In this entertaining and lively anthology, Jan Morris traces the history of the university from it foundation in the Middle Ages through to 1945, combining extracts from contemporary observers with her own linking commentary. Important events in the history of the University are described and
explained ( development of the college system, Magdalen's defiance of James II, Newman and the Oxford Movement), and its life and times are exalted or derided by writers ranging from Anthony Wood to Evelyn Waugh. Unworldly scholars and eccentric dons walk these pages: characters like Benjamin
Jowett, Sir Maurice Bowra and William Spooner, who ordered an undergraduate to `leave by the town drain', and coined Spoonerism.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Jan Morris lives in Wales. A renowned travel writer, her many publications include Oxford, Journeys, Destinations, The Matter of Wales, The Great Port, and Stones of Empire: The Building of the Raj (all available in Oxford Paperbacks).
Review:
`Review from previous edition an admirable book ... full of bustling Oxford life'
Times Literary Supplement
`The whole book is composed of choice quotes ... a book in which to put your thumb and pull out a plum'
Financial Times
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication date1984
- ISBN 10 0192814249
- ISBN 13 9780192814241
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages414
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Rating