Essays in criticism : $b First and second series complete
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2025-11-16 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #77244 |
Description
"The romance of the Oxford colleges" by Francis Henry Gribble is a historical and anecdotal survey written in the early 20th century. It likely explores the origins, traditions, personalities, and architectural character of Oxford’s colleges, blending history with legend and campus lore. Readers can expect lively sketches of notable figures and episodes that shaped collegiate life, aimed at conveying the charm and continuity of Oxford. The opening of the provided text presents a prefatory defense of criticism and a call for intellectual independence, followed by an essay arguing that disinterested criticism—seeing things as they truly are—must precede and nourish great creative work. It rebukes the English tendency to subordinate ideas to immediate practical ends, contrasts this with the Continental critical spirit, and insists that criticism should avoid party battles while creating a current of fresh, true ideas. Vivid set pieces include a humorous apology to a translator, praise of Oxford’s inspiring idealism, a satirical dig at national “Philistinism,” and the stark “Wragg is in custody” juxtaposition to puncture self-satisfied rhetoric. The text distinguishes epochs of “expansion” from “concentration,” invokes Burke as a thinker who saturated politics with ideas, and critiques sensational or misconceived religious controversies while acknowledging serious attempts to reframe Gospel narratives. It then turns to the next essay’s subject: the French Academy—its Richelieu-era origins, mission to refine language, and role as a high literary tribunal setting standards—contrasted with England’s lack of such an institution and the resulting unevenness in prose, scholarship, and linguistic discipline. (This is an automatically generated summary.)