Frieze Lectures to reveal life and times of 'French Moderns'

The Frieze Lecture Series is a 21-year partnership between the Rock Island Public Library and Augustana College to present four talks in the fall each year featuring Augustana faculty.

This year's theme is "modern lives," in conjunction with the "French Moderns" exhibit at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.

Lectures are from 2-3 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 23 and 30, and Nov. 6 and 13, at the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th St., Community Room. Free coffee, cookies and conversation are offered after each lecture.

Speakers

Oct. 23: Dr. Emily Cranford, visiting assistant professor of French, will talk about "Ourika" by Claire, Duchess of Duras. The 1823 novel examines racial and sexual equality, and inspired the 1969 John Fowles novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman."

Oct. 31: Dr. Kiki Kosnick, assistant professor of French, will speak on Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), a French writer mainly of short stories. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians.

Nov. 6: Dr. Taddy Kalas, professor of French, will give a presentation on Emile Zola, (1840-1902), French novelist and playwright. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901-1902.

Nov. 13: Dr. Claire Kovacs, director of the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, will speak on "Our Moderns: Varlden ar liten Modern Swedish and American Works," an exhibit on view at the museum.

About the series

The Frieze Lecture Series is named for the 1903 library's frieze, an architectural feature which goes all the way around the top of the building and is engraved with the names of writers. The authors carved into the sandstone are Homer, Longfellow, Emerson, Virgil, Hugo, Shakespeare, Goethe, Burns, Dante, Hawthorne, Esaias Tegner and George Bancroft.

The late Ruth Evelyn Katz, a library board member, created the series as part of the library's 125th anniversary.

Some lectures from previous years are available on the Augustana Frieze Lecture channel.

For more information about the series, call 309-732-7323.