Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Le Puy-en-Velay, Auvergne-RhĂ´ne-Alpes, France
About Suzanne Lavaud
- 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.
- Deaf and mute 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.Lavaud was the first to significantly study the work of Marie Lenéru.
- Lenéru, a French writer and dramatist, became deaf and blind after contracting the measles as a child.
- 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.
- She was assisted by her mother who repeated questions from the examiners when their movements or enunciation made lipreading a challenge.
- 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 FĂ©lix 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.Following graduation, Lavaud worked as a librarian at the Sorbonne.
- She also served as France's representative with the World Federation of the Deaf.
- Lavaud was the third deaf woman to become a member of Société des gens de lettres, after Yvonne Pitrois and Louise Asser.She died in Nice on January 14, 1996.
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