Dorothy Blair

Dorothy Blair
Born	1913 Birmingham, England
Died	1998 (aged 84–85)
Academic background
Alma mater	Royal Holloway College
Academic work
Institutions	University of Cape Town University of the Witwatersrand

Dorothy Sara Blair, nee Greene (1913–1998) was an English scholar and translator of Francophone African literature.

Life

Marjorie Greene was born in Birmingham, England. She studied at Royal Holloway College before training to teach French at Cambridge. In 1939 she married Maurice Blair, and moved to South Africa. She was a university lecturer at the University of Cape Town before becoming professor of romance languages at the University of the Witwatersrand. She served as a trustee for The Classic, a literary magazine created by Nat Nakasa in Johannesburg, alongside Nadine Gordimer, Julian Beinart, Nimrod Mkele, and others. On retirement she returned to England, living in Brighton and carrying out freelance literary translation from French.

Her papers are held at the University of Westminster.

Works

• Jules Supervielle, a modern fabulist. 1957.
• African literature in French: a history of creative writing in French from west and equatorial Africa. 1976
• (tr.) Snares without end by Olympe Bhêly-Quénum. 1981.
• (tr.) The beggars' strike, or, The dregs of society by Aminata Sow Fall. 1981.
• Senegalese literature: a critical history. 1984.
• (tr.) Fantasia, an Algerian cavalcade by Assia Djebar. 1985.
• (tr.) Scarlet song by Mariama Bâ. 1986.
• (tr.) My life story: the autobiography of a Berber woman by Fadhma A. M Amrouche. 1988.
• (tr.) The first century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf. 1992.
• (tr.) Africa dances by Michael Huet and Claude Savary. 1995.
• (tr.) The gardens of light : a novel by Amin Maalouf. 1996.
• (tr.) The battle of Kadesh by Christian Jacq. 1998.
• (tr.) Sherazade by Leïla Sebbar. 1999.