Oxford has a long tradition of men and women who twinned the ability to think intellectually with the ability to create literature, laying side by side the long divided capacities to be artist and thinker. Among the best-known examples are Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), mathematician and the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; JRR Tolkien, a philologist and Anglo-Saxon don who wrote the fantasy epic Lord of the Rings,; and Iris Murdoch, tutor in philosophy at St. Anne’s and the author of award-winning novels like The Sea, The Sea.Â
Perhaps these drives — the critical and the creative – are not incompatible. Over this Hilary Term, Cherwell will be interviewing Oxford’s academics who write novels, plays, and poetry. We’ll be asking about their beginnings and their current projects, whether or not they see their disciplines interacting, and how they divide their time between academic, professional and creative pursuits. We hope you find yourself inspired. Â Â
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