Oxford

I'm back in London for a few days, after a Northwestern loop. I was in Oxord last Tuesday and Wednesday for the conference at which I gave my paper on the influence of Wagner on E.M. Forster's novel Howard's End. It was fairly well received, but then, it was the last panel on the program, and by that time everyone is exhausted, and just wants to go home. I did get a few positive comments for revision, though.

Oxford is absolutely beautiful. I liked it even more than I'd expected. Matthew Arnold called it the "city of dreaming spires," and indeed it is somewhat magical. It has the look of a medieval university, and it was all I could do to keep from dropping everything and enrolling. My paper was at St. Peter's College, a relatively new foundation. But then, "new" is relative at a place like Oxford. Indeed, one of the things that's the hardest to wrap my head around is how OLD things are. Look! there are Roman ruins! Look! William the Conquerer built that! Don't trip on the tomb of St. Osmund, he's been dead for 900 years! It makes me aware of how young our own country is. At any rate, Oxford is a place that I'll plan on returning to. I did get to make a bit of a Cardinal Newman pilgrimage, visiting his church, St. Mary's. I saw his pulpit, and saw the altar that he served. I also saw a church that he was peripherally attached to once he converted to Roman Catholicism. Walking down the main street one night I noticed the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and noted that a high mass for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul was due to start in one minute. So I poked my head in, and found a pew. It was a magnificent church, and the mass was splendidly done in Latin. On the way out I noted that Newman had preached there and that Gerard Manley Hopkins had been the curate. Two favourites in one place!

I may spend the weekend in London before heading north to Scotland. Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11 opens here tomorrow, and I think it might be fun to see it here. More about Bath and the rest of my travels soon!