Acta

Approval of Graces submitted to the Regent House on 12 June 2019

The Graces submitted to the Regent House on 12 June 2019 (Reporter, 6551, 2018–19, p. 690) were approved at 4 p.m. on Friday, 21 June 2019.

Congregation of the Regent House on 19 June 2019: Honorary Degrees

A Congregation of the Regent House was held at 2.45 p.m., at which the Chancellor was present. Before the Congregation processions formed and then entered the Senate-House by the East Door. The train of the Chancellor’s robe was carried by Mr Tim Schmalz, of Sidney Sussex College.

Music was performed at the Congregation by the Cambridge University Brass Ensemble, by Mr Francis Bushell, of Robinson College, and by members of the choirs of Girton College and Selwyn College. The programme of music was arranged by the University Organist, Mr Andrew Nethsingha, of St John’s College, and the choirs were conducted by Mr Gareth Wilson, of Girton College, and Ms Sarah MacDonald, of Selwyn College.

The following titular degrees were conferred:

Doctor of Law (honoris causa)

Doreen, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, o.b.e.,
Founder and Life President of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, Chancellor of De Montfort University, champion for racial justice, police reform and strengthened community relations

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Rosemary Cramp, d.b.e., f.s.a., f.b.a.,
Professor of Archaeology Emerita in the University of Durham, sometime President of the Society of Antiquaries, the Council for British Archaeology and the Church Archaeology Society

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Jane Goodall, d.b.e., ph.d., hon. f.r.a.i.,
Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, United Nations Messenger of Peace, ethologist and conservationist

Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

Michael Levitt, ph.d., f.r.s.,
Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse and of Gonville and Caius College, Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research in the School of Medicine and sometime Professor of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Nobel Laureate, structural biologist and biophysicist

Doctor of Letters (honoris causa)

Angus Deaton, kt, m.a., ph.d., f.b.a.,
Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Presidential Professor of Economics, University of Southern California, Senior Scholar and Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus, Princeton University, Nobel Laureate, economist

Doctor of Letters (honoris causa)

Marilynne Robinson,
Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, sometime Hulsean Lecturer and Preacher, F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and Creative Writing, now Professor Emerita, University of Iowa, writer

Doctor of Music (honoris causa)

Mark Elder, kt, c.h., c.b.e., m.a.,
Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Musical Director of the Hallé Orchestra, conductor

The Orator delivered the following speeches when presenting the recipients to the Chancellor:

PRIMVM exsequendum est scelus, magistri, de quo nescio utrum facientium inhumanam immanitatem an quaerentium corruptorum ineptiam rei publicae pestem exitiosiorem debeat iudicari. quid acciderit bene, ut opinor, meministis. Stephanum quendam annos xviii natum exspectantem cum amico rhedam iuuenum manus illacessiti sed colori inuidentes pugione aggrediuntur. fugit ille; grauissimis tamen uulneribus exceptis collapsus emoritur. producuntur testes. tertium inter diem uiri quidam in suspicionem cadunt, dimidium post mensem tandem arripiuntur, arrepti statim dimittuntur: nullam enim esse rationem qua re in iudicium uocentur. causa a mortui familiaribus suscipitur. idem est. de reis alii eximuntur, alii deficiente indicio crimine liberantur.

neque est dubium quin impune fecissent homicidae nisi mater ipsa in iustitia persequenda assidue desudasset. tota uigilum metropolitanorum ratio publice recognita et de gentium odio damnata reformatur. obrogatur lex ut qui in iudicio priore insons redditus sit nouis nunc demum indiciis prolatis eiusdem criminis iterum accusetur. anno fere uicensimo quam obiit filius culpa tandem attributa sicarii duo in carcerem coniciuntur. tot per annos haec mulier operam dat ut omnibus gentibus iustitiae ratio bene seruiat, ut iuuenes iniquitatibus exerciti melioribus casibus utantur, ut omnes qui has insulas habitant amicitiae catenis firmius constringantur. quem digniorem inuenimus quae humanitatis, constantiae, dignitatis exemplo esse habeatur?

