First Hyde Lecture by M. Lefranc

Professor Abel Lefranc, the eminent authority on the literature of the French Renaissance, delivered the first of this year's Hyde lectures on "Moliere" yesterday afternoon in the New Lecture Hall. Professor C. H. Grandgent '83 introduced the speaker.

Professor Lefranc spoke of the greatness of Moliere, whose name stands in the front rank of the world's great men of literature. Today he is more popular than ever before, both in France and elsewhere. His optimism is the trait that bears the closest resemblance to the American national character.

The growth of searching literary criticism during the last 25 years was treated at length by Professor Lefranc. Such investigation, however, should never dull aesthetic appreciation. Reconstruction of the social, political and economic structure of past literary periods by careful study of the works and of their sources is one of its chief tendencies. Other subjects of study are the great literary currents and the influence of women on Renaissance literature. Moliere was a conscious borrower. One of the most famous scenes in "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" was drawn from an obscure writer, de Bouscaille.

The most important of these channels of investigation has been in the field of the personal element. Professor Lefranc asserts, in contradiction to many critics, that Moliere's works contain this element.

The second lecture of the series will be delivered Monday afternoon at 4 o'clock.