Biography
My main interest in life has always been reading and discussing books with others, so teaching for PACE (since 1985) has been my dream job! After discovering Austen and the Brontës in my teens it seemed only natural that I should study English literature as my main subject at university, together with Russian and German. An interest in Comparative Literature developed from there, as well as an urgent desire to live in England. This was made possible through lectureships in German at Leicester (1977-79) and Oxford universities (1979-1983). From the latter I was lucky enough to gain an M.Phil in General and Comparative Literature in 1981, and even luckier in 1983 to be given the post of Staff Tutor in Languages and Literature at the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of Manchester (as well as helping out at the Leeds University Department of German). Here I was required to teach English literature alongside German, and that situation continued when my husband and I moved to Cambridge. Having taught both undergraduates in their late teens and early twenties and “mature” students for many years I have enjoyed both very much but come away with the realisation that “life experience” adds immeasurably to an appreciation of literature!