Arthur
Terry: a festschrift richly deserved |
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Estudis de llengua i literatura catalanes, XXXV, Homenatge a Arthur Terry, 1. Publicacions
de lAbadia de Montserrat, Barcelona, 1997, 276 pp., ISBN: 84-7826-894-4.
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As a great majority of international Catalanists will attest it is extremely difficult
when working in this "minority" subject to achieve the academic recognition
which is so rightfully attained by those colleagues whose research interests encompass
spheres of a more massified nature. For such appreciation to be forthcoming one either has
to be very fortunate or and this is a far more difficult proposition to
enjoy the immense investigatory stature of Arthur Terry. Indeed, what remains surprising
in this respect is that we have had to wait so long for the reward of the present festschrift
to be bestowed upon this veritable giant of the Catalan critical arena.
As Joan Veny outlines in his affectionate introductory preamble, there are few scholars
more worthy of such a homage. As is duly explained, the track record of this distinguished
intellectual is, first and foremost, without equal in the field of the defence of the
Catalan cultural identity: "Terry és un exemple de fidelitat a la nostra cultura. El
1949 ja prenia contacte amb el nostre poble i era testimoni de les vexacions i
insolències de què era objecte. Participà en reunions literàries clandestines i
col.laborà en revistes que sortosament aconseguien sortejar la censura. Va restar seduït
per un poble que havia reeixit a conservar un alt sentit de la dignitat humana i del
valor de les seves pròpies tradicions". (6) This constancy of purpose was to
continue throughout a distinguished career, including such onerous though prestigious
charges as the Secretaryship and Presidency of the Anglo-Catalan Society (the position of
Treasurer did not exist at that time) and the Presidency of the AILLC from 1982 to 1988.
Restrictions of space do not allow for any equitable synopsis of this academics
production in the critical sphere. It might best be summed up simply as awesome: not only
for the extent of the erudition but, more impressively, for its penetration and
sensitivity which has never failed to impress successive generations of students of the
work of March, Brossa, Ferrater, Foix, Manent, Maragall, Riba, Xirau, i un llarg
etcètera. Veny is also entirely correct to refer to the tutorial dimension of
Terrys magisterial office; and both these professorial aspects are elicited with
eloquence and accuracy: "els seus alumnes...guarden records inesborrables dun
mestre modèlic: oceànica erudició, profunda sensibilitat, diafanitat expositiva, humor,
suau, bondat. Una bondat que lha portat sempre a atencions desinteressades vers els
seus deixebles, britànics i catalans". (6) The only qualifier absent from this
pupilary list is, of course, the adjective "Irish". That oversight
notwithstanding, the present reviewer is pleased to endorse most sincerely and with
the authority of personal experience the sentiments described above.
As as result, it is entirely fitting that the this volume should impress with the
soundness of its scholarship reflecting the breadth of Professor Terrys
interests and the category of its contributors. Germà Colón provides an
interesting etymological study of vellós as it appears in a passage from Espill
and the philological dimension is completed with essays by Rabella, Piquer and Dols who
deal with the Greuges de Guitart Isarn, applied linguistics and phonology
repectively. As might be expected from the nature of the volume, the emphasis on literary
topics is more pronounced with the surveys by Curt Wittlin on Southeys 1807 critique
of the Tirant and Eulàlia Duran on the reception of March in the sixteenth century
proving absolutely fascinating. Though all the contributions in this sphere are worthy of
note, it would not be unfair to isolate those which deal with more specifically
"Terrian" themes as would be the essays by Gascón and Almirall on the
intimacies and intricacies of the Renaixença experience, Alpera on Sánchez
Cutillas, Madrenas and Ribera on Sindreu, and Camps on the reception of Montale by
Hispanic letters.
From the number in the title of the work it may be inferred that more volumes of the festschrift
are planned. These are only to be awaited with expectation given both the eminence of the homenatjat
and also the quality of the articles on offer in this edition.
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