| Suzanne Lavaud | |
| Birth Date: | 8 August 1903 |
| Birth Place: | Puy-en-Velay, France |
| Death Place: | Nice, France |
Suzanne Lavaud (August 8, 1903 – January 14, 1996) was a French librarian. The first deaf person in France to obtain a Doctor of Letters, she is best known for her analysis of the writing of Marie Lenéru.
Lavaud was born in Puy-en-Velay, France, on August 8, 1903. Her mother was the principal of Lycée Victor Duruy and her father the principal of Lycée Charlemagne.[1] [2] Deaf from birth, Lavaud was taught by her parents how to follow conversations as a child by lipreading. She graduated with a masters of art in history from the Faculté d’Aix-en-Provence at the age of 22.[3]
Lavaud was the first to significantly study the work of Marie Lenéru.[4] Lenéru, a French writer and dramatist, became deaf and blind after contracting the measles as a child.[5] Lavaud orally defended the thesis for her Doctor of Letters, "Marie Lenéru, sa vie, son journal, son theatre," at the Sorbonne on January 8, 1932.[6] [7] She was assisted by her mother, who repeated questions from the examiners when their movements or enunciation made lipreading a challenge.[8] As a speaker unable to hear her own voice, Lavaud had a unique speaking style that was commented on in news coverage about her defense. Professor Félix Gaiffe noted that despite a hoarse and monotonous timber, the defense was delivered with intelligible ease. While coverage in Le Temps said that she spoke clearly with a "convincing vivacity" and spoke with authority about her area of expertise. Lavaud passed the defense with honorable mention and expressed a desire to work in a library when asked by journalists what she planned to do next.[9]
Following graduation, Lavaud worked as a librarian at the Sorbonne.[10] She also served as France's representative with the World Federation of the Deaf.[11] Lavaud was the third deaf woman to become a member of Société des gens de lettres, after Yvonne Pitrois and Louise Asser.[12]
She died in Nice on January 14, 1996.