Susan Edna Bassnett, FRSL (born 21 October 1945) is a translation theorist and scholar of comparative literature.
She served as pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Warwick for ten years and taught in its Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies, which closed in 2009.
She studied English and Italian at the University of Manchester, graduating with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1968.
In addition to her scholarly works, Bassnett writes poetry which was published as Exchanging Lives: Poems and Translations (2002).
Bassnett also recanted her previous stance that comparative literature is a dying subject that will slowly be replaced by translation studies.
Rather, she argues that comparative literature and translation theory continue to be relevant today if taken as modes of reading that literary critics can use to approach texts.