Talk:Donald Keene

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I question the statement: "In 1978, Keene earned a second Ph.D (Litt.D), from Cambridge." I believe this was an honorary degree and not one that Keene earned; if I am right it should be added to the list of his eight other honorary degrees. I realize this language was taken largely from the web page of Columbia's Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and / or from some other Keene-related sources so the ambiguity is not Wikipedia's fault, but it still needs to be clarified.

In English-speaking countries Litt.D.'s are seldom earned and are almost always honorary; I have never heard of anyone else actually earning a Litt.D. from Cambridge in the past century, though I have heard of such degrees being awarded honoris causa. I also doubt that Keene would have had either the incentive or the time to pursue a second doctorate at a university in the U.K. when he was already a senior, tenured professor in the same field at a top American university and had already received the Order of the Rising Sun. What would a 56-year-old scholar in his position need or want with a second earned doctorate, and why would he devote so much time and energy to earning such a degree instead of pursuing his career? For that matter, how would be satisfy Cambridge's requirements while living and working in New York?