Pratchett awarded honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin

23 December 2008 (23:11) Appearances Interviews Terry Pratchett News News Archives

Terry Pratchett, along with four other recipients, received an honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin at their Winter commencements ceremony on December 12, 2008. He and acclaimed naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough received Doctors in Letters, while astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, researcher Dame Ann Dowling, and criminologist David P. Farrington were awarded degrees in science.

Terry Pratchett gave a public interview the next day (December 13th), at which more than four hundred fifty fans–including the Trinity College Dublin Dean Of Research Dr. David Lloyd–were present. The interview, which was chaired by Lloyd, was followed by a reception.

Update: This is the introductory speech written by Professor at Dublin University Anna Chahoud, from Discworld Monthly.

DOCTOR IN LETTERS - TERRY DAVID JOHN PRATCHETT

‘I see no reason for resigning my right to that inventive freedom
that others enjoy. My subject-matter is what I have neither seen,
experienced, nor been told, what neither exists nor could
conceivably do so. I seek my readers` incredulity.’

(Lucian, True History, Praeface)

Do not wonder, my friends, if a lighter tone is about to strike your
ears; a man of surprising genius, a man of fine, pleasant and ready
wit deserves no less. The visionary humour of our honorand is out
of this world. TERENCE DAVID JOHN PRATCHETT, OBE, is the bright
companion and fearless guide of unforgettable journeys through the
boundless realm of imagination. The mission is everything but
insubstantial, for — as he sharply and seriously puts it — –
‘fantasy is about seeing the world from new directions.’ And, upon
my faith, he speaks the truth. Thirty-seven years ago The Irish
Times greeted his first novel as ‘a new dimension in imagination’:
it was the so incredible, and yet so familiar, world of The Carpet
People. A journalist during the day, on winter evenings he unveiled
The Dark Side of the Sun; working as a publicity officer for the
Central Electricity Generating Board, he amused us with Strata
(responsibility for three nuclear power stations does sharpen one’s
sense of humour). It is now twenty-five years since the charming
narrator of The Colour of Magic has introduced us to the
fantasmagoric Discworld, the kingdom of endless fun and pun; where
else would we ever want to be? Not if I had a hundred tongues could
I hope to list the wonders he has worked. When he protested, as a
schoolboy, that ‘woodwork would be more fun than Latin’, did he
foresee his sophisticated games with the Old Language? ‘I want to
get the words out of my head and into someone else’s,’ he once said
of his career, ‘the greatest number of other heads’: did he
anticipate a figure of 60 millions? The Amazing Maurice and his
Educated Rodents won him the prestigious Carnegie Medal for
Children’s Literature in 2001, and he amazed his audience at the
ceremony by eating a magically produced chocolate replica of the
gold award. We are in the presence of a wizard, whose imagination
is just as exceptionally powerful as his inspiring determination.
May the expression of your admiration be just as powerful, my
friends: it can be done, no doubt, if you give your loudest
applause.