Celebrated novelist and academic Howard Jacobson has been awarded an honorary degree for his life’s work and contribution to British literature – reinventing the comic novel for the modern age.
The Manchester-born academic was made a Doctor of The Open University at one of its degree ceremonies – this one in the city’s Bridgewater Hall recently.
The formal beginnings of his writing career started as an English Literature student at the University of Cambridge, followed by a teaching role at the University of Sydney before returning to Cambridge.
A role, this time at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, was the inspiration for his first novel, ‘Coming From Behind’. He has since been celebrated for his witty writing that explores themes of masculinity, sexuality, ageing and what it means to be Jewish.
His work beat stellar competition
He twice went on to win the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comedic Writing. In the awards’ inaugural year, he won for his book ‘The Mighty Waltzer’, beating off competition from Helen Fielding (‘The Edge of Reason’) and Sue Townsend (‘Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years’).
More successes followed but he is perhaps best known for ‘The Finkler Question’, which is an account of grief, friendship and identity. His latest novel is ‘What Will Survive Of Us Is Love’.
Howard, who was a columnist for the Independent, and occasionally writes for The Guardian, The Times and Tablet Magazine, said that as a teacher you never know whether you’ve accomplished anything worthwhile. “You can only hope.”
He continued:
“If teachers work in the dark never knowing for sure what good they’re doing, the same is true of writers. We hope, that’s all.
“We hope that in the questioning, ironic, and often comic exuberance of literature, readers will find a language in tune with the subtleties of the human mind and the generosity of the human heart.
“Art does not confirm what we think already but it shows how we might find our own way into unfamiliar worlds of thought and feeling. A good university such as this is will do the same.”
He said writers and teachers are alike in being sceptical of absolutes and quoted the poet John Donne’s words ‘On a huge hill truth stands.’ And he followed that with:
“We equip our pupils and our readers for a hard ascent, but we don’t tell them which hill they have to climb.”
His last words to the audience were:
“I again thank the OU for honouring me for all we have in common.”
