1989-2010). He has been a member of the Executive Committee (1971-73,1974-81), Vice President, and President of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (1993-94), and President of the Howe Society (University of Florida, 1994-96). He is also a co-founder (with Brian T. Fitch and Jacqueline Lévi-Valensi at the 1982 Camus Décade de Cerisy-la-Salle) and Past Vice President of the Société des Études Camusiennes / Camus Studies Association, a worldwide scholarly association. Beyond his work as convener, panelist and chair of sessions held at various national and international professional meetings (SAMLA, MLA, numerous special topics conferences abroad), he has been the principal organizer of three international symposia on Albert Camus, two having been held on the campus of the University of Florida (1970, 1980), one in Cerisy-la-Salle, France (1982). The proceedings of these conferences have been published by CELEF, Sherbrooke (Canada), the University Presses of Florida, and Gallimard (Paris) respectively.
2. Research Orientation
General research focus: 20th-century French literature, critical theory, irony. Specific most recent research activities are three-fold: a) contributor coordinating and editing the technical apparatus for vols. I and II (published in April 2006); editor-in-chief and contributor of vols. III and IV (published in November 2008) of the new four-volume Pléiade edition of the complete works of Albert Camus; currently he continues to coordinate the annual corrections for the periodic reprints of the Œuvres complètes (Paris, Gallimard, Pléiade series), b) an ongoing series of various commissioned articles, keynote presentations and book reviews; on the internet, he also maintained and regularly updated, until Winter 2012, a major scrollable research bibliography on Albert Camus (1990-2012). It has migrated to Boise State University under http://camusbibliography.boisestate.edu/. Beyond many chapters in books and conference proceedings, his latest major publication is, by invitation, a widely reviewed co-edited special volume under the title L’Herne Camus (Paris, 2013). Most recently, he completed the organization and the analytical catalog of the vast collection of Camusiana (unpublished correspondences, typescripts, manuscripts, first editions, etc.), now permanently featured by the University of Florida’s Special Collections (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/camus/)
3. Summary of Publications
He is the sole author of five books (four on Albert Camus, one on the Provençal Troubadours) and contributing editor of 16 volumes (mostly on Camus; published by Lettres Modernes, University of Florida Press, Gallimard). His latest sole-authored books are: ALBERT CAMUS. PARADIGMES DE L’IRONIE: RÉVOLTE ET NÉGATION AFFIRMATIVE (Toronto, Editions Paratexte, 2001) and THE STRANGER , an extended Forschungsbericht which appeared in October of 2001 (Gale Research series of “Literary Masterpieces”no.8). Volume 22 of the long-standing Camus series, of which he was editor-in-chief for 20 years, has been published in 2010. Its main theme is “Camus et l’Histoire”. It features two main sections, one on the proceedings of an international conference on this topic held in February 2008 on the campus of the University of Florida, one on a series of general articles on the same subject.
Volumes I and II of the new Pléiade edition of Camus’s Œuvres complètes were published respectively in April 2006, volumes III and IV in November 2008 (Paris, Gallimard). This authoritative edition of Camus’s complete works contains an extensive critical apparatus and features the collective work of 14 internationally recognized specialists.
Of the some 130 articles in professional journals and chapters in books that are published, approximately 70 deal with Albert Camus. They appeared in, among others, French Review, Symposium, Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur, Revue des Lettres Modernes, Australian Journal of French Studies, Europe, Orbis Litterarum, etc. The other articles deal with theory of irony, Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Stéphane Mallarmé, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Butor, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and, especially, Claude Simon.They can be found in Culture, Études Littéraires, Texte/Revue deThéorie et de Critique Littéraire, Romance Notes, Revue d’Histoire Littéraire de la France, Études camusiennes, Revue des Sciences humaines, etc. Several essays in English on professional issues were published in specialized journals or books.
4. Awards and Honors
Recipient of various research and travel grants, a Professional Excellence Award (U. of Florida, 1996), member of the Chinard Prize Jury (Institut Français de Washington, 1981-1990) and the MLA William Riley Parker Prize Jury (1984-87), Chevalier (1987) and Officier (1993) des Palmes Académiques (French Government), Honorary Phi Kappa Phi member (1986-), President of the Howe Society (U.of Florida,1994-96), President of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (1993-94). For the academic year 2000-2001, he was awarded the Delton F.Scudder Term Professorship. As of May 2003, he is Professor Emeritus. In February of 2015, the University of Florida Library posted a dedicated website on his major collection of Camusiana including manuscripts, unpublished correspondences, etc. See http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/camus/ .
5. Guest Lectures, Visiting Appointments, Consultancies
Since 1970, numerous invitations as keynote speaker or guest lecturer at seminars and national or international conferences. Recent appearances as keynote and invited speaker include : International Camus conference, Cerisy-la-Salle (August 2013), Boise State University (March 2013), the Universität Zürich, Switzerland (March 2012), Dokkyo University, Tokyo (November 2010), Université Catholique de l’Ouest, Angers (France, November 2010), Florida State University (March 2010), New York University (April 2010), Royal Military College of Canada (May 2009); Centre de documentation A. Camus de la Bibliothèque Méjanes as contributing convener of a round table on the new Pléiade edition (January 2009), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, invited conference speaker (November 2007); Université du Littoral, Dunkerque, France, invited conference speaker (May 2007); University of Wisconsin (keynote speaker at the 2006 international Camus conference); University of Ulster at Coleraine, N. Ireland (guest seminars, 2005); Harvard University Humanities Center (2004); Agora Seminar on “Camus in Brazil”, São Paulo (appearance sponsored by French government, 2003); Cornell University (Fall 2002); University of Ulster at Coleraine, N. Ireland (Fall 2002); University of North Carolina / Greensboro (Spring 2002); Mishkonot Center for Mediterranean Studies,Jerusalem(1997); short semester visiting appointment, Université de Picardie/ JulesVerne, Amiens (1996); invited lectures/seminars at the Université de Beauvais (1996); Washington & Lee University (1996); Universities of Oslo (Norway), Uppsala (Sweden),and Odense (Denmark) (1994), etc.; six major consultancies (five as committee chair) for the Louisiana Board of Regent to select institutional grants in the humanities for private and public universities in the state of Louisiana (1991,1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006), consultant and chief consultant for the evaluation of several academic departments on other campuses,etc.
Contact Information
Email:gaycros@ufl.edu
Office: 159 Dauer Hall
Mailing address:
159 DAUER HALL
GAINESVILLE, FL, 32611-7405