Wylie Honored

The French Government will bestow its highest civilian honor -- the Legion d'Honneur -- on Laurence W. Wylie, Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France Emeritus in recognition of his study of French culture.

"I'm very pleased and honored," Wylie said yesterday, adding, "I've spent most of my life trying to understand French behavior and it's very nice to be recognized by the French government for my efforts."

The French ambassador to the United States, Francois de Laboulaye, will present Wylie with the honor which recognizes his "outstanding studies, writings, and teachings of the last 25 years," Christine Bolzan, an attache at Boston's French Consulate, said yesterday.

She added that few foreigners--at most two or three a year receive the prestigious honor.

"He's a perfectly logical choice," Stanley H. Hoffmann, Wylie's successor as Dillon Professor of French Civilization--who received the same honor in 1976--said yesterday. "My only question is why it has taken so long--Wylie should have won it earlier," he added.

Wilga M. Rivers, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, called Wylie "a pioneer in the whole area of the scientific study of French behavior."

Wylie, who is the author of several widely acclaimed books including 'Village in the Vaucluse," attributes his love for and interest in France to his first trip to Paris in 1929.