‘illud si credis,’ inquit, ‘magno in errore uersaris.’ rem enim secum reputantem nonnumquam fletum uix cohibere potuisse; quibus temporibus ideo animi firmitatem simulasse ne fili memoria omnino oblitteretur. quae quidem dubitatio tibi tollatur, domina; hoc enim pro certo affirmare possum: per operam tuam te fecisse ut dum in hac ciuitate aliquid uocis, aliquid hominibus bonis ac probis suppeditet animae, nomen Stephani tui nullo modo obliuione deleri patiamur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem admodum honorabilem, excellentissimo ordini Imperi Britannici adscriptam, Liberalitatis Stephani sui fundatricem et praesidem, Vniuersitatis Demontfortanae cancellariam, gentium assiduam propugnatricem, uigilum prudentem emendatricem, societatis humanissimam adiutricem,

DOREEN Baronissam LAWRENCE de CLARENDON,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Iure.

FIRST I must relate a heinous crime, concerning which I know not whether the monstrous hatred of the perpetrators or the corrupt ineptitude of the investigators poses the greater threat to civilised society. What took place, I am sure you all remember. A gang of youths, unprovoked and motivated by racism, attacked and stabbed eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence as he waited at a ’bus stop with a friend. He tried to escape, but his injuries were so severe that he collapsed and died. Witnesses were produced. Suspects were identified within three days, and arrested two weeks later; but they were almost immediately released: there was insufficient evidence, so it was said, to bring them to trial. Stephen’s family undertook a private prosecution. The result was the same. Charges against some of the suspects were dropped; the others were acquitted for lack of evidence.

There is no doubt that the attackers would have gone unpunished, had Doreen Lawrence not fought tirelessly for justice for her son. After a public inquiry, the Metropolitan Police Force was found guilty of institutional racism, and underwent reform. The law was changed so that someone acquitted at trial could be tried again on that charge if new evidence came to light. Finally, after twenty years, two of Stephen’s murderers were convicted and gaoled. Through so many years this woman has striven to ensure that the system of justice should serve all people, regardless of their race; that young people beset by inequalities should enjoy better chances in life; and that all those who share these islands should be bound in friendship and community. Whom could we find as a better example of humanity, constancy and dignity?

‘That would be very far from the truth,’ she replies. ‘On the outside, people think that I’ve not crumbled, but I have. I’ve had to step up to the plate, because if I hadn’t, Stephen and his legacy would be forgotten, and I don’t ever want my son to be forgotten.’ Of this you may be sure: you have seen to it that while breath and voice remain to civilised people, we shall never allow the name of Stephen Lawrence to pass into obscurity.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

DOREEN, Baroness LAWRENCE OF CLARENDON, o.b.e.,

Founder and Life President of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust,
Chancellor of De Montfort University,
champion for racial justice, police reform and strengthened community relations,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa.

‘HAEC hominum uita,’ inquit scriptor historiae ecclesiasticae, ‘ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidue praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus.’ hoc tantum, ut opinor, consentiemus, quid futurum sit quippe quod in obscuro maneat aut praetereundum aut magis mathematicisque praedicendum esse. rerum tamen gestarum memoria non omnino absconditur sed quamuis strictim ac tamquam per transennam potest aspici, cum per scriptorum orationem, tum monumentis ipsis patefacta. quibus testimoni generibus lacunosis et persaepe deficientibus, si quis rem totam cupit uidere, ambobus studere debet. nec dissentiat uenerabilis ille uir quem supra memoraui, qui de monumentorum scientia poterat dicere cum nouam quandam doctrinam, si quid certius afferret, merito sequendam uideri scripsit.

assensuram et hospitem alteram hanc nostram pro certo habeo. quam puellam uillae Romanae reliquiae quas in agris patriis ludens repperit antiquitatum cupiditate accenderant: sed otium ibi potius quam negotium se quaesituram arbitrabatur quae non Anglorum sed facinorum inuestigatrix esse uellet. nec prius in id studium incubuit unde nomen sibi comparatura fuit quam in Dunelmum ad docendum se contulit. duplici illo monasterio detecto ubi Beda historiam magnam composuerat uitam coenobitarum haec prima pellucide collustrauit. et mox non scientiae modo uerum etiam honoris callis inuios indagabat: ad professoris enim titulum est arcessita quem nulla apud Dunelmenses prius habuerat mulier. iam iam summam coronam et colophona in magnum opus plus quam xl abhinc annos inceptum positura, omnia Saxonum saxo sculpta monumenta in unum collecta recognouit, descripsit, opipare illustrauit: qui quidem libri xvi non in bibliotheca remota uiris doctissimis sunt sepositi sed per aliorum munificentiam et tuae, Cancellarie, familiae in usum publicum exhibiti proferentur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici dominam commendatricem, antiquitatis studiosorum societatis sodalem et quondam praesidem, academiae Britannicae sodalem, antiquitatum peritiae apud Dunelmenses professorem emeritam,

