The Summer School is being held at Merton, one of the constituent Colleges of the University of Oxford, by courtesy of the Warden and Fellows of the College.

The College is situated in the center of the city, and has buildings varying in date from the thirteenth century to the late twentieth century. The College, therefore, provides all that is needed in the way of accommodations for living and studying in the same place. Housing varies as to age, size, location and condition and is assigned at random.

Students at the Summer School will be accommodated in the College and will be assigned single rooms. Rooms vary in size and location and will be assigned by the College. Baths and toilets are "down the hall" and are shared by two to four students.

A limited number of rooms with private bathrooms are available for a supplementary fee of $400. You may indicate your preference for one of these rooms on your Accommodation form. These rooms will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Most of these rooms are designed to accommodate one person only; a limited number could be occupied by two people traveling together. (Please note that due to the configuration of the ensuite rooms, couples will still be assigned two twin beds rather than one double bed.) If two students elect to share a room with a private bath, they will be charged one supplementary fee. Supplementary fees will be payable with the balance of the program fee by March 31, 2000.

If you have any other preferences or special health requirements with regards to housing, please let us know in advance so we can make the most convenient arrangements possible. There are no elevators in Merton College.

There are no family accommodations at Merton College. If you are accompanied by family members who are not in the program, they must make their own arrangements. A list of hotels and lodging houses in Oxford can be supplied; please let us know if you would like a copy.

All meals are taken in Hall, in Merton College. Full board consists of breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Vegetarian meals will be provided to those who indicate this preference at the start of the program. Lunch is an informal meal, with self-service. Dinner is a formal meal Mondays through Thursdays, for which students are asked to be punctual. Men are requested to wear a jacket and tie, women a dress, suit, skirt and blouse, or pantsuit. Dinner will be preceded by a short grace (for which it is customary to stand), and there will be a waiter/waitress service. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, dinner is informal, with self- service. In accordance with the normal practice of the colleges, members of the staff of the School will dine in Hall at High Table; each evening they will invite a few students to join them and to have sherry with them beforehand. During the course of the School every student will receive such an invitation.

-------------------------------

The Summer School is a serious academic program, and students are accepted on the understanding that their purpose in coming to Oxford is to make use of the opportunities for study and learning which the Summer School offers. As with other educational programs, what a student gets out of it will depend upon what he/she puts into it, and effective participation in the academic work of the School is essential. It is assumed that students will have prepared for the seminar which they have joined. Changes of seminar are not normally possible and residence in College is only possible for those taking part in the academic program.

But a serious academic program does not have to be solemn. There will be ample scope for students to arrange, for example, weekend visits to places of interest, and informal social activities at other times, as well as joining in the social events planned as part of the Summer School. There is a wide range of cultural opportunities in the city of Oxford, including theaters cinemas, art galleries, concerts, etc.

The foregoing information has been provided at this stage to help you in making your plans. Further details will be provided for each participant on arrival at Merton College. However, if you have any questions about the Summer School, please write or call us.

-------------------------------

The opportunity of studying what writers have said about writing and then participating in practical exercises that derive from exposure to these ideas will give you, working in a small group, the chance to tune your own creative instruments, improve your facility with language, and also sharpen your critical responses to texts.

We will work in as many different genres as possible: prose, drama, poetry, and song, studying the comments of writers who work in these different media and doing exercises in order to develop the fluidity in the habit of writing. The different characteristics and requirements of the respective media will be considered.

While the texts studied will provide a basis for discussion and comment, the course will be intensely practical, with the opportunity for you to submit yourself to imposed exercises as well as having scope for developing individual projects.

Some of these texts may prove difficult to obtain. If so, don’t worry, you should have plenty of opportunity during your time in Oxford to read any that you have been unable to find.

Apart from the reading matter on the list, it would be useful to read anything that you can get your hands on about writing that has been written by a writer – for example: a preface by Henry James to any of his novels that you may have happened to read. It should be noted that our class focus will be on British writers or on writers who wrote in Britain.

• John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera (Penguin, 1986)
• Joan Littlewood & Theatre Workshop, Oh What A Lovely War (Methuen, 1985)
• Peter Brook et al, US (Calder & Boyars, 1968) This may be very difficult to find but is available in Oxford at the Rewley House Library.
• Caryl Churchill, Mad Forest (Methuen, 1990) y
• Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, Assassins (Theater Communications Group Inc., 1991)

• W.H. Auden, "Making, Knowing and Judging" and "The Poet and the City" in The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays (Faber, 1963)
• T.S. Eliot, "Reflections on vers libre" and "Tradition and the Individual Talent" from Selected
• Prose of T.S. Eliot, ed. Kermode (Faber, 1975)
• Twentieth Century Poetry, ed. Martin and Furbank (Open University, 1975) Essays of particular interest are:

Dylan Thomas, "Notes on the Art of Poetry"

W.B. Yeats, "A General Introduction for My Work"

• Virginia Woolf, A Writer’s Diary (Hogarth Press, 1975)
• Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (Penguin, 1945)
• John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel

• Author! Author!, ed. Richard Findlater (Faber, 1984)
• The Poets and the Critics, ed. Hugh Sykes Davies (Hutchinson, 1960) Read the poets on poets rather than the critics.
• Borges on Writing ed di Giovanni, Halpern, and MacShane ~
• Novelists on Novelists, ed. David Dowling (Macmillan, 1983) ~
• Filmakers Speak, ed. Jay Leyda (Da Capo, 1977) Particularly the comments of writers or directors who have written screenplays.

Any book that discusses poetic form such as The Poet’s Manual and Rhyming Dictionary, Frances Stillman (Thames and Hudson, 1966).

If any book in the General Reading list is difficult to find, don’t worry, as we will only be concerned with extracts from each book and photocopies will be available for classwork.

We shall also be considering the comments of more recent prose writers and dramatists during the course, as well as older writers such as Spenser, Jonson, Keats and Hardy.

You should bring with you a short passage of what you consider to be a bad piece of published writing. Also bring a poem that you enjoy, the form of which you would like to try to imitate during your time in Oxford (or a song selected for the same purpose). In the case of a song, it would be useful if you also brought a Walkman and a recording of the song chosen.

Because of the practical nature of the course, students should be prepared to work very hard during their stay. While there will be many exercises of a short nature in each class there will also be a longer project which may be either of a group or individual nature according to the wishes of the group.

Jonathan Miles, D. Phil, Tutor and Lecturer, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford

25 rue des Ecouffes

Paris 75004

E-mail: [email protected]