Hélène Marie Aubry
12 October 1941 — 30 September 2020 · aged 78
Sorbonne professor of medieval literature who made Old French sound like yesterday
Paris, France Born in Caen, Normandy Resting at Columbarium, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, ParisAbout Hélène
Hélène Aubry liked to tell her first-year students that her Middle Ages began in July 1944, when her mother pushed her out of a burning Caen in a borrowed pram, with a single book under the blanket: a battered Chanson de Roland. She was two. Whether the story was true, she said, was beside the point; it explained everything.
She grew up in Bayeux, won a place at the Lycée Fénelon in Paris, and went on to the École normale supérieure at Sèvres. She passed the agrégation in classical literature in 1964 and taught at a lycée in Évreux before the Sorbonne claimed her in 1970. For thirty-five years she taught Old French and medieval literature there, supervised thirty-seven doctoral theses, and made the lais of Marie de France and the romances of Chrétien de Troyes sound as though they had been written the previous Tuesday.
She lived for most of her adult life in a small apartment on the rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève, above a bookshop, with Marguerite Lefèvre, her partner of forty years and a restorer of illuminated manuscripts. They shared the Sunday market on the rue Mouffetard, a corner table on the Place de la Contrescarpe and a quarrel about whether Lancelot was a hero or a menace that ran at a gentle boil from 1978 to the end. Hélène swam every morning at the Piscine Pontoise, regardless of strikes or snow, and always arrived at her lectures with wet hair and perfect composure.
She was a demanding teacher, famous for her red pen and for the phrase 'Try again, but this time with feeling.' Students who once feared her kept her letters for decades. In retirement she translated the lais into a clear modern French and gave free evening lectures at a public library in the 13th arrondissement for anyone who cared to come, which meant retirees, students and, memorably, one plumber who stayed for three years.
Hélène died on 30 September 2020 at home in Paris, with Marguerite beside her and the window open to the street. She leaves Marguerite, her nephew Antoine, her niece Camille, and several generations of former students who still hear her voice when they pick up a pen.
“Try again, but this time with feeling.”
- Place of birth
- Caen, Normandy
- Resting place
- Columbarium, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
- Passed away
- 30 September 2020, Paris
Secular farewell ceremony
Thursday, 8 October 2020 at 07:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Khâgne preparatory classes
Lycée Fénelon1958 – 1961 · Paris
Two hard years of Latin, Greek and sleeplessness.
Agrégation de lettres classiques
École normale supérieure de Sèvres1961 – 1964 · Sèvres
Passed the national teaching examination at the first attempt.
Lycée teacher
Lycée Aristide-Briand1964 – 1970 · Évreux
Six years teaching classics to teenagers who preferred football.
Professor of Medieval Literature
Sorbonne (Paris-Sorbonne University)1970 – 2005 · Paris
Thirty-five years teaching Old French and supervising thirty-seven theses.
Began her life with Marguerite Lefèvre
1980 · Paris
Forty years together in the apartment above the bookshop.
Free evening lectures
Public library, 13th arrondissement2005 – 2020 · Paris
Open to anyone, from retirees to a faithful plumber.
Chevalier de l'ordre des Palmes académiques
République française1995 · Paris
For services to French education and scholarship.
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Family & connections
Hélène is survived by
- Marguerite Lefèvre· Partner
- Antoine Aubry· Nephew
- Camille Aubry· Niece
- Her former students· Friend
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Hélène.
Knew Hélène? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- DW
Former student, now in Berlin
Professor Aubry taught us that the Middle Ages were not dark but loud, full of people arguing about love. She was the loudest of them. I think of her whenever I open a book.
- DH
Visiting fellow from Oxford, 1998
Hélène hosted me for a term and took me to the market, to the pool, to her favourite café and, at last, to a pub in the 14th that served warm beer so that I would not feel homesick. I have never been so thoroughly looked after by anyone in my academic life.
- LS
Former doctoral student, now at the University of Montreal
She returned my first chapter with 'Try again, but this time with feeling' scrawled across the top in red. I was furious for a week and in love with my subject for life. Everything I have published since began with that comment.
- ÉR
Student, Sorbonne, 1983
In my first week she asked who I thought the real hero of the Chanson de Roland was. I said Roland. She said, 'Think again.' It took me forty years to understand her. It is Oliver. It is always the friend.
- PD
Colleague at the Sorbonne
Hélène chaired departmental meetings the way she read poetry aloud: slowly, in full voice and without apology. In thirty years I saw her interrupted once, by a fire alarm, and even then she finished her sentence.
- FG
Baker on the rue Mouffetard
Every Saturday at nine she bought a baguette and a pain aux raisins, and every Saturday she told me which medieval saint's feast it was. I learned more from her across the counter than I did at school. The rue Mouffetard is quieter now.
