Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-19
FRENCH DRAMATIC POETRY
A Series of Interesting Lectures Oh
This Subject at Harvard Uni
yersity.

Early in January, 1898, the then president
of the Cercle Francois de lUniversite Har-
ward endowed a French lectureshfp at Cam
bridge for the purpose of bringing over from
France each year a man of letters TO lecture
before Harvard university, under the man
agement of the Cercle, in the interests OF
French art, literature and science. Inc
first series of these lectures was given IN
March of last year by M. Rene Doumic'
literary critic of the Revue des DeuX-
Mondes, whose subject was the History OF
French Romanticism," which he treated In
eight lectures.
This year the second series OF lectures
under the auspices of the Cercle is to be
delivered by NJ. EdOuard Rod. His theme
will be the History of French Dramatic
Poetry also to be treated in eight lee
lures, under the following dates and SUBJ
jects:
wednesday. March 1.-THE Origin of the
IF%r5IGay March s.-"The Struggle Between
the Regular and the Irregular Drama. The
M Monday. March 6.-"The Triumph of the
Regular Drama Britannicus,'
Wednesday, March S.-'The Religious
Friday. March 1O.-"shakespeare in
Monday, March 1s.-"The Romantic
pT Wedhes day March 15.-"The Classical
Friday. March 17.-"Contemporaneous
Dramatic Poetry. Cyrano de Bergerac'
The following sketch Of the life and works
of NJ. Rod may prove interesting reaalhg'
for he has been invited by many Of our col
leges and other organizations, as, for in
| stance, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell,
Worcester French club, Smith college,
Adelphi college and Parker institute OF
! Brooklyn, the French club OF Chicago, Will
liams college and many others, to so extend
his visit that they may have the privilege
of hearing him.
Edouard Rod was born at Nyon, near
| Geneva, in 1857. After excellent studies in
classical philology in Switzerland and IN
Germany he made his first appearance in
| French literature in 1879 by a pamphlet en-
| titled "A propos de rAssommoir," in which
he warmly and ably took the part of M.
emile lola, who was violently attacked at
that time. This was followed by several
novels, among them being such works as
Les Allemsnds a Paris" 1850 "Palmyra
Veulard" QSs1), La Chute de Miss Topsy"
QSS2), Les Protestants, cote a cote" t1SS2),
"L'Autopsie du Docteur z" GSSD and La
Femme d'Henri Vaneau' (1ss4-but by none
of these was the true personality OF the
young writer disclosed. The earliest book
to really assert the ability of M. Rod was
La Course a la Mort qSS5). At the time
Of the publication OF this book, which was
then much talked Of, M. Rod was a con-
tributor TO several papers and magazines,
besides which he had founded, with the
assistance of a few young men OF his own
age, La Revue Contemporaries" which be-
came the most important OF the mall maya
zines Of the period. Shortly thereafter
he was appointed professor of foreign
literature at the University of Geneva and
was soon given charge there of the in
s~truction in French also. While fulfilling his
functions as professor with distinction M.
Rod did not slacken his literary activity.
AS a critic he published an interesting vol
rme OF 'Etudes sur lie XIX siecle;" de la
Literature Comparee" and Les Idees Nor
ales du Temps Present'-the last named
work proving a signal for a complete intel
leetual movement. As a novelist he write. In
1886. "Titiana Leilof' and In 1855 lie Sens
de la Vie" a moral sequel to L Course
a la Mort" which was crowned by the
French academy and won for its author the
cross of the Legion OF Honor. His versa
tility is remarkable, for with apparent equal
! ease hs nrodueed such biographical works Is