1 00:00:04,050 --> 00:00:09,210 [Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.] All right. Good morning everyone. Welcome to the start of day two of the Bloomsbury Fantasy School. 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:17,159 Um, we are starting with the wonderful Carolyn Langton, who is going to give some opening remarks on the Oxford School of Fantasy. 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:22,920 And then we're going to proceed to the next two speakers for the main, um, first morning session. 4 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:34,469 So, um, thank you. So I touched a little bit on this topic in my opening remarks yesterday as to why Oxford is the home of fantasy. 5 00:00:34,470 --> 00:00:38,580 Um, it's a claim we like to make in Oxford. 6 00:00:38,610 --> 00:00:47,220 And, uh, Stuart and I have spent some years trying to promulgate this idea to the outside world and indeed, 7 00:00:47,730 --> 00:00:54,090 um, the our successful sponsorship with Bloomsbury perhaps suggests that we have had some success in this. 8 00:00:54,600 --> 00:01:06,570 So why can also make this claim? And as always in Oxford, the question that asks itself is, um, why doesn't Cambridge have a comparable tradition? 9 00:01:07,230 --> 00:01:12,810 Um, it may be because Cambridge is much more science oriented university in the last hundred years, 10 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,980 but there may be some other reasons as well, which I'll be touching on. 11 00:01:17,310 --> 00:01:26,070 So it's a long tradition from at least the mid-19th century, if we date the beginning of Oxford Fantasy from Lewis Carroll, 12 00:01:26,310 --> 00:01:32,430 who was a mathematics done at Christchurch and who composed Alice in Wonderland and 13 00:01:32,430 --> 00:01:36,840 the the follow up Alice Through the Looking Glass for the daughters of Dean little. 14 00:01:39,180 --> 00:01:47,069 There are many writers who lived, taught, studied in Oxford and who were aware of the tradition. 15 00:01:47,070 --> 00:01:54,360 And in some ways it's kind of mushrooming that although Lewis Carroll was out on his own, although Tolkien was, 16 00:01:54,690 --> 00:02:00,990 um, somebody who more or less who picked up on the tradition from William Morris, as we heard yesterday. 17 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:10,950 Um, and of course, William Morris first encountered ideas about fantasy, particularly Arthurian fantasy, while he was a student here in Oxford. 18 00:02:11,580 --> 00:02:15,840 Um, and there's more and more Oxford people began to write fantasy. 19 00:02:16,290 --> 00:02:19,800 There were more and more people for future generations to be reading. 20 00:02:20,850 --> 00:02:29,260 I also want to talk a little bit about first order and second order effects before getting on to medievalist fantasy. 21 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:43,650 So, um, does the medieval infrastructure of Oxford and the highly medieval English course, as it was up until the, I guess, about the 1950s? 22 00:02:43,980 --> 00:02:49,560 Has that had some effect in creating the the kind of buzz this is Oxford fantasy? 23 00:02:52,130 --> 00:02:56,090 Oh, I keep using this clicker, which doesn't seem to work. 24 00:02:56,090 --> 00:03:04,209 So. So first of all, we have to talk about people who studied, who taught sorry in the university. 25 00:03:04,210 --> 00:03:08,170 And I divided them up rather, um, arbitrarily in this way. 26 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,380 So we have Carol, who I'm, I've already talked about. 27 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:20,800 We have Tolkien, about whom we heard so much yesterday, including, um, his basic training as a classicist that Beth was talking about. 28 00:03:21,190 --> 00:03:31,690 And we have C.S. Lewis as well. Um, and here perhaps one of the most important things to note is Tolkiens influence on the English syllabus. 29 00:03:32,470 --> 00:03:41,230 So, um, during the course of the 1920s and 1930s, once Tolkien was firmly established in the faculty, 30 00:03:41,530 --> 00:03:49,060 there were various moves within the English faculty to introduce such startling things as modern literature. 31 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,110 And Tolkien was very clear that. 32 00:03:54,180 --> 00:04:00,810 English literature and English language study should look as much like the classics as possible. 