Honorary degree citation - Linda Hutcheon
By: Bina Toledo Freiwald, June 1995
Mr. Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you Linda Hutcheon, an internationally acclaimed scholar whose outstanding contributions to the study of Twentieth-Century literature and other art forms have help shape our understanding of contemporary culture.
A Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, Linda Hutcheon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has taught at McMaster University, and held the John P. Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies at York University. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, Killam Research Fellowships, Research Awards from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Il est pratiquement impossible de rendre compte avec justesse de l'importance et de l'ampleur des réalisations de Mme Hutcheon. Au cours des quinze dernières années, elle a publié pas moins de huit livres savants (traduits en italien, en portugais, en japonais, en chinois et en coréen) et quatre monographies; elle a rédigé divers chapitres pour cinquante-six éditions critiques, dirigé la publication de cinq ouvrages, publié soixante-six articles et présenté quelque cent soixante-dix communications et conférences dont certaines, je le précise avec joie, à l'Université Concordia. Tout cela en continuant de faire avancer la profession en siégeant par exemple au comité de rédaction de diverses revues savantes au Canada et à l'étranger, en servant de lectrice conseil et en s'occupant très activement de diriger les travaux de maîtrise et de doctorat de ses étudiants.
In books such as Narcissistic Narrative, Formalism and the Freudian Aesthetic, A Theory of Parody, A Poetics of Postmodernism, The Politics of Postmodernism, and Irony's Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony, Professor Hutcheon has explored crucial aspects of 20th century culture, bringing her analysis to bear on a wide range of expressive modes, including literature, painting, architecture, and music. Always original and innovative in her approach, Linda Hutcheon has more recently collaborated with Dr. Michael Hutcheon on a study of disease, desire and death in operatic works.
Fortunately for us, moreover, Linda Hutcheon has also been a committed student of Canadian and Québec culture; her publications in this area include The Canadian Postmodern, The Politics of Representation in Canadian Art and Literature, Splitting Images: Canadian Ironies, an edited collection Other Solitudes: Canadian Multicultural Fiction, as well as translations of Québec writers Félix Leclerc and Madeleine Gagnon. This work constitutes a particularly important link with intellectual life at Concordia, and with the Department of English and its Creative Writing Programme, home to a number of prominent Canadian writers.
Toute tentative de description de Linda Hutcheon serait certes incomplète si l'on oubliait de mentionner la réelle affection que lui vouent ses collègues et ses étudiants. Son énergie, son intelligence, sa générosité et sa bonté en font pour chacun, chacune de nous une véritable source d'inspiration.
Mr. Chancellor, it is my privilege and a personal pleasure to present to you, on behalf of the Senate and by the authority of the Board of Governors, Linda Hutcheon, so that you may confer on her the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
