Robert Lethbridge

Robert Lethbridge (born 24 February 1947) is a British academic who was the seventh Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 2005–2013 and Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust from 2010–2013.

Robert Lethbridge
Born	24 February 1947 New York City
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Kent at Canterbury
Awards	Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Scientific career
Institutions	Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

Career

Born in the USA in 1947, Lethbridge took his undergraduate degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1969 before completing a master's degree at McMaster University in 1970 and then a PhD at St John's College, Cambridge in 1975.[1]

As an academic Lethbridge has been associated most prominently with Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Fellow from 1973–92 and Senior Tutor from 1982–92. He then moved to Royal Holloway, University of London to take a Chair in French Language and Literature and was successively Head of Department, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice-Principal. In 2005 he returned to Fizwilliam as Master,[1] a position he held until his retirement on 30 September 2013.[2]

He conducts research and teaches postgraduate students in association with Cambridge University's Department of French, where he was a lecturer until 1994. He is now Honorary Professor of Nineteenth-Century French Literature in the University. His main interest is late 19th century France and specifically the relationship between literature and visual arts in that period.[1] In the context of the 2013 Royal Academy exhibition he gave a lecture on Manet and the Writers of his Time.[3]

He has held Visiting Professorships at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at the University of Melbourne and now also holds the position of Emeritus Professor of French Language nd Literature at the University of London.[1]

Between 2001 and 2006 he was Honorary President of the Society of Dix-neuvièmistes, a group founded in Dublin in 2001, mainly comprising British and Irish academics with an interest in 19th century France.[1] In 2012, he was appointed Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (the highest rank in the Order), a chivalric order established in 1955 for services to French culture and scholarship,[4] having been an ordinary member since 1988.

From 2010 - 2013 he was also the Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust.[1]

Controversy regarding elitism and failure

In 2012, after the Boat Race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge was disrupted by a protester against elitism, Lethbridge criticised left-wing politicians for criticising Cambridge University. He called critics "lazy" and "uninformed", and told the Daily Telegraph that there was a problem with a mindset which "doesn't want anyone to fail". [5] In response, critics accused him of being "arrogant", having "vile manners", and "never (having) done a stroke (of work)".[6]

Publications [1]

• Maupassant: Pierre et Jean (1984)
• Zola and the Craft of Fiction (ed 1990)
• Artistic Relations, Literature and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth-Century France (ed 1994)
• Editions of novels by Guy de Maupassant (2001) and by Émile Zola (1995, 2000, 2001)

See also

• Picture of Robert Lethbridge receiving the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
• List of Masters of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

References

1. "Prof Robert Lethbridge". Debretts. Archived from the original on 2013-07-31.
2. University of Cambridge Faculty of Law 26 March 2013 Archived 25 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
3. Visit London Guide
4. Activities of the French Ambassador 12 February 2013
5. Paton, Graeme (2012-06-01). "Leading don attacks 'toff image' of Oxford and Cambridge". London: The Daily Telegraph.
6. Master of Fitzwilliam attacks "Class War" view of Cambridge