OXFORD NOVELS | Favorites of Oxford Book Club

A book in the series by
Colin Dexter (1930-2017)

March 31, 2020 — The favorite six novels listed below, based on the number of mentions in the newly formed Oxford Book Club thread on this subject as of March 29, 2020 are the following (see https://oxford.pbc.guru/t/favourite-novel-set-in-oxford/831/26); included here are only books with at least two mentions:

5 mentions – Zuleika Dobson, Max Beerbohm (1911). This is the only novel Beerbohm wrote. He admitted it wasn't really a novel, more a collection of essays stitched together with an idea. Zuleika is a femme fatale with magical qualities (like Mary Poppins), granddaughter of the head of "Judas" College (Merton, where Beerbohm was resident when at Oxford).

5 Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers (1935). Mystery set at a gaudy of "Shrewsbury" (Somerville) College, based on Sayers's own years there; her father was chaplain of Christ Church Cathedral. One of a series (tenth book) of novels based on a gentleman detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, who solves mysteries for the fun of it. In the Gaudy Night story he comes to the aid of an alumna who receives a series of hostile letters at the gaudy. https://www.novelsuspects.com/series-list/the-lord-peter-wimsey-series-books-in-order/.

3 Inspector Morse series, Colin Dexter (1975-1999). I was surprised that the Inspector Morse murder-mystery series only had three mentions... Maybe because the open-ended survey was about books, not the ITV series. Colin Dexter died in 2017 at 86 years old. https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2016/07/morse-lewis-endeavour.html

3 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis (1992). The Doomsday Book, by an American who lives in Colorado, won both the Hugo and Nebula sci-fi awards. Oxford is woven into her fantasy stories. She also wrote other time-traveling books that feature Oxford.

2 All Souls, Javier Marías. First-person narrative, reminiscences by a visiting Spanish literature scholar at an Oxford college who gets to know eccentric characters like the college lodge denizen who transports himself back to different years. He describes Oxford as preserved in syrup. He befriends a don's wife, who is indiscrete about their affair. Characters in an Oxford setting.

2 Brideshead Revisited (net of one downvote), Evelyn Waugh (1945). For those who took a relaxed attitude toward their Oxford education, this seems to have been a favorite, and the movie was gorgeous and critically acclaimed. One complaint about the book for purposes of the survey is that it was about two Oxonians but not about Oxford. What it does convey is an appreciation for an aristocratic (Catholic) lifestyle in England that was fading during and after World War II, a theme that was picked up in Downton Abbey.

I was surprised that Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials, only had one mention, since it was made into an HBO movie in November 2019. Perhaps because the movie was targeted at an American audience?

More about fictional Oxford colleges here: https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2016/07/morse-lewis-endeavour.html