Italian-born literature Nobelist Umberto Eco Sunday received an honorary doctorate from Lodz University in central Poland. The awarding was one of the highlights of the school\'s 70th anniversary celebrations.
At the awarding ceremony Eco was called "one of the 50 most important contemporary thinkers" and "a classic who simultaneously always embodies the avant-garde".
In his laudation Lodz University\'s professor Artur Galkowski, who piloted the awarding, reminded that besides being a world-renowned author, Eco was also an internationally-read journalist and essayist and an outstanding academic teacher.
Thanking for the distinction, Eco recalled that he has been in touch with Polish culture for many years. In this context he stressed his love of Frederic Chopin\'s music and commended the Polish philosophers Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz and Leszek Kolakowski.
To date Lodz University has awarded honorary Ph.Ds to among others former British PM Margaret Thatcher, writer Amos Oz, translator Karl Dedecius and the Polish film directors Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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