Career
He was the author of many books in both French and English dealing with English literature, including A History of English Literature (1927, with Émile Legouis), Le Roman Social en Angleterre (an early study of the social novel), and The Development of English Humor (1952). Other works include The Social Impact of Dickens"s Novels, L"Humour de Shakespeare and Symbolisme et Poésie. He delivered the 1931 Andrew Language Lecture, "Andrew Language and the Maid of France".
He received honorary degrees from Oxford, Street Andrews, and Durham.
He was professor of modern English literature and civilization at the Sorbonne from 1925–1945. He supervised, among others, Raja Rao and Dragos Protopopescu in their time at the Sorbonne.
He is thanked in the preface to Ian Watt"s The Rise of the Novel.