Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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FAR EASTERN LANGUAGES Far Eastern Languages have come into their own since January, for the boom in Japanese has more than doubled students of that language. Japanese B under Professor Reischauer has undertaken the job of teaching elementary J apanese in a half year to provide trained men for governmental agencies. Professor Serge ElisseefF, head of the Chinese directory, gives advanced courses in Japanese, as well as courses and instruction in Literature and Civilization. Chinese, centered in Boylston Hall, and aided by an extensive library, and supplemented by a number of brilliant philologists, offers a greater variety of courses including several courses on Chinese history, and political institutions. Elementary Chinese has become popular in recent years, both among concentrators in related fields and as a course for distribution. The present increase in elementary courses will soon be reflected in growing interest in advanced studies and research. FINE ARTS Fine Arts, commonly thought to be the field of dilettantes and easy-doers, presents a bewildering array of courses, general and specialized. Centering at Fogg Art Museum, the department does much to keep alive artistic endeavours in a college rapidly gone superpractical. Indicative of this tendency is the number of excellent exhibitions at the museum given during the year. When Thomas Benton, artist extraordinary to smart-setters, and Billy Rose tossed verbal tomatoes at the museum, Fogg replied by holding an exhibition of Benton ' s works. Indicative, too, is the exhibition of Picasso ' s heavy (500 pounds) geometrical and physiological black-and-white of the Spanish Civil War-Guernica. Fine Arts lb, the common undergraduate course, attempts to present by lecture and picture an understanding of the artistic principles of all t mes. Under Professor Rowland, students taking this course look at pictures, study picture cards, and view lantern slides. Courses range from Renaissance and Baroque Architecture (5a) to the new practical, and surprising X-ray technique in the study of Art History. But the real work of Fogg is done in private seminars, and in the laboratories, where Professor Holt and others repair and study canvasses, frescoes, and wood carvings. GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES This field includes the history and culture of the German peoples, as well as the teaching of the language itself. While a large 1. ones tracts Colt ridge along the mad to Xanadu {19} SERGE ELISSEEFF Prof, of Far Eastern languages J. R. WARE Assoc. Prof, of Chinese K. J. CONANT Professor of Architecture W. R. W. KOEHLER Professor of Fine Arts C. L. KUHN Assoc. Prof, of Fin - Art LEONARD OPDYCKE Assoc, Prof, of Has An- ARTHUR POPE Profassot of Plus Arti C. R. POST Williiitn l rr BoudtDM) Professor of Fine Art BENJAMIN ROWLAND Profr«»or of Fun- Art P. J. SACHS Profenm.r nf I ' iim i ( ■ W r. W. C. tUDIR Awuristn l ' r»fnm r of tirmmii TAYLOR STARCK I rofr««nr of « ■

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V R. S. HILLYER Boylston Prof, of Rhetoric, Oratory F. P. MAGOUN Prof, of Comparative Literature F. O. MATTHIESSEN Assoc. Professor of History and Literature P. G. E. MILLER Assoc. Prof, of History, Literature J. B. MUNN Professor of English K. B. MURDOCK Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature F. C. PACKARD Associate Professor of Public Speaking H. E. ROLLINS Gurney Prof, of English Literature G. E. SHERBURN Professor of English because the subjects treated maintain their importance despite fluct- uating world affairs. Hebrew, a required subject in the old days at Harvard, attracts many students from other fields. Dr. Pfeiffer and Professor Wolfson both explain the language well, and interpret books of the Bible in a modern and illuminating manner. For biblical students, and those interested in Mesopotamian archaeology, the department gives courses in Assyrian, while Arabic and the Koran under Professor Thomson draw theologians and historians. ENGLISH English, the largest, most comprehensive, and best-staffed field in the Humanities, reaches most undergraduates in some form. A splendid variety of courses are offered, covering all periods of English writing, and all branches of the English-speaking world. The linguistic aspects are stressed in Spencer ' s Forms of the Drama, courses on Old, Middle, and Chaucerian English. The courses in English and American literature range from Professor Howard Mun- ford Jones ' on the development of English literature, to Munn ' s lectures on the Bible, and discussions of translations of Proust and Mann, and the meanings in Joyce. Nor is the student limited to study of others, for he is encouraged to express himself; verbally in Professor Packard ' s courses in Public Speaking, poetically in Professor Hillyer ' s courses, and in the many prose courses in composition. Concentrators are urged to write novels, novelettes, or short stories, and may com- pete for prizes. With such a wide range for study, the individual interests , lost in smaller fields, come to light in a multitude of courses. There are more than a dozen courses on the novel, an equal number on the backgrounds of literature, a half-dozen on the linguistic background of English, a half-dozen for the creative writer. Concentrators specialize on some period or phase of literature, and write their thesis within this phase under a tutor chosen because of his familiarity with the subject. Some fields of English literature are at present gaining in popularity, as a recent trend in modernism favors the psychological writers and the more recent American and British novels. The old standbys — Shakespeare, the Bible, and Chaucer continue to hold their place. More and Hillyer analyze recent trends in poetry THEODORE SPENCER Assoc. Prof, of English B. J. WHITING Assoc. Prof, of English ■{ 18

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KARL VIETOR Professor of German Literature EDWARD BALLANTINE Associate Professor of Music A. T. DAVISON Ditson Professor of Music A. T. MERRITT Associate Professor of Music W. H. PISTON Associate Professor of Music G. W. WOODWORTH Associate Professor of Music RAPHAEL DEMOS Associate Professor of Philosophy W. E. HOCKING Alford Prof, of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity C. E. LEWIS Professor of Philosophy R. B. PERRY Pierce Professor of Philosophy number of students are enrolled in the lettered courses — German A, B, C, D, E — most of these are interested only in gaining proficiency in the language. The concentrators in German and allied fields, are found in the seminars, and advanced courses. Despite the anti-German feeling in the country, enrollment in introductory courses did not fall off as it did in the last war. Students recognized the need for a knowledge of German, while the department kept pace with sections in Military German as part of German E. MUSIC Music offers a complete selection of courses covering the history of music from early times through still living modern compos- ers, like Strawinsky and Hindemith. At the same time there are ample- provisions for the concentrators interested in composing, orchestrat- ing, or choral writing. The presence of several great musical organiza- tions in and near Harvard, as well as the Thursday recitals of the Stradivarius Quartet for Associate Professor Ballantine ' s course on the String Quartet, are of great aid to the student. Professors Ballan- tine and Piston are both noted American composers, and their in- fluence is reflected in the compositions of their students. Professor Davison ' s elementary course on the History of Music is easily one of the most popular and pleasant courses in the college. This is followed by courses on various musical periods and noted composers. Asso- ciate Professors Woodworth and Merritt share in teaching orchestra- tion, harmony, and counterpoint. PHILOSOPHY Philosophy at Harvard has come a long way since it was first taught as a required subject, along with Greek and Hebrew. The name; in Harvard Philosophy are outstanding, Demos, Hocking, Bixler, Perry, Wild, and the Dutch-born Divinity School Professor Auer. They all contribute to the fame maintained in the past by Williamjames and Santayana. Philosophy is a broad field; courses range from the General Theory of Value, to the Philosophy of Mathematics. But correlated with the general trend of the university, such courses as Problems in the Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy of the State are gaining ground over the older, better-known philosophies. Perhaps the statement in the university catalogue under Phi- Nock brings Zeus and Olympus into History of Religions W. V. O. QUINE Assoc. Prof, of Philosophy H. M. SHEFFER Professcr of Philosophy {»}