PREFACE

The Lectures published in this work were delivered at Tulane University in 1887 and 1888. My aim was not to make a psychological study of the great authors of the nineteenth century, but to give in concise form a great many facts not to be found in the text-books on French literature. I hope that the extracts given and the literary analyses of several masterpieces will induce the students of French to read the works mentioned in thèse lectures ; and for this reason, I hâve dared to call the work an introduction to contemporary French Literature. Lamartine, Hugo, and de Musset are without doubt the greatest poets of our century, and de Vigny, Gautier, ^nd Coppée are distinguished both as poets and as prose writers, while Mérimée stands pre-eminent for the force, clearness, and conciseness of his style. A careful study of thèse seven great authors gives to the student a good knowledge of the French literature of the nineteenth century, and enables him to understand the works of a number of writers who hâve been the disciples of thèse masters.

The first four lectures were published in New Orléans