Portraits of poets Charles Baudelaire (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right)

A Way With Words
Scholars take a look at French and American poetry translations

Illustrating the interplay and mutual influence of French and American poetry, beginning in the 19th century with the discovery of Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman by French writers, “Charting the Here of There: A French and American Dialogue in Poetry” will be on display at the Doheny Treasure Room through May 9.

The Doheny exhibition is based on the new book “Charting the Here of There: French and American Poetry in Translation 1850-2002” (Granary Press), by Bèatrice Mousli Bennett of the Department of French and Italian, and her husband, poet and translator Guy Bennett. A recent exhibition, “Review of Two Worlds: French and American Literary Magazines, 1945-2002,” at the New York Public Library, also was based on their recent publication.

In connection with the Doheny show, USC will host a conference co-sponsored by Doheny Memorial Library, the Graduate Writing Program at Otis College of Art and Design, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, with the support of the Florence Gould Foundation. Scheduled for April, the conference will bring together French and American translators, magazine editors and poets, who will discuss the connections and exchanges between French and American poetry within the context of their work.