George Stambolian
Week of June 5, 2000

Respected by colleagues as a pioneer and man of courage, the late Wellesley College professor of French, George Stambolian, is the Wellesley Person of the Week. Stambolians academic specialties were modern French literature and contemporary American and European theater.

George Stambolian graduated from Dartmouth College, and he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. He taught French literature and interdisciplinary studies at Wellesley College from 1966 through 1991, when he retired. Of particular interest to him were Marcel Proust and the French novel of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Wellesley College named him Professor Emeritus, posthumously, in 1992.

Stambolian was a vocal and widely published advocate for the works of gay writers and photographers. He edited three "Men on Men" (New American Library, 1986, 1988 and 1990) anthologies of gay literature. In the introduction of "Men on Men 2," Stambolian wrote, "The term 'gay fiction' refers not only to an impressive body of work but to the liberation of a complex subject, and an entire community's right to free use of its imagination." He was awarded the 1991 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Anthologies, for editing "Men on Men 3."

Stambolian authored "Marcel Proust and the Creative Encounter" (1972) and co-edited "Homosexualities and French Literature" (Cornell University Press,1979) with Elaine Marks. His nominator noted that this was the "first instance of gay studies published by an academic press. This led to the validation of this area of critical inquiry, its inclusion in sessions of the Modern Language Association and other annual professional meetings and was the forerunner of today's queer studies, now fully accepted, at least by professional organizations and most literature departments, as an important field of criticism." Stambolian wrote "The Homoerotic Photograph" (Columbia University Press, 1992) with Allen Ellenzweig. Stambolian was a frequent contributor of interviews, commentaries and reviews to periodicals, including Christopher Street, New York Native and The Advocate. He played a key role in the formation of the Ferro-Grumley Foundation, which funds the Ferro-Grumley Awards for excellence and experimentation in literary fiction.

Stambolian was a founding member of Wellesley College's Ad Hoc Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns, in 1988. He served as the Chair of the Division of Gay Studies of the Modern Language Association of America.

George Stambolian died on December 22, 1991, of AIDS, at his home in New York City.

Written by Mur Wolf