By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | June 1, 2006
One can picture him sitting there in flowing robes, smiling his warm, wry smile, as the words are read aloud before a sea of admiring graduates.
In 1998, Bates College, reaching for the highest of rhetoric, lauded him for his ``Apollonian insight into the human condition."
A decade earlier, Dartmouth College, at its 218th commencement, paid homage to him because, it said, he ``illuminated the moral questions that trouble our hearts as we seek to be worthy persons, parents, sons and daughters."
So how much are these loftily bestowed honorary degrees really worth to the man who received them, the beloved American writer and longtime Beverly resident, John Updike?
Well, not as much as you might think. Just stroll into Artists and Authors bookshop in Marblehead center, and there they are, still in their embossed cases, for sale in a stack on a glass bookshelf.
The going rate? About $750.
Also available are Updike's 1972 degree from Salem State College and his 1970 degree from Emerson College. Curiously missing, at least at this shop, is Updike's 1992 honorary degree from his alma mater, Harvard.
Thom VanHorn, the shop owner, said he bought seven of Updike's degrees about a year ago from another rare-books dealer and has sold three of them. VanHorn said that he did not bother to ask how the other dealer had acquired them, but that he had checked online to make sure they had not been stolen.
``I saw them and scooped them up," VanHorn said proudly. ``They're one-of-a-kind items."
Still, the sale raised a question: Just what do these honorary degrees actually mean to the exalted figures who receive them year after year? Updike, according to one Internet search, is the proud owner of at least a dozen honorary doctorates.
Updike could not be reached for comment yesterday, either at his house or via his publicist, Paul Bogaards at Random House, who said Updike was golfing. The author of 21 novels, Updike, now 74 years old, is preparing for the release of his 22 d, ``Terrorist."
For the colleges, the news that their prized doctorates had been put up for sale alongside old, creased paperbacks, antique cigar-box covers, and dime-store novels provoked some reflection on the nature of academic laurels. Some college officials laughed and said it's to be expected that the much-honored Updike would unload his old degrees like so much clutter. Others said it was a bit sad.
The honorary degrees are typically conferred at the recommendation of trustees or a college president and then are bestowed with the approval of the board, which reviews a candidate's credentials and contributions to society.
``Considerable thought goes into selecting these individuals, and we take the matter quite seriously," said David Rosen, a spokesman for Emerson, which granted Updike an honorary doctorate of letters. ``So I think it's kind of unfortunate that for whatever reason such an official honorary document would be put up for sale."
Bates College officials tried to take the long view.
``Yes, we gave him a degree, but to think that he or any honorary degree recipient would have to keep it for life is to miss the point," said Bill Hiss, Bates's vice president for external affairs. ``We're proud of John Updike's coming to be part of our commencement. We wanted to celebrate his work, and if 10 or 15 years later he's cleaning house, as any of us do, we would be philosophic about that."
Margo Steiner, a Salem State College spokeswoman, sounded less than shocked.
``He gets more honorary degrees than you could imagine," she said. ``I have no idea about how he feels about all these honorary degrees."
Dartmouth officials did not return a call. But the whole matter provoked some amusement. Rosen, from Emerson, noted that his college's degree was being sold alongside one from Dartmouth, and that the prices were the same.
``I will say Emerson is pleased to be in the same league as Dartmouth and those other fine institutions," he said, adding, ``You could be smug and say there are those who say honorary degrees are worthless, and this proves them wrong."
In recent years, Updike has been getting rid of keepsakes.
Two years ago, he cleaned out his barn and cellar, which were overflowing with books, and donated the goods to Manchester by the Book, a bookstore in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Some of the books had Updike's handwritten notes in the margins.
``I'm at an age when you think about lightening your load, rather than dumping it on your heirs," Updike told the Globe at the time.
A few other honors Updike has received have been circulating among dealers since that housecleaning.
Ken Lopez, a bookseller in Hadley and former president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, said that last fall he bought an honorary degree that Updike had received from Lafayette College in Easton, Penn., in 1974, as well as an arts citation from the Pennsylvania State Senate. Updike was born in Shillington, a small suburb northwest of Philadelphia.
Lopez was unwilling to fault the author. ``What are you going to do with them?" Lopez asked. ``How many of them are you going to keep on your wall?"
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