French Professor Emeritus to Present Smith College's Annual Engel Lecture

The presenter for the 43rd Annual Katherine Asher Engel Lecture on Tuesday, April 3, at Smith College will be Larry Joseph, Professor Emeritus of French Language and Literature, who will speak on "Marcel Proust and 'Doctor Dieu': Letters to Samuel Pozzi." The talk, which will take place at 5 p.m. in Wright Hall Auditorium, is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.

The Engel Lectureship is granted annually to a Smith College faculty member who has made a significant contribution in his or her field.

In nominating Joseph for the honor, his colleagues Ann Leone and Mary Ellen Birkett remarked, "Larry is a model scholar in that his love for his subjects has led him repeatedly into new areasHe continually brings material from forgotten archives into the context of current literary and cultural debate."

Having earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University, Joseph taught at Smith from 1965 until his retirement last year. His scholarship has focused on 19th and 20th century French literature, including biographies of French literary figures Henri Cazalis and Catherine Pozzi. In addition, he has edited and written numerous articles for scholarly journals, including a cover story in 1999 for "Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes," a prominent journal in landscape and garden history.

The Engel lecture was established in 1958 by the National Council of Jewish Women to honor Mrs. Engel, its one-time president and a 1920 graduate of Smith College.

Contact: Marti Hobbes, mhobbes@smith.edu

March 29, 2001