ROSEMARY CRAMP,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

‘THIS life of man,’ wrote the ecclesiastical historian, ‘appears for a short space; but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant.’1 This much I think we can agree: the future remains clouded in obscurity, and must be left for seers and astrologers to prophesy; but the past we may at least glimpse, albeit it dimly and as if through a screen, owing not only to the writings of historians, but also to the monuments themselves. Both types of evidence are imperfect and full of gaps, and so both must be studied by someone who desires to see the whole picture. Bede, I am sure, would agree, who could have been talking of archaeology when he wrote ‘This new discipline, if it offers any clarity, certainly seems worth pursuing.’2

Our second honorand would agree no less. She was seized by a love of antiquity when as a girl she discovered the remains of a Roman villa while playing on her family farm. But the past she thought would only be a hobby: she wanted to be a detective, not an archaeologist. Nor did she take up the study in which she would make her name until she went to Durham to teach. Here she excavated the twin abbeys of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, where Bede had written his great history, and for the first time shed light on the daily life of an Anglo-Saxon monastic community. Soon she was following untrodden paths of honour as well as of knowledge, when she became the first woman to be elected to a chair in any subject in the University of Durham. Soon she will place the coping stone on a project begun some forty years ago, having collected together into one corpus all the works of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture. Its sixteen volumes, lavishly illustrated, will not be hoarded in libraries reserved only for specialists, but thanks to the generosity of many are posted on the internet for the public’s use.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

ROSEMARY CRAMP, d.b.e., f.s.a., f.b.a.,

Professor of Archaeology Emerita in the University of Durham,
sometime President of the Society of Antiquaries,
the Council for British Archaeology,
and the Church Archaeology Society,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

GRAECORVM philosophi simiam quolibet modo homine deteriorem esse iudicabant: πίθηκος γὰρ ὁ πίθηκος κἂν χρύσεα ἔχῃ σύμβολα. uel ἀνθρώπων ὁ σοφώτατος πρὸς θεὸν πίθηκος φαίνεται. quos errauisse indicat haec mulier. ‘e puella,’ inquit, ‘feras obseruare uolebam quomodo liberae se gererent. mysteriis earum initiari cupiebam et, quoad poteram, sermonum particeps esse.’ itaque pecuniam reseruat ut in Africam iter faciat. satyrorum manum inuenit. perterriti illi initio fugiunt. haec tamen summa diligentia eos sibi gradatim conciliat (ἐν πιθήκοις enim οὖσαν δεῖ εἶναι πίθηκον) dum tribui ascita securos obseruare possit.

iam quot et quam ueteres auias nobis de pulmone reuellit!1 ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ut exemplum adducam, πάντων ζῴων μόνος ὀργανοποιός ἐστιν. quod si satyrum ramulum defractum aliquo modo demutare uidemus quo facilius formicas a tumulo ereptas manducet, quid nisi uel ἄνθρωπον uel ὄργανον denuo definiendum esse iudicamus? at licet instrumentis quibusdam utentur ut bestiolas edant; aliter uero, quippe qui simpliciore sint natura nil nisi olera prandere et cum uicinis pacem agitare. immo, nonnumquam fit ut signo belli dato tribum proximam aggressi occidant. aut ut si quis progenies debilior uideatur esse Spartiarum more morti obiciatur. aut denique ut uenatorum comitatu arcessito non apros modo uerum etiam simias uicinas deuorandas deprendant—neque id rarius et in extremam famem deducti; sed e consanguineorum carne tantam accipiunt uoluptatem ut usque ad totius gentis interitum quosdam sint uenati.

satyrorum Gombensium tam diu ab hominibus obumbratorum moribus modisque gerendi ab hac muliere expositis cum quam similes nostri et ingeniis bonis et uitiis sint uideamus, quis dubitat quin fratres sint nobis germanissimi?

