Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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ru LAURENCE W. WYLIE MARCEL M. GUTWIRTH MICHAEL SHAW m ' MANUEL J. ASENSIO r ■ JEAN-LOUIS CURTIS ROMANCE LANGUAGES The academic year l V- iS meant for Laurence Wylie, head of Franco-Haverfordian activities the return of wanderlust or more properly e?ii ' ie de voyager and a subsequent departure for the Gallic spiritual homeland. Here, we assume, he has found a sociologically pure petit village which is destined to be an incomparably fascinating study for future generations of French 13-14 scholars. Li the interim that learning which falls under the banner of the tri-couleur is being managed by Gut- wirth, the French department ' s perennial enfant terrible. Al- though far from being an en ant, the mature use of a brilliant and warm intelligence always in evidence, he is for many aspiring French majors the cause of severe self-examination as to whether his rigorous standards can be met. Terrible in ex- actitude and terrible for those who expect to coast through a demanding and thoughtful literature course, Gutwirth is cap- able in many areas of some of the most original and yet well schoiiled thinking to be found on Haverford ' s campus. In return for M. Wylie !a Re ' publique has loaned us Jean- Louis Curtis, Prix Goncourt novelist and affable instructor here on the more recent results of French literary effort and the more ancient traditions of linguistic syntax. Often to be seen strolling down the campus boulevards in veston de sport tres tres chic and lunettes verts or pausing to discuss le mot juste in French or equally well in English, Curtis always impresses as one truly at ease with his great intellect, someone who quietly knows what existence, existential or not, is all about. Another member of riotre equipe is Michael Shaw, a Frenchman by research. Judicious observer of literature, gram- mar, students, violins, and fast automobiles, he comes to us from Swarthmore with all of that institution ' s deadly earnest. Eager to opine and most often correct, he was once reported caught in the act of smiling. Haverford promises not to hold it against him, nor to let it detract from its respect for unusual powers of analysis and criticism. 7 Jotre e ' qiiipe frangais, technically the Department of Ro- mance Languages, strives to represent fairly all peoples from La Manche to the straits of Gibraltar. As a mildly dissatisfied civil engineer in Spain, Manuel J. Asensio — our one-man Span- ish Department — dreamt of politics and teaching. After fortune granted him a taste of the former, the Spanish civil war and his own bold action brought him and his wife to Haverford to a fulfillment of the second dream. Tn a handful of years he has established Spanish House (la Casa to the natives) as a Gib- raltar-like institution in sharp contrast to la Maison Frangaise shifting will-o the-wisp fashion with every new crop of fresh- men. Through his years at Haverford, too, sound scholarship and heart-felt interest in every student have earned for Asensio the respect of everyone who comes within his ken.

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SOCIOLOGY Sociology is the most nebulous of the social sciences, and it is the one most susceptible to interpretation with a flair. Such an interpretation is given by Ira DeA. Reid. He is of impressive stature both physically and intellectually, and his eloquence at the seminar table reminds his students that he once wanted to be an actor. They are particularly impressed by his original ideas and his initiative in backing them up. For example, imagine the astonishment of last year ' s seniors when Reid asked them if, during the school year, they would like to sneak off to the Virgin Islands for a couple of weeks. Work and pleasure were combined in this particular project. Both the department and its name grew this year. Edw.ird B. Harper joined the staff to teach anthropology, and the offi- « cial title became the department of sociology and anthropology. Harper is sharing his talents (and his knowledge of the culture of the Indian subcontinent) with Bryn Mawr. John W. Smith, already a member of the French department, made a partial shift and devoted some of his teaching time to the introductory sociology course. His quick insights into problems of many varieties have gained him an outstanding reputation on campus. MUSIC No, no, no . . . Impossible! . . . Simply can t be done! This familiar plea will regale the ear of anyone brave enough to venture into the Union on a Tuesday or Thursday evening or into Goodhart on a Wednesday night, yet somehow it al- ways does get done. Even Wild Bill Reese ' s side activities do get done with the same high level of performance that char- acterize all his concerts such as the Stravinsky at Swarthmore or the Morart Concerto with Agi Jambor. Unlike his associate, and in the best artistic tradition, Alfred J. Swan remains discreetly aloof from campus politics. Indeed he is known to most of us as that man with a white beard and a boyish walk who emerges every spring to preside over the stu- dent music collection. Possessor of a cool Parisian wardrobe, English wit, Russian education, and considerable patience, he is ideally equipped to cope with that inveterate aesthete and seeker of universal truth, the student composer. IRA DE A. REID EDWARD B. HARPER JOHN W. SMITH ALFRED J. SWAN WILLIAM H. REESE

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GERMAN The C ' lcrman faculty ' s principal task involves not only in- struction in a highly formal and precise linguistic system, but also explanation of a great cultural tradition. Patient Harry Pfund 22 heads the department. With his trusty two-shirtcr attache case by his side, he astounds his students v. ' ith his perfect pronunciations and flowery script. The students who took the Faust course at his house will have reason to remember the homemade German dishes each week following class. Pfund dos not scorn the movies — especially German films. He drives a Volkswagen, which transports him to the meetings of innumerable German and literary societies. John ( ary ' 4i takes a personal interest in his students and in the larger community. His spiritual values are evidenced by his religious and ethical opinions in Meeting, his past experi- ence with German workcamps, and his active participation in campus drives (such as Spring Day) and in the Student Chris- tian Youth movement. He finds our glee club and soccer team especially satisfying sources of enjoyment. RUSSIAN Frances de Graaff, Russian teacher on joint appointment with Bryn Mawr, was born, symbolically enough, halfway be- tween the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., and can speak seven languages including her native Dutch. Patient and understanding, she makes the five-times-weekly introductory course less of a chore than it v»-ould seem from the catalog. To those unfamiliar with Cyrillic characters. Miss de GraafF can be identified by her ur.iy Opel and her trilingual spaniel, Tony. LATIN AND GREEK It is inconceivable to think of Latin and Greek at Haver- ford without feeling the sanctity of the classics embodied m the two men who govern those languages. Howard Comfort 24 tries to make Cicero sing for students despite outside distur- bances, such as rifle shots from the physics labs and the smell of formaldehyde in the halls. Behind a table of Roman potter ' Comfort sits, inhaling his umbilical pipe and hoping his stu- dents may exhume some wit from the day ' s verses, but display- ing only an enigmatical archaic smile. But at the prospect of a senior ' s mental suicide he will jump to the black tablet to eluci- date Catullus. The flamlxiyancy of Greek professor Arnold Post ' 11 in- cludes effortless ego-deflation, pioneer humor, and his famous tears over Plato. A representative of an older scholastic order. Post has a superlative faculty for synthesizing all the fields of knowledge which he has ingressed, from any language to astron- omy to the Bible. He is not at all above complimenting pupils, yet he docs not teethe them. HARRY W. PFUND •«t JOHN R. GARY %• FRANCES de GRAAFF LEVI ARNOLD POST HOWARD COMFORT