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Ruth Scurr

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Ruth Scurr
FRSL
Alma materOxford University; Cambridge University; Ecole Normale Supérieure
EmployerGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Notable work
  • Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution (2006)
  • John Aubrey: My Own Life (2015)
SpouseSir Peter Stothard (m. 2021)
Websitewww.ruthscurr.co.uk

Dr Ruth Scurr FRSL, aka Lady Stothard, is a British writer, historian and literary critic. She is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.[1]

Education

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Scurr was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough; Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris. She won a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2000.

Works

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Scurr's first book, Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution (Chatto & Windus, 2006; Metropolitan Books, 2006),[2] [3]won the Franco-British Society Literary Prize (2006)[4], was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize (2006), long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize (2007) and was listed among the 100 Best Books of the Decade in The Times in 2009.[5] It has been translated into five languages.

Her second book, John Aubrey: My Own Life (Chatto & Windus, 2015; New York Review of Books, 2016), [6]was shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Biography Award[7] and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Her third book, Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows (Chatto & Windus, 2021; Norton, 2021), was published to critical acclaim[8] on both sides of the Atlantic[9] to mark the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death. It won the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award for Biography (2022).[10]

Career

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Scurr began reviewing regularly for The Times and The Times Literary Supplement in 1997.[11] Since then she has also written for The Daily Telegraph,[12] The Observer, New Statesman,[13] The London Review of Books,[14] The New York Review of Books, The Nation,[15] The New York Observer, The Guardian[16] and The Wall Street Journal.[17]

She was a judge on the Man Booker Prize panel in 2007, the Samuel Johnson Prize panel in 2014, and the Baillie Gifford Prize panel in 2023.[18][19][20] She is a member of the Folio Prize Academy.[21]

Scurr is Director of Studies in Human, Social and Political Sciences for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she has been a Fellow since 2006. Her research interests include: 17th- and 18th-century history of ideas; biographical, autobiographical and life writing; the British and French Enlightenments; the French Revolution; Revolutionary Memoir; early Feminist Political Thought; and contemporary fiction in English.[22]. Scurr is the Senior Treasurer of a Cambridge-based publication, Per Capita Media. [23] [24]

Having served on the Council since 2020, Scurr became acting Chair of the Royal Society of Literature in January, 2025.[25]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Scurr, Ruth (2006). Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution. London: Chatto & Windus.
  • — (2015). John Aubrey: My Own Life. London: Chatto & Windus.
  • — (2021). Napoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows. London: Chatto & Windus.

Dissertations, theses

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  • Scurr, Ruth (2000). The social foundations of the modern republic : P.-L. Roederer's Cours d'organisation sociale (Ph.D.). University of Cambridge.

Critical studies and reviews

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  • Anon. (11 April 2015). "A man for all seasons". Books and Arts. The Economist. Vol. 415, no. 8933. pp. 74–75. Review of John Aubrey.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Dr Ruth Scurr". Gonville & Cauis. February 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  2. ^ Behr, Rafael (7 May 2006). "What a fully fledged head case". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  3. ^ Gilmour, Review by David (7 May 2006). "Liberty, Equality, Fratricide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Literary Award". FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  5. ^ "The Times Online 100 Best Books of the Decade (2000-2009) (113 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  6. ^ Lezard, Nicholas (5 April 2016). "John Aubrey: My Own Life by Ruth Scurr review – a 'diary' to rival Pepys's". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  7. ^ "The Costa category shortlists 2015 – in pictures". the Guardian. 17 November 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Simon Schama on Napoleon, the horticultural strategist". www.ft.com. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  9. ^ Irmscher, Christoph (18 June 2021). "'Napoleon' Review: The General's Garden". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  10. ^ |website=www.smh-hq.org/awards/books.html|
  11. ^ "Ruth Scurr | Search | TLS". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  12. ^ "All articles by Ruth Scurr - journalisted.com". Archived from the original on 15 March 2014.
  13. ^ "NS Library - Ruth Scurr". Archived from the original on 21 November 2006.
  14. ^ "Ruth Scurr · LRB". lrb.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Ruth Scurr". thenation.com. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Ruth Scurr". theguardian.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  17. ^ Scurr, Ruth (7 March 2014). "Book Review: 'Whistler' by Daniel e. Sutherland". Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ "Ruth Scurr | The Man Booker Prizes". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012.
  19. ^ "Ruth Scurr". The Times. 15 June 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  20. ^ "Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2007, BBC FOUR, The UK's most Prestigious non-fiction award , The UK's richest non-fiction prize". Archived from the original on 15 December 2007.
  21. ^ "The Rathbones Folio Prize | the Rathbones Folio Prize". Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Dr Ruth Scurr | Gonville & Caius". www.cai.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
  23. ^ "Per Capita Media". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Per Capita Media". Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  25. ^ Sanderson, David (18 January 2025). "Royal Society of Literature moves on from diversity and censorship row". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
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