The Many Worlds of Oxford
The Many Worlds of Oxford
Exploring the city’s literary and imaginative heritage
By Nicky Schmidt
Think of Oxford and you think of dons in billowing academic gowns, boat races and gentle punting on the Thames, students hurrying to lectures and hallowed halls of learning grouped around tranquil green quadrangles. Yet Oxford, the City of Dreaming Spires (a term coined by the poet, Matthew Arnold), its skyline dominated by the towers and domes of the golden stone buildings of the University is so much more than just the university – even though, at about 900 years, that university is one of the oldest in the world.
True, the university dominates the city, gives it life, presence and even a certain magic. There is, after all, something evocative about stepping through the great wooden doorways of the colleges and leaving behind the clamour of traffic and city life. It is as though you enter another world entirely – one which is a sanctuary of tranquility and stillness where the imagination and the mind can soar.
It was this unexpected peace of a college garden awash in the golds, crimsons and yellows of autumn and the sight of a fox loping between the bushes that set me to thinking about the magical effect that Oxford has had on so many minds - from a literary perspective. As I gazed at the fox going about his business I wondered… was he real or a creature from some other world? What, after all, was a fox doing in an enclosed college garden in the middle of a city? Enchanted and captivated, my mind swung back to my favourite childhood books of fantasy and other worlds… The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll… Oxford, you see, has produced many great writers – and many books, television series and films have been set in the city.
It was while he was teaching at Christ Church that Charles Dodgson, a shy mathematics don, wrote the Alice in Wonderland stories under the pen name of Lewis Carroll. The stories began on a summer’s afternoon when Dodgson took Alice Liddell, the daughter of Dean Liddell, and her sisters on the river Thames. The journey, starting at Folly Bridge, ended five miles away in the village of Godstow and to while away time the Reverend Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. Alice’s Shop in Through the Looking Glass was based on the shop opposite Christ Church in St Aldate’s where the real-life Alice Liddell used to buy her barley sugar sweets. The shop is still there and will captivate children and adults alike. Aside from buying Alice memorabilia, visitors can still buy Alice’s favourite barley sugar sweets… yes, I did, and they were full of childhood memories.
In my meanderings through Oxford, an amble along Cornmarket Street, just off the High Street, with its wide selection of popular retailers (including department stores, boutiques and bookstores) brought me to St Giles, home of The Eagle and Child pub. It is here that the literary group most famously associated with Oxford congregated. Known as the Inklings, the leading members included CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. They and their peers, George MacDonald, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield amongst others, met regularly every Monday or Friday before lunch during the 1930’s and 40’s. There they drank and talked usually in an area at the back of the pub, which was then a private sitting room and is now known as the Rabbit Room. Although not members of the Inklings, WH Auden, TS Eliot, Dorothy L Sayers and GK Chesterton were also associated with the group. The Eagle and Child is, unsurprisingly, a visiting place for many exploring Oxford, especially those doing Tolkien “pilgrimages”. Known amongst students as the Bird and Baby, it has also been called, as one might expect in a city populated by students, as the “Bird and Brat”, the “Bird and Bastard”, or the “Fowl and Foetus”.
Other writers connected with Oxford include Evelyn Waugh, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, Vikram Seth and Plum Sykes, the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Donne, A. E. Housman and Philip Larkin, and Poets Laureate Robert Bridges, Cecil Day-Lewis and Sir John Betjeman.
Aside from being the home of many writers, Oxford has also been the setting for numerous works of fiction. The city was mentioned in fiction as early as 1400 when Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales referred to a “Clerk [student] of Oxenford”: “For him was levere have at his beddes heed/ Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,/ of Aristotle and his philosophie/ Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie”. As of 1989, more than 533 Oxford-based novels had been identified, and the number continues to rise.
In popular fiction Oxford is probably most closely associated with British author Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse books on which the 33 episode TV series was based. Set primarily in Oxford with a vintage Mark 2 Jaguar, a thirst for beer, intellectual snobbery and a penchant for Wagner, Chief Inspector Morse (played by John Thaw in the TV series) is a likeable character despite his sullen and cynical temperament. In the TV series the fictional colleges of Lonsdale and Beaumont are used but they are based on the real Brasenose College (used to represent Lonsdale), and Corpus Christi (used for Beaumont). Both fictional college names are, however, the names of real streets in Oxford. A stroll around Oxford for anyone familiar with the books and the TV series will reveal many places that are recognisable, such as the Randolph Hotel, the Carfax, the Bear Inn, the world famous Blackwell’s bookstore and the Sheldonian Theatre. As I wandered around I kept looking over my shoulder, who knows, I thought, perhaps there might be a real life Inspector Morse tailing me…
Oxford’s mystery and magic has also been revealed through Philip Pullman’s excellent His Dark Materials Trilogy. Although written for teenagers, the books have appealed equally to adults and the movie, The Golden Compass, based on the books and produced by New Line Cinema (who also produced the Lord of the Rings) is due for release in December 2007, starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman. Lyra Belacqua, the principal character is a young girl brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford and it is from here that she and her companion, Will Parry, venture out to discover a multiverse of parallel universes. Pullman’s last work featuring Lyra is simply called Lyra’s Oxford and, with a map tucked away inside the book, it provides a wonderful way for fans to spend a magical afternoon following in Lyra’s footsteps as her adventure unfolds around the city. You’d be well advised though to take along your own copy - all Oxford’s bookstores seem to be regularly out of stock – unsurprisingly!
