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Worcester: Portrait of an Oxford College
Myth and fact are not always easy to separate in Worcester's history; provoking a range of interesting, often quirky questions with even quirkier answers.
Was there really a time when the College became a training-ground for Greek Orthodox clergy from Constantinople and Antioch? True, albeit only briefly.
Was Lewis Carroll inspired to create the rabbit-hole in Alice, by seeing the tunnel into the gardens at the end of the main quad? Almost certainly false.
Did wallabies once roam the College grounds? Yes. Did Rupert Murdoch put them there? No.
This book is for anyone who wants to know why Worcester seems to create a special magic, for readers intrigued by a very unusual Oxford College, and for anyone interested in Worcester's people - from the architect and collector George Clarke, to the opium-eater Thomas de Quincey, to spymaster Masterman to the dons, the staff and the students who have enlivened the College in more recent times.
It is a rich and colorful 'portrait' of the not an academic history, but an impression of the place, its people and its customs.
Was there really a time when the College became a training-ground for Greek Orthodox clergy from Constantinople and Antioch? True, albeit only briefly.
Was Lewis Carroll inspired to create the rabbit-hole in Alice, by seeing the tunnel into the gardens at the end of the main quad? Almost certainly false.
Did wallabies once roam the College grounds? Yes. Did Rupert Murdoch put them there? No.
This book is for anyone who wants to know why Worcester seems to create a special magic, for readers intrigued by a very unusual Oxford College, and for anyone interested in Worcester's people - from the architect and collector George Clarke, to the opium-eater Thomas de Quincey, to spymaster Masterman to the dons, the staff and the students who have enlivened the College in more recent times.
It is a rich and colorful 'portrait' of the not an academic history, but an impression of the place, its people and its customs.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2014
11 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Bate
119 books130 followersJonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is an English academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism. He is also Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford and Provost of Worcester College, Oxford. A Man Booker Prize judge in 2014.
He studied at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. He has been King Alfred Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University, Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at the University of Warwick. He is married to author and biographer Paula Byrne. He has also written one novel, The Cure for Love.
He studied at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. He has been King Alfred Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University, Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at the University of Warwick. He is married to author and biographer Paula Byrne. He has also written one novel, The Cure for Love.
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