Studying at Oxford was one of those things I put into a metaphorical box marked, Secret Dreams and Ambitions. Now, I find myself at Exeter College Oxford, nearing the end of a three-week creative writing summer school, in a city brimming with literary history.
The question was asked on our first day, ‘Is it Oxford that makes the writer, or the writer that makes Oxford?’
Oxford, a city brimming with literary history, is the perfect place for a writer to absorb the spirit of the Writer. There are colleges where writers past have written, studied and lived. Historic architecture, beautiful rivers and parks, significant literary sites and Oxford Dons striding along Broad Street in full academic regalia all contribute to an atmosphere conducive to inspiring one to write.
I’ve walked the streets where poets, playwrights and novelists, whose books I’ve read and revere, once walked. Has any of this rubbed off? As I’ve been writing my assignments have the spirits of Tolkien and Lewis spoken to me?
Well, I’ve lingered in the Eagle and Child, the famous hangout of the Inklings which included the likes of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. I’m living in the famous Exeter College where JRR Tolkien first conceived some of the ideas that were to become The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
I’ve sipped champagne cocktails in the Randolph Hotel and imagined Colin Dexter dreaming up Inspector Morse.
I’ve seen the door outside University Church, nicknamed the Narnia Door.The heavy wooden door has a carving resembling a wise lion, which could be Aslan.
I peeked into the secret door in Exeter Hall that is referenced in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and, like Alice, I have believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
I have waxed lyrical like Gerald Manly Hopkins and dived into a Brave New World like Aldous Huxley as I pursued my writerly dreams.
I have two more days to soak up the inspiration of Oxford and writers past. Is it Oxford itself that produced their genius or was their genius released in Oxford? I’d say it is both. What we, the participants of the summer school, are hoping is that our own particular genius is released as we fly home.
I’ll let you know what transpires.
