Hubert, Renée Riese, 1916-

Biography

Renée Riese Hubert (1916–2005) was Professor Emerita of French and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.

From the UC Irvine "In Memoriam" website:

"The daughter of German Jewish parents who were prominent physicians, public intellectuals and activists who worked in the service of liberal causes, Renée Riese was forced to leave Nazi Germany as a young girl and settle with her family in France. She was educated in Paris and found her first vocation there, publishing six volumes of poetry in French that won high acclaim in her elective country and language. A year before the invasion she left her family in France to spend the war years in England; later she joined her parents and her artist sister in Virginia, where they had taken refuge during the war. She went on to obtain her Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she met her future husband, Judd Hubert.

Renée Riese Hubert taught literature at several universities in the U.S. before coming to UCI with Judd, where she taught for twenty years in comparative literature and French and remained deeply involved in UCI academic and community activities for eighteen years beyond her formal retirement. Hubert actively shaped Comparative Literature and established connections to other departments and units on campus, including Art History, Fine Arts and Women’s Studies.

Hubert gained national and international recognition as an important critic of nineteenth and twentieth century French poetry, surrealism, modern art, and image-text relations. She is the author or coauthor of major scholarly books and over 175 articles in English and French. Among her works are Surrealism and the Book (1992); Magnifying Mirrors: Women Surrealism and Partnership (1994); in collaboration with Judd D. Hubert, The Cutting Edge of Reading: Artists' Books (1998); and Cultural (Dis)connections (2006). Much of her scholarly work was done in collaboration with her husband and colleague, Judd. The Huberts’ work together has been a rare example of outstanding scholarship originating from a couple, and including major work on artist couples. In 2003 Renée and Judd Hubert co-curated Langson Library’s exhibition A Throw of the Dice: Artists Inspired by a Visual Text, an exhibition focusing on limited edition artists’ books, early and scholarly editions and other materials inspired by Stephane Mallarmé’s poem Un Coup de dés. Most recently, Hubert’s autobiographical Memoirs of a Surrealist Scholar appeared from Black Apollo Press in 2006. Renee Hubert received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship, a senior NEH fellowship, and the UC Panunzio Award. In addition, a festschift honoring her work titled Conjuctions appeared in 1996."

From the guide to the Renée Riese Hubert publications and papers, 1958-2004, (Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries)