The Hedgehog and the Fox
Over six hundred years ago Oxford University had its first library – in an upper room in the University church of St Mary the Virgin (now, less grandiosely, above the café in the church). Just over sixty years ago a group of people met together to form the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief – Oxfam. … Read more
A treasure shared
If you walk along Broad Street in Oxford at present you’ll come across an A-to-Z of the Bodleian’s treasures on the hoardings shrouding the New Bodleian while it undergoes its transformation. L is for Le Carré, whose characters deal in secret knowledge. (Artwork Sophie Durand) But knowledge is a funny thing. If I share my … Read more
Oxford fiction
Following on from the previous post about fiction set in Oxford, how about reading The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez? Here is an example of where the book is better than the film. This is from a review by Marcus du Sautoy in the Guardian at the time of publication: In The Oxford Murders, mathematical symbols … Read more
What price information?
We live in interesting times. In the purportedly Chinese wish this is more a curse than a blessing. Everyone who joins the Bodleian has to affirm that they won’t ‘kindle a fire in the Library’. That still holds, but now you can fire up your Kindle in it. If you can carry them all on … Read more
Oxford Fiction – A Round Up!
With the bid decision drawing close, I thought a last post to round up some great Oxford fiction would be in order as I go on holiday tomorrow for a fortnight: when I return, there won’t be long left until the verdict so some supporting information about the city in general and why we deserve … Read more
Eagle and Child and The Inklings
As a city with such a rich literary history, it is inevitable that there are countless places dotted around Oxford which boast a bookish background, some of which may not be so obvious. One of the best examples of this is the Eagle and Child pub on St Giles, meeting place for the infamous Inklings … Read more
Imagination unbound
‘Unbound’ has all sorts of nuances and can lead the imagination off in all sorts of directions – which is of course partly why we put it into our theme for the year! Our fourth strand looks at taking the book out of its pages and putting it into other media – plays, films, exhibitions, … Read more
Brideshead Revisited
Another Oxfordian classic which deals with class from a completely different perspective to Hardy’s ‘Jude the Obscure’ is Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited,’ whose upper-class protagonist, unlike Jude, did indeed have the opportunity to study at Oxford. Again weaving issues of class, marriage and religion, ‘Brideshead Revisited’ shares a further similarity with ‘Jude’ in its somewhat … Read more
Bringing reading to life
It’s brilliant to see children meet their favourite author or illustrator: it creates such a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and of course they come up with some great questions! You can immediately tell that it helps reading come alive for them. OUP children’s authors and illustrators are taking part in a series of events as part of the … Read more
