Boo, Scottie, and Terrell enjoying the traditional Sunday "Carvery Lunch" in Hall at Christ Church College. This very large room is said to be the inspiration for J.K. Rowling's dining hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. But where was our messenger owl?
On our next to last day in Oxford we attended several events at the Oxford Literary Festival. Our day began with a fascinating interview of Ian McEwan (Atonement, Saturday), who was receiving the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence and was introduced as "Britain's finest novelist." This award has previously been given to the likes of Margaret Atwood, Tom Stoppard, Ted Hughes and Seamus Heany.
Ian McEwan's comments about being a writer were what Terrell most enjoyed...that one must read, and read passionately, to become a writer. And writing is not about a process, rather it is a very individual pursuit. She also loved the authors that informed his craft: James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Graham Green, Joseph Conrad, and Henry James. The three of us had very interesting conversations about many of the topics he touched on including that he is a self-described athestist and materialist and that he sees our time "here" as a gift: a brief period of conciousness. This relates well to Boo's study of Hobbes, who was also a materialist.
In between festival events, we spent time on our personal scavenger hunt around Oxford looking for the monumnet to Shelley and W.H. Auden's cottage.
Percy Bysshe Shelley Monument, University College.
According to Wikipedia, Shelley is "most famous for such classic anthology verse works as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of Anarchy, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. His major works, however, are long visionary poems which included Prometheus Unbound, Alastor, Adonaïs, The Revolt of Islam, and the unfinished The Triumph of Life."
W.H. Auden's Cottage, Christ Church.
Boo waiting to enter the "Off By Heart" Poetry Recital, a contest of elementary (8 to 11 years old) school children from across Great Britain. Kind of like a spelling bee, only poetry. Contestants all recited one poem that they had all memorized and then recited a poem of their choosing. (We now can recite Masefield's "Sea Fever," after hearing it recited many times!)
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