August in Oxford

I didn’t know much about Oxford before I came here in the first days of August. Some years back I have read Richard Symonds’s Oxford and Empire: The Last Lost Cause? It was good that I have found the time to go though my notes before I arrived, just to remind myself about the connection between education and high politics (in this case the empire). But we will get back to it. 

There are no students in Oxford until October, and that means that the city is almost in a state of drowsiness. Actually, university is in a state of drowsiness. The city is full of Chinese tourists. Many of them are dressed just like Harry Potter. I have grown up in a big city, and now I work in another big city. These cities are not really “concrete jungles”, but still, the change was significant. I am just not accustomed to the fact that I need 5 minutes with a bicycle to the library. And it was a blessing in disguise. If you are a student who is not navigating through a PhD-labyrinth as fast as you should, there is probably no better place to get back on the track. Libraries and reading rooms are half-abandoned, everything is close, commuting is not really the word that exists in Oxford, and that is really a perfect setting to attack the work in front of you. 

My research is going to be seriously changed after this visit, but that is not what I want to write about. I just want to write down a few thoughts about the city and the university. In so many places you can fell the desire to keep the past alive. In other words, to recreate a moment from the past. Sometimes it even seems that having tradition is a goal in itself. For example, one of the college choirs will sing particular song on a particular day in 9:06. And you ask yourself, why don’t they start in 9AM sharp? Well, for a few years, before the time measuring system was finally regulated, every city in Britain had its own time. Oxford time was 6 minutes late from London time, and so that is the reason for the whole scheme… 

Sometimes the traditions are really attractive and they slowly draw your heart into the university’s orbit. The best example for me is drawing, with a chalk-like material, of the names of rowers that competed and won a race for the their respective college. These drawings are made on a central buildings inside the colleges, and they make a double contrast. First of all, the walls of the key buildings are used as a canvas. Secondly, after a couple of years these drawings start to pale, the names of rowers from eight or nine years ago are barely visible, and that provokes the feeling of continuity, but also of the change.

Love it or hate it, you just cannot be unaffected. If the history will start the process, the architecture will do the rest.  Oxford simply provokes reaction. Whether you are appalled by the fact that Cecil Rhodes statues is still here, or you immediately run to the varsity shop to buy a t-shirt, one thing is certain, you will have an opinion. 

British Prime Minister Henry Herberth Asquith once described Balliol men as possessing "the tranquil consciousness of an effortless superiority”. That is, in a way, typical Oxford comment. Much about Oxford is about superiority. Sure, the words such as “diversity, inclusivity, et al” are quite common in the university web pages, but it is an elite place, and there is no debate about it. Percentage of students coming from private schools was in the drop during the first two thirds of the twentieth century. In the last four decades it is on the rise again. I remember a story from Tony Judt’s “Memory Chalet”, he was at Cambridge, but the story will serve the purpose. He got drunk, vomited all over his room, and cleaning lady said “I am so sorry” ten times, just because she woke him up. Yes, it was her fault. 

The university is not the only thing that is elite in Oxfordshire, the county is filled with the high-tech companies, ranging from Formula 1 manufactures to the cutting edge cancer-treatment research. Having that in mind, the fact that the Oxford voted with 70% for “remain” (highest percentage in the UK) is not really surprising. 

Visiting colleges is a big tourist attraction. I had the time to visit a few. Christ Church is definitely grandiose, and its dining hall, with the portraits of all famous students is really extraordinary. If you go there please compare the tired and mild look of Anthony Eden and “I got this” attitude of William Pitt the Younger. Sometimes the painter capture what the posterity will think. However magnificent Christ Church is, the New College (don’t be fooled by the name!) was the most pleasant experience for me. 

I feel the need to say how wonderful is the stuff of the Bodleian library, above all people working in Weston Library. They were extremely helpful, and always ready to listen my questions and dilemmas.

P.S I’ve promised to go back to the subject of Oxford and Empire, but I feel we should leave that for some other occasion. 

Magdalen College, Inner Yard

The inner walls of the New College, and the rowing drawing.