A-G Oxford and Cambridge Writers and Literature
Lewis Caroll, John Galsworthy, Evelyn Waugh…
The English Universities of Cambridge and Oxford are famed as educational institutions. Each university boasts graduates who went on to be politicians, scientists, and, among other notable professions, writers. But taking a closer look at the writers and writings produced by the minds inspired by the environments of either Oxford or Cambridge, one has to wonder if there is a causal connection between the amount of fairytale, fantasy, and fatal fiction produced by the atmosphere of Oxbridge.
Of course, there are many prose, poetry, and plays written about alternate realities, travels through time and space, and generally bizarre situations, and perhaps, it is true that intellectuals are inclined toward the unusual. However, whether Oxford and Cambridge attract the unique mind or create a mind warped by experience, the graduates and works of the two universities can be creative.
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland
Author Lewis Caroll, christened Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, attended Christ Church, Oxford, where he later made his career as an academic in mathematics. His literature was written for the children of a colleague, and many of the characters of this book and its sequel and related stories are based on the people and places of the city and university of Oxford.
Brideshead Revisited
Written by Evelyn Waugh, who like the narrator and protagonist of Charles Ryder, attended Hertford College, Oxford, Brideshead Revisited is not considered to be among the best work of Waugh, who himself upon rereading the novel wrote that he was “appalled,” even prefacing the revised 1959 edition with explanation and criticism of his work. However, partly due to the popularity of the 1981 miniseries version, the novel, set largely in Oxford, has become a cultural ideal among students of the dreaming spires. Many of Waugh’s works contain odd and sometimes freakish situations.
Children’s Authors
Many children’s authors attended either the University of Oxford or Cambridge, but just as many are influenced by growing up or residing in one of two cities. Notable example Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind In The Willows (1908), attended school at St. Edward’s School in Oxford. He wished to attend the university, but he was unable to finance university studies.
Detectives
Oxford has been the setting for many murder mysteries and sleuth stories such as An Oxford Tragedy (1933) by John Cecil Masterman, educated at Worcester College, and Gaudy Night (1935) by Dorothy L. Sayers, graduate of Somerville College. Most famously, the recent series of Inspector Morse mysteries are set in the city of Oxford.
Entertainment and Elaboration
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge have not only been the setting or inspiration for numerous literary fiction, they have also been mentioned as a means of character description and background. For this purpose, many fictional college names have been created even by authors such as Anthony Trollope and Elizabeth Gaskell.
The universities and their fictional colleges have also been used for the sake of character or plot elaboration in the writing of television scripts for shows such as Yes, Prime Minister, To The Manor Born, and Rumpole of the Bailey.
Often such fictional colleges are authored by former students of the universities such as John Mortimer, graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford and Jonathan Lynn, graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Club is a theatrical club founded in 1883. Many former students, including Jonathan Lynn were members of the club during their time at Cambridge. More often it is known for turning-out actors and comedians, but many of its former members have also become writers.
Although Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry, who were together members of Footlights, are predominately known for their acting, they are each also notable writers. Emma Thompson, who adapted Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility into an Academy Award winning screen play, Hugh Laurie, who wrote the novel The Gun Seller, and Stephen Fry, who has written several literary works, including some set in Oxbridge, were all members of Footlights together.
Galsworthy
John Galsworthy was a novelist, today most famous for writing a series of books referred to as The Forsyte Saga (1906-1921). He was educated at New college, Oxford, and many of his fictional characters are said to have attended or being attending various colleges of Oxbridge. Most of his works challenge tradition and the ideas and values of the Victorians.
The guide continues with H-N Oxford and Cambridge Writers and Literature, including a parade of initialed authors such as A.A. Milne, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, P.G. Wodehouse, T.S. Eliot, and more…
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
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