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici dominam commendatricem, doctorem in philosophia, collegi Newnhamensis honoris causa sociam adscitam, Regio Anthropologiae Instituto honoris causa sodalem adscriptam, instituti sui fundatricem, ab Vnitis Nationibus ad pacem promouendam missam nuntiam, hominum simiarumque naturae scientissimam, bestiarum conseruatricem

JANE GOODALL,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

THE GREEKS were quite sure that humans are superior to the ape in every way. ‘An ape is an ape,’ they would say, ‘even dressed in golden spangles.’2 Or ‘Even the wisest man, compared with a god, seems an ape.’3 Our next honorand exposes their error. ‘My childhood dream,’ she says, ‘was to watch free, wild animals living their own, undisturbed lives. I wanted to learn things that no-one else knew, to come as close to talking to animals as I could.’ And so she saved her money and bought a ticket to Africa. She followed a troop of chimpanzees. At first, they ran way in fear, but slowly and patiently she allowed them to become used to her—‘When among apes, become like an ape’4—and gradually they accepted her so that she could observe them freely.

And what commonplace misconceptions she has done away with! Humans, for example, were believed to be the only animal to make and use tools. If then we see a chimpanzee take a stick and fashion it the better to extract ants from their nest in order to eat them, is it ‘tool’ which needs redefinition, or is it ‘human’? Well, perhaps we allow that they use simple tools to eat insects. In every other way, however, we may be sure that they are simple in nature, eating only fruit and living in peace with their neighbours. This too is wrong. It sometimes happens that they declare war and massacre a neighbouring tribe. Or that, as in ancient Sparta, a new-born in whom some weakness is perceived is left to die. Sometimes too they band together to hunt not only wild pigs, but even other kinds of monkey. Nor do they do this only when driven by extreme hunger: such a delicacy is the meat of their kin that they have hunted some to the edge of extinction.

The characters and behaviours of the Gombe River chimpanzees, hidden so long In the Shadow of Man, our honorand has at last revealed. When we see how similar they are to us, for good and for ill, who can doubt that they are our closest relatives?

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

JANE GOODALL, d.b.e., ph.d., Hon. f.r.a.i.,

Honorary Fellow of Newnham College,
founder of the Jane Goodall Institute,
United Nations Messenger of Peace,
ethologist and conservationist,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

AC principio cernantur (ita Marcus Tullius)1 quae et quam uaria genera bestiarum uel cicurum uel ferarum, qui uolucrum lapsus atque cantus, quae uita siluestrium! quod si quis acriorem oculorum uim intendere posset, non minus miraretur cum abundantiam uarietatemque cellularum e quibus corpora sint composita, tum denique longas molecularum πολυμερῶν catenas quibus cellulae contineantur, quam mirifice contortae sint et in proprias formas solidas implicatae quasi diuina quadam manu dirigente ut officio suo quaeque quam aptissime accommodata esse uideatur. sin autem ut aliquando accidit πρωτεῖον non implicatum fili simile esse pergit, siue nescio quo uitio alienam in formam inepte detorqueatur, modo uel minus uel nihil praebet utilitatis, modo ita in pestem demutatur ut aliquid nobis afferat damni. sic enim oriuntur morbi illi terribiles qui tamquam gradatim edendo mentem ipsam furtim surripiunt dum nulla quae fuit ante maneat ingeni acies.

haec omnia recognouit et mathematicorum more ad rationem reducit hic uir. imaginem ad quamuis moleculam relatam in machina computatoria construit. atomorum singularum describit situs, quo qua celeritate se moueant, quibus concursionibus inter se cohaereant. partim regulas certiores Newtonianas secutus, partim subtiliores tuas, Maximiliane, arcanasque rationes amplexus (nam beluam hanc bicipitem necesse erat domare) omnium quolibet puncto temporis motus ac modos potest praeuidere. nec mirum: mathematici enim illi praesertim nominari solebant qui sphaerarum obseruatione futura praedicere conabantur. decem fere abhinc lustra clarissimam hanc uiam ingressus est. sed intellegendi cupiditate adducto haudquaquam ei tempore consedit operis ardor. immo, ut si modo profectus sit, ‘annis his quinquaginta’ inquit ‘instrumentorum ui uastiore fructuri quam multa poterimus perficere!’

