The Silent Traveller in Oxford

by Yee Chiang, Chiang Yee

Looking at the city and its historic university with the curiosity and oppenness of a complete stranger. Yee paints a revealing picture of Oxford's particular atmosphere, its rituals and traditions. He mixes with undergraduates and dons, visits pubs and restaurants, witnesses Union debates and punting on the river, all with a gentle astonishment and perceptive eye for detail. First published in 1944, The Silent Traveller in Oxford evokes a wartime city of shortages and blackouts. It also captures an earlier age of university life, when students drank sherry and scaled college walls to escape prowling Bulldogs. Illustrated with the author's own sketches, engravings, and calligraphy, this book is both an atmospheric account of 1940s Oxford and a fascinating "Oriental" view of one of Britain's best-loved cities.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Art, History, British Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

See Chiang Yee.

Reviews

[Sula · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on Oxford with some gentle humour. The focus is a little too much on the nature and he quotes a little too often for my fancy. I think perhaps because of this interest in the parks and surrounds of Oxford I wonder how interesting it would be to someone who does not know the place. It is nice to have some focus on smaller details and more unusual ones though.

It is strange in some ways how much has changed and yet how much is the same. The buildings have not changed, and the views in his illustrations (sadly only reproduced in black and white) and instantly recognisable. There is still a peacock at the Trout!

He quotes from a letter to him from Sir William Milner:
'The underlying note of Oxford is her agelessness; she has grown old in body, but her spirit never changed. It is her changelessness that is the key-note of Oxford.'

However the ways of life and the people are quite different:
'I do not know why High Street is so empty on Sunday mornings nor why the 'buses should not run before twelve o'clock.'

I have read before of how quiet Oxford used to be at such times and think how nice it would be if that feeling of peace could still be found easily. For now if you want to experience that you would have to be there before 6am on a summer's morning! The stillness among the beautiful architecture makes it a very different experience, like a view of a natural landscape.

I love this beautiful image he depicts:

'In China our professional artists or craftsman used to carve large pieces of white ivory into models of famous buildings, such as the Peking Palace or the Temple of Heaven, with streets and people to the minutest detail. I have been fortunate enough to see a few of theses, and the snow-covered Oxford High, with its yellow stone, resembled one of these exquisite ivory carvings, yellowed with age. I was happy to have discovered such affinity between Oxford and Ancient China.'

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wry look at living in wartime Oxford and all the strange habits of the British. Makes you want to take time to stop and stare.

[Liz Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still think Yee's New York is the best book so far but Oxford is a good second . Boy did this man walk miles! His unique view and descriptions of Oxford are refreshing and I especially likes his Christmas Morning walk back to Oxford. He met and knew some prominent people through the colleges , ballet and Oxford society . Lord and Lady Longford ?? Who knew ! I got a bit fed up with all the nature , the poetry and references to how they would do it in China . It sounded like " when I was in the war " oh no not again ! The last chapter was dated and of its time . In today's world I found it rather silly and the way he perceived women was very pre WW11 .. I think his curtesy would have pleased but "the delicate creature who couldn't go out in the rain incase they got their hat wet " NOOOOOO . WW11 saw women taking on all kinds of men's jobs and they weren't going to go back to how things used to be after the war were they !

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1940, Chinese painter and poet Chiang Yee was living in London, but his building was bombed, and he evacuated to Oxford. This book contains various observations on Oxford and life there during the war. It's a very gentle and forgiving book, and unusually, he is more interested in the plants and wildlife that he encounters on his frequent walks in and outside the city, than in the ancient university buildings Oxford is famous for.

Even when he describes a visit to a college, what catches his attention is somewhat idiosyncratic. For example at Christ Church, he describes at length the small fountain in the middle of the quad, and pretty much ignores its art gallery, cathedral, and all of the medieval buildings. I found this very refreshing!

Some of the descriptions are a little long and repetitive, perhaps, but all in all I found the book charming.

[Zebedy Pebedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yee Chiang has a particular style of writing that I find attractive, but not very absorbing. His book is filled with beauty - the way he lays out the picturesque sceneries and people he walks by, like he's painting constantly-shifting landscapes. Language is rich, used in a somewhat strange way sometimes, which only adds to the book. Having said that, it is highly referential, frequently quoting (lovely) poems, which I found more difficult to stick with. It is a pretty book, describing a place I'll become better acquainted with very soon!

[Alison Pilkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gentle and charming like all his books that I’ve read, made more poignant as I started it just before we went to stay for a few days (as we live in Reading we normally pop over for the day and it’s amazing how much more relaxing it is when you have more time). On my return I picked the book up to finish it and the opening sentence talked about a cafe opposite the Oxford Union in St Michael’s St which was where our hotel was. Wandering round in the early morning or evenings you can still feel that the place hasn’t really changed.

[DocNora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this so much. Poetic, gentle and meandering travelogue. Paints a wonderful picture of Oxford in war time accompanied by the loveliest illustrations delicately drawn by the author himself. Having read this I hunted down and bought the other books he had written published by 'lost and found' books. Some were not available o buy in the UK and were US imports. A unique perspective indeed.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in my last week in Oxford, after almost a year of frantically pacing about between home, college and the libraries. Reading this made time stop. Despite being written in the 1940s, Chiang Yee's observations are so astute, in a manner in which the spectres of wartime Britain can almost be felt even today.

I've often thought, once something is known and experienced, it really cannot be unknown or unfelt. Likewise I've felt such an affinity with the travel narratives of Chiang Yee. To see him unrelentingly gazing at Oxford through the eyes of a Chinese man, one so proud of his heritage, drawing historical and present connections, it made me reflect a lot on how I've spent the past year.

Very beautiful, vivid and sentimental writing.

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oxford is one of my favourite places - Ifirst went when I was 10 and fell in love, not least with the museums - and Chiang Yee clearly warmed to it too fromhis first visit on. As beautiful and perceptive as all his books with some lovely cartoons of student life.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming, quietly pleasant writing and illustrations. I just wasn’t in the mood to finish it, and it’s interlibrary loan so I needed to return it instead of meandering slowly through the sections as the mood struck me.

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little gems and poetic phrases from the master of travel