Doctors Honoris Causa

The title of “Doctor Honoris Causa” is an honorary title conferred on a leading figure in recognition of their contribution to the development of science or their services to society. It can therefore be used to highlight the excellence of a scientist in their field of expertise, or to highlight the exemplary nature of a person who stands out through their actions or influence. The FTI-EII awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to Alain van Crugten in 2011 and to Jean-François Ménard in 2017.

2011: Alain van Crugten – teacher, translator of Polish, Russian, Czech, Dutch and English authors, novelist and playwright.

At the crossroads of many cultures, a Germanist and a Slavic scholar, Alain van Crugten taught comparative literature and Slavic literature to generations of students at the Université Libre de Bruxelles for many years. He is the author of numerous scientific publications on history, literature, general translation, and literary translation more specifically, including a monograph on Witkiewicz.

A writer himself, and a translator of Russian, Polish, Czech and English authors, his talents were best recognised when his admirable French translation of Het verdriet van België, Le Chagrin des Belges by the Flemish writer Hugo Claus, was published. His scientific rigour and mastery of translation have won him numerous awards in Belgium, France, Poland, the Netherlands and the United States.

2017: Jean-François Ménard – translator of the Harry Potter saga, among others.

After starting out as an assistant director in the film and advertising industry, Jean-François Ménard now wears two hats. On the one hand, he writes books for young people such as Le Voleur de chapeaux (The Hat Thief), La Ville du désert et de l’eau (The City of Desert and Water ) and Panique chez les Bouledogre (Panic among the Bulldogs), stories in which he plays with the limits of the real world and of humanity to the delight of the children who read them and the parents who tell them.

He is also known for his talents as a translator. Sometimes he translates works that depict human beings and their plight with realism.

These include novels by American authors such as Clarence Cooper, Gil Scott-Heron and Iceberg Slim, which describe the urban America of ghettos, detention centres, drugs and prostitution. He also translates books whose worlds are bursting with fantasy and peopled with unforgettable characters, such as Roald Dahl’s The BFG, T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and Eoin Colfer‘s Artemis Fowl.

Jean-François Ménard has also translated the world-famous Harry Potter saga, which has given him another opportunity to combine his talents as a writer and translator.

Not only are J.K. Rowling’s novels characterised by fantasy and human reality, but the language of Harry Potter, a world of magic and fantasy, does not always have an equivalent in French. Behind each of the British author’s neologisms lie intentions for the psychological characterisation of her characters, drawn from a melting pot of cultural, literary, religious and folkloric references.

Jean-François Ménard has reconstructed them step-by-step, creating new words with meanings and sounds as rich as those of the original. An expert writer, always on the lookout for the right word, who strives to break down linguistic barriers.