33 00:04:01,260 --> 00:04:09,930 And that meant lots of philology, lots of language work, lots of training in the ancient forms of the language and reading of the ancient literature, 34 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:15,239 and in the sense anybody who could read could probably make their way through a modern novel. 35 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,230 So they didn't need the same kind of tuition. 36 00:04:19,830 --> 00:04:24,330 I rather doubt whether Ulysses is something you can just pick up and read like that. 37 00:04:24,660 --> 00:04:32,790 But of course, that wasn't exactly on the syllabus at that particular point, since Lewis's interests were slightly later. 38 00:04:32,790 --> 00:04:39,450 But I'm not going to say very much more about Lewis, because we're about to hear a whole lecture on him from Simon in a moment. 39 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,900 Then we have a whole slew of students and we have. 40 00:04:45,910 --> 00:04:55,630 I think this is quite an interesting phenomenon here that we have, first of all, a set of, um, older generation. 41 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:06,219 Authors Diana Wyn Jones, Susan Cooper and slightly younger Philip Pullman, all of whom studied English in Oxford, 42 00:05:06,220 --> 00:05:15,900 all of whom went through this medieval, um, course of training, and all of whom have, with the exception of Pullman. 43 00:05:15,910 --> 00:05:21,250 So both of whom, I suppose I suppose, with Diana Wyn Jones and Susan Cooper, 44 00:05:21,700 --> 00:05:29,500 have incorporated quite a lot of medieval material, particularly folklore and ballad, in their writing. 45 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:36,780 Philip Pullman, uh, was less of a medievalist and perhaps more of an early modernist. 46 00:05:36,790 --> 00:05:44,590 So the guiding principle behind his writing, if you like, is a response to Milton, at least in, um, His Dark Materials. 47 00:05:46,610 --> 00:05:50,230 Philip Pullman told me that he didn't. 48 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:55,700 He like studying English. He didn't like studying it at his particular college very much. 49 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:59,000 Unfortunately, that college was this college. 50 00:05:59,420 --> 00:06:05,209 Um, so we will not say any more about, um, Philip, this obliging remarks about his tutor, 51 00:06:05,210 --> 00:06:11,660 who is anyway no longer with us, um, but as well as this kind of little cluster of English students, 52 00:06:11,660 --> 00:06:16,520 we also had Alan Garner, who was maudlin, studying classics, at least, 53 00:06:16,820 --> 00:06:23,870 although he didn't complete his degree, and he was around the same time as Diana Wyn Jones and Susan Cooper. 54 00:06:23,870 --> 00:06:26,120 Whether their paths have a cross, I don't know. 55 00:06:26,630 --> 00:06:35,990 Um, but his interests were not shaped by the English faculty syllabus in this way, but rather by his own reading and his, 56 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:42,830 uh, his own reading, his own understanding of the landscape and traditions where he lived and still lives, 57 00:06:42,830 --> 00:06:56,960 of course, but also by this rigorous classics training which allowed him to to frame his own responses to to place within a larger literary tradition. 58 00:06:57,620 --> 00:07:06,049 But more recently, we've had a group of writers who are not studying English literature, uh, Samantha Shannon, 59 00:07:06,050 --> 00:07:12,770 who will be with us this afternoon, of course, did study English at Saint Anne's, but more recently. 60 00:07:12,770 --> 00:07:23,960 So she, I think, had a less rigorous grinding through philology and perhaps a more interesting and creative, more literary experience. 61 00:07:24,830 --> 00:07:31,580 Um, Rebecca Kwan was here a few years ago doing a master's in Contemporary Chinese Culture. 62 00:07:32,150 --> 00:07:39,650 Um, Katherine Rundell is also an English literature person, again situated somewhere between this time, 63 00:07:39,650 --> 00:07:47,270 the Wyn Jones Susan Cooper generation and, um, Samantha Shannon's generation. 