Course for G.E.

The field of Romance literature has always been scaled off from the non-specialist, more by its nature than the design of the department's officials. It is a study that demands ability to read French (or Italian or Spanish) in order to get the full benefit from French (or Italian or Spanish) writers. Courses given in English translations would attract large audiences, but many instructors in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures feel strongly that such courses would lose much of the value of literature studies. Moliere in English is still a quasi-Moliere, even in a good translation.

Yet dilution by translation is a problem for any language department and many of them offer courses in English for non-concentrators. Slavic 150 and Professor Jaeger's Greek 10 are outstanding examples: students without a working knowledge of Russian or Greek can still get a good grasp of the two cultures. This is especially important for students of literature, but unfortunately many of them are barred from Romance literatures because they lack the necessary reading knowledge.

The Romance Languages Department, however, is significantly different from other language departments. The Department is in charge of no less than four languages. A survey on the order of English 1, therefore, would be quite difficult to whip up since it would have to reject more material than other survey courses and be a good deal more general. That is partly why the Romance Languages and Literatures Department is leery of handling such a survey. The course would have a distinctly limited value for the concentrator.

General Education seems to be the most logical place for a Romance literature survey. G.E. is already offering a study in the Renaissance next year, and could proceed to a more general course in the future along the lines of either "great period" courses or simple historical surveys. The form of the study can be a subject for the sort of intelligent experimentation that General Education has conducted since its beginning. But whatever the exact pattern, non-specialists should have the chance to study Romance literatures.