Oxford Literary Festival

Tuesday was one of those days where I feel smug that I picked the right career path. It's 23 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky and I get to go to Oxford for the day for the Oxford Literary Festival and hear authors talk about books in the impressively beautiful Corpus Christi and Christ College. Also making it into my day: 4 bottles of water, 3 coffees, 2 apples, 1 Jamie Oliver rhubarb muffin, 1 BLT bagel, 1 quick catch-up with a school friend and some sneaky sunshine snatching.

A 6.20 start got me into Oxford at 9.15 and allowed me to have a leisurely walk from the station to the Festival. First stop: Joanne Harris of Chocolat fame joined a panel that discussed 'The End'. Is the end of a novel ever really the end? Should endings be precise or open-ended? Are sequels ever really successful, whether they are written by the original author or not? The panel referred to various classic novels from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and the sequels (and prequels in the case of Wide Sargasso Sea) that followed in more recent years. Harris felt that Death Comes to Pemberley, a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, failed Mr and Mrs Darcy - how did an inherently argumentative and opinionated couple become so calm and mundane in marriage? Hilariously, Harris revealed that she had always thought that, approaching middle-age, Elizabeth would inevitably become more and more like her mother and slowly aggravate Mr. Darcy.

Later on I saw an interesting talk on the wife on Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar. Embarrassingly I had no idea that Oscar Wilde married! Once I did, my immediate reaction was to feel sorry for a woman whose husband would later be imprisoned for homosexuality. She did, however, stand by her husband during these times, despite his imprisonment cutting off her career and social life as much as his, forcing her to take their two sons to Italy to get away from it all. She was not a softly-spoken wimp, however. She had quite the personality - an active figure (as was Oscar) in the dress reform movement, was a children's writer and very active in the politics of the time.

I won't bore you by going into much more depth but the day was full of interesting talks and people and I would definitely recommend going along for a day or even a morning if you can!