(from The Life of Thomas Hardy, Wordsworth Literary Lives, pp. 332-33)
In 1905, the writer Thomas Hardy was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Aberdeen. In his (auto-)biography, The Life of Thomas Hardy, the April trip to north-east Scotland is remembered fondly:
"I have always observed with admiration the exceptional characteristics of this northern University, which in its fostering encouragement of mental effort seems to cast an eye over these islands that is unprejudiced, unbiased, and unsleeping."
Whilst there, Hardy stayed at Chanonry Lodge in Old Aberdeen, and enjoyed events at many of the city's grandest venues, including Marischal College. He dined one evening at the Grand Hotel, "crossing hands in 'Auld Lang Syne' with delightful people whom he had never seen before and, alas, never saw again.
"[T]he whole episode of Aberdeen, he said, was of a most pleasant and unexpected kind, and it remained with him like a romantic dream."
I wonder what the architecturally trained, honorary Doctor of Letters would make of the new library?
In 1905, the writer Thomas Hardy was awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Aberdeen. In his (auto-)biography, The Life of Thomas Hardy, the April trip to north-east Scotland is remembered fondly:
"I have always observed with admiration the exceptional characteristics of this northern University, which in its fostering encouragement of mental effort seems to cast an eye over these islands that is unprejudiced, unbiased, and unsleeping."
Whilst there, Hardy stayed at Chanonry Lodge in Old Aberdeen, and enjoyed events at many of the city's grandest venues, including Marischal College. He dined one evening at the Grand Hotel, "crossing hands in 'Auld Lang Syne' with delightful people whom he had never seen before and, alas, never saw again.
"[T]he whole episode of Aberdeen, he said, was of a most pleasant and unexpected kind, and it remained with him like a romantic dream."
I wonder what the architecturally trained, honorary Doctor of Letters would make of the new library?
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