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum palmis Nobelianis coronatum, doctorem in philosophia, Regiae Societatis sodalem, Collegi Diui Petri necnon Collegi Gonuilli et Caii honoris causa socium adscitum, professorem Cahillianum ad cancrum inuestigandum apud Stanfordensis creatum et quondam compagum biologicarum conformationis professorem, artis biophysices dictae peritissimum,

MICHAEL LEVITT,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Scientiis.

‘ALL THINGS bright and beautiful! All creatures great and small!’ sang the hymnodist in praise of the wondrous richness of nature. If he were able to look with greater acuity, he would marvel no less at the abundance and variety of cells which make up our bodies, and of the long chains of molecules of which the cells in turn are composed: how cleverly they are twisted and folded into particular solid shapes, as if crafted by some artificer’s hand to be suited each for its own proper purpose. But if, as sometimes happens, a protein remains unfolded, or if by some fault it assumes the wrong shape, either its function is impaired or completely destroyed, or it becomes actively harmful. Thus arise those terrible degenerative diseases which little by little eat away at the mind until none of its former sharpness remains.

All of this our honorand recognised and reduced to a mathematical model. He builds an image of some molecule or other in his computer. He describes the positions of individual atoms, their velocities, and how they interact with one another. In part following Newton’s classical laws, in part the arcane equations of quantum mechanics (this two-headed monster, too, he had to tame) he is able to predict the position and motion of all of them at any point in time. And no wonder: for the name ‘mathematician’ used to be reserved for those who foresaw the future by the observation of spheres. He began this marvellous journey five decades ago. But driven by a thirst for understanding, his love of his work is undiminished. In fact it is as if he were just setting out: ‘During the next fifty years,’ he eagerly says, ‘computers will have a lot more power. Think what more we’ll be able to do!’

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

MICHAEL LEVITT, ph.d., f.r.s.,

Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse and of Gonville and Caius College,
Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research in the School of Medicine
and sometime Professor of Structural Biology, Stanford University,
Nobel Laureate, structural biologist and biophysicist,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

ADEST iam uir rerum oeconomicarum peritissimus qui apud nos eruditus de emptorum rationibus quaerendo laureas Nobelianas sibi comparauit. ille primus ad calculos diligenter uocauit quem ad modum pretiis omnium bonorum cum opibus suis comparatis quisque quamlibet rem aut maioris aut minoris aestimaret. contra opinionem omnium quanta pecunia in uariis rebus consumeretur, quanta uel fenore occuparetur uel in argentario recondita reseruaretur, non tam in ciuitatis uectigalibus atque erogatione quam in ciuium singulorum uindemiolis ac sumptibus positum esse uidit; quamobrem nonnumquam fieri ut si qua ruina fisco publico obtigisset, priuatorum saltem impensae finibus minus strictis reprimerentur. quantam denique pecuniam quisque cuique rei ad uitam necessariae intenderet, quae pars liberis, quae parentibus, quae iterum pueris, quae puellis deuoueretur ideo in quaestionem uocauit ut stipes melius ad bonum publicum distribuerentur.

magno in libro De paupertatis effugio de commodis inique distributis agitur: alias enim gentes aduenis benigne acceptis et ciuibus liberaliter edoctis magno cum labore e pauperibus diuites factas maximis tandem opibus redundare; aliarum ciues morbo fame egestate obsessos et ad omnium rerum maximam paupertatem redactos uitam inopem uix sustentare. per cursum longum et summis honoribus insignem eos quos penes est imperium edocuit rebus ipsis potius quam praeceptis uanis perductos efficere ut huius generis iniquitates aboleantur. nec mirum: nam ‘is sum,’ inquit, ‘qui curem ut rationibus moribusque patefactis omnium terrarum pauperes beatiore uita uti possint.’

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum, equitem auratum palmis Nobelianis coronatum, magistrum in artibus, doctorem in philosophia, academiae Britannicae sodalem, Collegi de Fitzwilliam honoris causa socium adscitum, rerum oeconomicarum apud Californienses meridionales professorem praefectorium, rerum oeconomicarum necnon rerum gentium apud Princetonenses professorem Eisenhowerianum emeritum,

ANGUS DEATON,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Litteris.