64 00:07:47,270 --> 00:07:53,750 So I think she would have studied a slightly different version of the English syllabus from what we have now. 65 00:07:54,110 --> 00:07:59,990 Um, but nevertheless, rather like Philip Pullman, her interests are in the early modern period as well. 66 00:08:00,860 --> 00:08:05,120 And then we have Sarah Majorana, who we'll be hearing from this morning, two, 67 00:08:05,540 --> 00:08:12,800 who is working in global, um, studies at Saint Anthony's looking at politics and culture. 68 00:08:13,220 --> 00:08:21,410 So the kind of on group of the English faculty on the imagination of these writers is beginning to diminish. 69 00:08:21,410 --> 00:08:30,330 And perhaps that's a very good thing. So finally, I want to just turn to the question of the city itself. 70 00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:37,230 What is it about Oxford that inspires people, particularly to turn to medievalism? 71 00:08:37,710 --> 00:08:48,780 Um, Oxford still has a medieval town plan that basic cross roads centred on Carfax and with the the main roads going down the High Street, 72 00:08:48,780 --> 00:08:53,790 Carfax, Cole Market, Queen Street. It still has its city walls. 73 00:08:53,790 --> 00:08:58,680 If you go to the Turf Tavern, you'll see dividing the turf from New College. 74 00:08:58,950 --> 00:09:06,480 What remains of the medieval city walls? It has a picturesquely ruined castle up there on on the mound. 75 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:13,409 And it has. These are not necessarily medieval features, of course, but it has its rivers. 76 00:09:13,410 --> 00:09:17,230 It has the canal, it has the River Thames, it has the River cha. 77 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:26,549 Well, it has its weirs. And I think the Wiz, which represents in some ways a site where water is moving yet not moving, 78 00:09:26,550 --> 00:09:31,020 where these placid bodies of water suddenly become quite dangerous. 79 00:09:31,020 --> 00:09:36,720 You shouldn't try not ever to punt over a where, um, that's a handy tip. 80 00:09:36,870 --> 00:09:46,109 So later on this week, perhaps, um, it's full of alleyways with mysterious lighting if you walk around the Radcliffe Camera by night. 81 00:09:46,110 --> 00:09:51,149 So if you go down Cutts Street, you'll see no longer gaslights, 82 00:09:51,150 --> 00:09:59,190 but nevertheless old style lamp posts of the kind that we associate now with Louis the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe. 83 00:09:59,820 --> 00:10:08,280 It's still has cobbled streets, notoriously again run the Radcliffe Camera, but also in Merton Street, the Botanical Gardens. 84 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:17,579 Again, this is not a medieval feature, but it's something which has figured very largely in the work of Philip Pullman as a place that represents 85 00:10:17,580 --> 00:10:24,030 in little the kind of Garden of Eden in contrast to the the bustle of the modern industrial city. 86 00:10:25,030 --> 00:10:30,700 I've mentioned the canal along with the rivers, but the the canal too, is extremely important for Pullman. 87 00:10:30,700 --> 00:10:41,600 And that idea of a community that's living alongside the industrial city and the university, but a community of freethinking people. 88 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,730 If you go and walk by the canal, you'll see all the houseboats down there, 89 00:10:46,030 --> 00:10:49,510 and you'll encounter people who are not just tourists passing through there. 90 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:59,590 Some of them will be on fun barge holidays, but many of them are people who are living there for because they like that particular existence. 91 00:11:00,190 --> 00:11:03,340 And finally, we've got the expanse of Port Meadow as well. 92 00:11:03,370 --> 00:11:09,550 Um, medieval, insofar as it's been established for a thousand years, but also huge open space. 93 00:11:09,820 --> 00:11:16,150 Again, something that's, um, absolutely central to Philip Pullman's imagination. 94 00:11:16,900 --> 00:11:21,309 And so that's enough for me, I think, on Oxford. 95 00:11:21,310 --> 00:11:25,959 But I hope that at lunch time or tea time or, uh, when we finish tomorrow, 96 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:32,110 you'll have the opportunity to go out and explore it with the eyes of fantasy if it's here nowadays. 97 00:11:32,290 --> 00:11:32,830 Thank you.