Most famously, many scenes from the Harry Potter films have been filmed in Oxford. The Divinity School of the Bodleian Library features in the movies as the Hogwarts Sanatorium. Duke Humfrey’s Library features as the Hogwarts Library and, Christ Church College’s Dining Hall is the Hogwarts dining hall - tourism at Christ Church and to Oxford has risen by around 40% purely because of the Harry Potter movies.
Numerous books, films and TV series have created fictional colleges based on Oxford University including: Terry Pratchett’s Unseen University from his Discworld novels, Thomas Hardy’s Biblioll College in Jude the Obscure, Anthony Trolllope’s Lazarus College in Barchester Towers, Thomas Hughes’ St Ambrose College in Tom Brown at Oxford, Evelyn Waugh’s Scone College in Decline and Fall and, Elizabeth Gaskell’s All Saints College in North and South.
Acknowledging the abundant literary tradition, numerous themed walking tours can be taken in the city, including tours entitled, JRR Tolkien, Pottering in Harry’s Footsteps, Phillip Pullman, CS Lewis, the Literary Tour, Inspector Lewis (Morse’s sidekick) and most well known, the Inspector Morse Tour. And walking is certainly the best way to see the city. In fact it is probably the only way to really gain a sense of the place and the magic of other worlds that has inspired so many writers and stories – stories that only further add to the rich and varied tapestry that is Oxford. Who knows, after a visit you may be inspired to write your own story…
Resources and Information
For the visitor with more than just literary interests, Oxford is a bustling town with a cosmopolitan range of restaurants and lively pubs, a wide variety of entertainment, excellent shopping and world-famous museums. A good place to start an exploration of Oxford is at the Oxford Story in Broad Street where, through a combination of films, interactive exhibits and a 25 minute indoor ‘dark’ ride, complete with the sounds and smells of the times, takes you through the University’s 900 year history, allowing you to meet along the way, some of the writers, scientists and politicians whose careers began at Oxford.
For Official Guided Walking Tours of Oxford for individuals and families go to: http://www.oxford.gov.uk/tourism/individual-walking-tours.cfm
www.oxford.gov.uk provides a wealth of information for those planning a visit to the city.
www.multimap.com is a great reference for street maps
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/ provides virtual tours of Oxford enabling prospective visitors with a means to plan their visit to the City
Wikipedia offers a lengthy selection of books and other media associated with Oxford at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_associated_with_Oxford and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford#Oxford_in_literature_and_other_mediaNotable libraries in Oxford include:
- The Bodleian Library
- Hooke Library
- Sackler Library
- Radcliffe Science Library
Museums worth visiting include:
- Ashmolean Museum (art and history museum)
- Pitt Rivers Museum (anthropology and archaelogy museum)
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- Museum of the History of Science
Buildings and Parks worth visiting include:
- Sheldonian Theatre
- Tom Tower – the main entrance to Christ Church College – Christ Church and its beautiful meadow which runs down to the rivers Thames and Cherwell are well worth a visit.
- Radcliffe Camera – which lies at the very heart of the old university
- Carfax Tower - situated at the crossroads between High Street, St Aldates, Queen Street and Cornmarket Street, the tower affords beautiful views over the city
- University Church of St Mary the Virgin – which has been in existence since the late 13 Century. Climb the 127 stairs to the top of the spire to be afforded a classic aerial view of Radcliffe Square
- Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
- Oxford University Parks
- Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum
- Rhodes Trust, the centre of the Rhodes Scholarship
Shopping:
Cornmarket Street – offers the usual High Street range of shops
The High Street offers interesting gift shops, boutiques and antique shops.
Situated off Cornmarket Street, The Covered Market is a must visit, selling everything from fresh produce to shoes and jewelry. A must visit for chocolate lovers is Chocology for the most decadent hot chocolate around.Eating:
Good restaurants, pubs and the usual fast food outlets abound and every taste and need is catered for. http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/venues/restaurants lists number of eateries with reviews.Accommodation in the centre of Oxford does not come cheap and those traveling on a budget would be advised to look at hotels outside the city centre or for B&B accommodation – of which there is plenty.
By far the most well known hotels are the MacDonald Randolph http://www.randolph-hotel.com/ which is centrally located just off Cornmarket Street and the newer, very hip Malmaison Oxford Castle which caters for all a traveller’s needs and has been created within the walls of the old jail. http://www.malmaison-oxford.com/main.asp
The Old Bank Hotel on the High Street also offer excellent central accommodation http://www.oldbank-hotel.co.uk/
For those wanting to spoil themselves (and break the bank), Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons http://www.manoir.com is a real treat at Great Milton, some 6 kms outside Oxford.
More affordable than the above, yet also central, The MacDonald Eastgate is a comfortable three star hotel just off the High Street. http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/hotels/Eastgate_(The).htm
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Nicky Schmidt is a writer, blogging at Absolute Vanilla