THE MAN who stands before us studied economics here in Cambridge and by analysing the behaviour of consumers won for himself a Nobel Prize. He first worked out how our demand for some particular commodity stems from a comparison of the prices of all goods with our own income. Contrary to popular opinion, he saw that how much as a society we spend and how much we save or invest depends not on the revenue and expenditure of the whole state, but on the incomes and outgoings of individual citizens; and thus he explained how if the state suffers some economic shock, the expenditure of individuals is often less severely affected than one might have expected. He devised questionnaires to ascertain how families divide their resources amongst the various necessities of life, whether more is spent on adults than on children, or more on boys than girls, the better to ensure that public money might be used for public benefit.

His book The Great Escape treats the origins of inequalities in wealth between the nations, how some through migration and the education of their citizens, and through hard work, have raised themselves from poverty to wealth and now abound in riches; but others, whose people are beset by disease and hunger and want, are reduced to extreme poverty and barely eke out a meagre living. Throughout his long and distinguished career our honorand has striven to educate those in power to be guided by data rather than emotion and assumption so that such inequalities may be eradicated; for as he says of himself, ‘I am someone who is concerned with the poor of the world and how people behave, and what gives them a good life.’

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

ANGUS DEATON, kt, m.a., ph.d., f.b.a.,

Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College,
Presidential Professor of Economics, University of Southern California,
Senior Scholar and Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus, Princeton University,
Nobel Laureate, economist,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

LIBELLO Περὶ οἰκονομίας edito haec quoque mulier famam sibi attulit. coloniam quandam rudissimam nobis monstrat lacu pernicioso praecinctam quae e rerum humanarum memoria paene excidit; in qua orbas sorores binas cum uaga matertera in domo corruenti adolescentes inter se dissidere coepisse. tribus in libris—quibus iam iam accessurum auide exspectamus quartum—uitam tuam, Iohannes, pastor Galaadensis, euerso temporum ordine enarrat. primum enim te prouectum aetate et angina paene confectum amores ac desideria nato tuo litteris mandare uidemus; deinde dissolutum amici filium domum reducem tecum reconciliatum; tum demum uxorem futuram uitam in egestate degerentem.

seu fabulas narrat seu de rebus grauioribus disceptat, in iis quaestionibus uersatur quae Ab Adamo mortuo usque ad memoriam nostram uiros sapientissimos uexant: numquis uitae nostrae propositus sit finis; quid intersit num res aliquantuli momenti sint praefinitae; num denique inter se congruere possint religionis et rationis praecepta an contumacia necessario semper repugnent. ‘morbus est,’ inquit philosophus, ‘captiuitas, ruina, ignis. nihil horum repentinum est: scimus in quam tumultuosum contubernium natura nos clauserit.’1 cui illa unum tantum ait referre, quemadmodum homines caduci periculis obuiam eamus. cum nonnullorum qui cuiuslibet rei peritiam simulantes et ad summam caueam spectantes sententias contritas iactant ineptiis, neglegentiae, importunitati obsistat, ciuitatis ecclesiaeque principum plausus meruit. attamen mi tandem dubitanti, magistri, utrum fabularum creatricem an sanctae theologiae disceptatricem uobis adducam, ‘neutram,’ inquit ipsa, ‘sed auiam Iouensem.’

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, Aulae de Clare honoris causa sociam adscitam, praelectricem quondam Hulseanam, linguae Anglicae et litteras componendi professorem Wendellianam in Vniuersitate Iouensi emeritam, fabularum mirarum creatricem,

MARILYNNE ROBINSON,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Litteris.

ECONOMICS, as you may know, is the Greek word for Housekeeping; and it was with a book with this title that our next honorand made her name. In it she shows us Fingerbone, a ‘dogged little outpost’ surrounded by a deadly lake. Here two sisters grow up and grow apart in a run-down house with their strange aunt. In three novels (the fourth is eagerly awaited) she introduces us to the town of Gilead and its preacher, the Reverend John Ames. With chronology turned on its head, first we meet him at the end of his life, recounting his loves and regrets in letters to his son; then reconciled with the prodigal son of his friend, who has at last returned Home; and finally we meet his future wife Lila, making her way as best she can.

Whether she writes fiction or more serious essays she asks the questions which have troubled philosophers from The Death of Adam to the present day. What Are We Doing Here? Is anything explained by predestination? Is faith compatible with rational, intellectual enquiry? ‘We always have a great deal to be afraid of,’ she says, ‘and those are the conditions of our existence. We are mortal, we are vulnerable. The question is: how do we respond to the fact of our vulnerability?’ By opposing the clichéd and sloppy discourse of today’s petty demagogues she has won the ear of Presidents and Archbishops. Should I then introduce her to you as a novelist or as a theologian? ‘Neither,’ she replies. ‘But as an Iowan grandmother.’

