We are getting used to terms like no other before, and the final term was another endurance test: disappointment that not all students were able to return at the start of term, and huge relief that in the final weeks, it was possible to return to some personal contact, whether tutorials in gardens, or meetings with graduates during a walk around the Parks. It was a delight to welcome the French Ambassador, H.E. Madame Catherine Colonna, to Oxford last week who presented the ‘Ordre des Plames Académiques’ to Catriona Seth for her scholarly distinction as well as her engagement as a committed European.
As finalists gather up their belongings and prepare to start on the next stage of their lives—during which we hope they will be frequent visitors back to Oxford—we bid farewell to several of our colleagues who will have taught many of you. We wish Julie Curtis and Ela Tandello all the best for their retirement, Juan-Carlos Conde for his new research position in Spain, we congratulate Trinity College, Cambridge, on recruiting Catriona Kelly as a Senior Research Fellow, and we bid farewell to our last ever Taylor Chair of German, Ritchie Robertson. You can read an account of Julie’s valedictory by Pany Xenophontos, one of our doctoral students. We will have more on Ela and Ritchie’s lectures in the next issue. Before Ritchie retired, we put him to work as a contributor to tell us about the history of the post he has occupied with such distinction and we express our heartfelt thanks to the Dieter Schwarz foundation for endowing the Professorship in German which will henceforth be known as the Schwarz-Taylor Chair.
Once again we invite you to travel virtually. A distinguished alumna, journalist Bridget Kendall, now the Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, reflects on her time at Oxford, her friendship with Julie Curtis, and where studying a language like Russian has taken them both. Despite the pandemic many of our Year Abroad students have continued to enjoy the opportunities offered to them. Rhys Appleyard has made the most of his time on the continent, meeting people, visiting places and experiencing the Spanish way of life. Experience or experiencia as a characteristic of early-modern science is at the centre of Javaria Abbasi’s thoughts as she takes us on a journey in the company of a cartographer thanks to a document held by the Bodleian library.
Informal reading groups sustained many people during the different lockdowns. This year, twelve universities took part in the UK’s Choix Goncourt. Sophie Benbelaid and Hannah Hodges reveal what it was like to represent Oxford at the final stage and how decisions were reached after discussion of the four excellent contending novels.
Dozens of books are published by Faculty members every year. It is a pleasure to showcase two first books by talented young researchers. Jonathan Patterson talks about a century and a half of vilains, villains and villainy in France (1453-1610) whilst Macs Smith, focusing on contemporary times, reflects on Paris and the Parasite and how we need to learn, within cities, to live with disorder and even to appreciate it. Wherever you are, this summer, I hope you have a chance to enjoy your surroundings, possibly with a good book in hand.
Best wishes,
Professor Almut Suerbaum
Chair of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages