Reflections on Benigni's visit

When Faculty of Arts dean Dominic Fenech and his deputy Gloria Lauri-Lucente, who had masterminded bringing Roberto Benigni to Malta last month, first recommended that it would be appropriate to honour the Italian actor by bestowing on him an honorary degree in recognition of his contribution to the arts, the proposal was received somewhat coldly at first.

The question of why the University should honour Benigni seemed to have boggled some intellectuals' minds. Yet, after Senate and Council agreed, and resolved to confer an honorary doctorate in literature on Benigni, the doubtful accepted the decision. During her oration at Benigni's graduation ceremony, Lauri Lucente aptly described him as a unique artist "who enables us to suspend our disbelief and draws us into fantasy world where everything is dreadful and everything is joyous, where everything is sad and everything is funny or, as Luigi Pirandello would have put it, where everything is fable and everything is true".

By inviting Benigni as well as Prof. Robert Hollander to the University, the faculty made an impact and gave an example of what life on campus should be like. After a long spell witnessing the due attention being given to the sciences and ICT it was the right time to have a week's celebration of the humanities. The celebration brought together students and faculty members from all disciplines.

Events like Benigni's visit serve to send the right message across our University. The magnificent ceremony that was organised at the Jesuit church in Valletta, and the audience's enthusiasm at the Serata Dantesca served to show that our students appreciated the University's efforts in bringing Benigni over to Malta. The event was difficult to organise. Several University units needed to come together for the occasion to be such a great success. Rector Juanito Camilleri supported the initiative right from the beginning and went out of his way to ensure that the organisers received all the help needed to make the occasion worthy of its academic value.

There were some who were disappointed that the organisers did invite Alfred Palma, the Maltese translator of the Divina Commedia published in 1991, on the same podium as Prof. Hollander and Benigni. This feeling was clearly expressed in a letter written by Charles Magro, secretary of the Għaqda Poeti Maltin, published in last Sunday's issue of The Sunday Times.

Notwithstanding this reservation there is little doubt that Benigni's visit, especially the Serata Dantesca and Prof. Hollander's seminar on the sympathetic sinners in hell, have given a boost to the Faculty of Arts. In a festa atmosphere, Benigni brought out the Maltese people's love and appreciation of literature. Such activities will surely help to stem the decrease in the number of students who opt to specialise in Italian literature at our University.

The University has honoured a number of distinguished personalities with honorary degrees, including past rectors, prime ministers, presidents and politicians. President Emeritus and Education Minister Ugo Mifsud Bonnici was awarded an honorary degree as Doctor of Literature in 1996. Hopefully, honorary degrees will be awarded to other past education ministers Louis Galea, Michael Falzon and Evarist Bartolo for their substantial contributions to education.