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

MARILYNNE ROBINSON,

Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall,
sometime Hulsean Lecturer and Preacher,
F. Wendell Miller Professor of English and Creative Writing, now Professor Emerita, University of Iowa,
writer,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

 

 

‘MINVTAL cum condit coquus,’ inquit qui agmen claudit, ‘immixto aromatis gustulo abstinet manum dum sapor maturescat. non aliter si quis musicam artem uult interpretari, praecepta in medullis insita sinat adolescere.’ qui iuuenis apud nos artis semina in se inseruit summa iam auctoritate in rebus musicis effloret.

theatrum nostrum cothurnatum morositate quadam diu obsessum et languore suffectum, materiae paruulo spatio circumscriptum nec nisi audientium seniorum tenui manu stipatum, hic uir multitudini patefactum recreauit et nouo uigore redintegrauit. optimo quoque opere uel rarissime audito uel nuperrime facto fabularum thesaurum exornauit. fabellas tuas, Leo Morauorum, seriatim productas quis non plausit? quis Antonini nympham Russicam, quis Orphei personam non est miratus? ludis inusitata sollertia in scaenam productis, callidissime geminatis, uel—medius fidius!—Anglice redditis, huius generis acroama ad auidam iuuenum cateruam introduxit. nunc uiginti fere annis symphoniam Halleianam quam non modo pecunia uerum etiam arte deficiente inuenit ad pristinam gloriam reductam et in medio populo Mancuniensium collocatam eadem ratione dirigit. οὐδὲν γὰρ ὄφελος ἀφανοῦς τῆς μουσικῆς.

hominum musicorum hanc esse nationem gloriatur (mi igitur miserere, domine, qui asini similis λύρας ἀκούω κινῶν τὰ ὦτα): cuius rei numquam obliuiscamur censet. quod si nos amicitia coniungere possit Polyhymnia, sodalium manibus interscisis apud singulos potestatem eius labefactatam extenuari. quare hoc in primis referre, ne haec qua nunc fruamur sententiarum dulcissima permutatio et hominum liberrima consociatio umquam deleantur. tum enim Musas maxime colendas esse cum maximis iniquitatibus exerceamur.

dignissime domine, Domine Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum, equitem auratum, inter comites honoratissimos adscriptum, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici commendatorem, magistrum in artibus, Collegi Corporis Christi honoris causa socium adscitum, Consortionis Halleianae rectorem, mesochorum,

MARK ELDER,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Doctoris in Musica.

WHEN you make a chilli con carne, says our final honorand, you stir in a pinch of spice and let it sit: ‘We have to do that, too, with interpreting music. The greatest music needs to live inside us. It needs to marinate.’ Having started the marinade when he studied here in Cambridge, he has become one of the most influential musicians in our national life.

When he took over the English National Opera, it had languished for many years in a staid, old-fashioned rut, its material unadventurous, its audience small and ageing. He gave it new life; he brought it to the people. To its tired repertoire he added all the greatest works, some rarely hitherto performed, others newly written: a complete cycle of Janáček, for example, Dvořak’s Rusalka, and Birtwistle’s Mask of Orpheus. Witty settings and clever double bills and even performances in translation brought the enjoyment of opera to a younger, enthusiastic audience. For the past twenty years he has worked similar magic on the Hallé Orchestra. Once nearly bankrupt, it has under his direction been restored to its former glory and to its place in the heart of its community. For what use is music, if it goes unheard?

‘We are a great musical nation,’ he boasts. ‘We must not lose this.’ (Forgive your Orator, who has all the musical talent of the ass which twitches its ears to a good tune.) But if music can unite us in friendship, he warns, since its power is diminished by borders and division, it is vital that the free exchange of ideas and people is not lost. For when times are hard, it is then that we need music the most.

Distinguished Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

MARK ELDER, kt, c.h., c.b.e., m.a.,

Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College,
Musical Director of the Hallé Orchestra,
conductor,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa.

E. M. C. RAMPTON, Registrary

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE ‘REPORTER’