Oxford As I See Itby Stephen LeacockFrom My Discovery of England, 1922

Course Title: Writing Prose

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

2008-2009, 2nd term

Do you think SCNU is a good university or not? Why? Which university do you like most in the world and China?

Why?Criteria for Judging a University

Buildings and Facilities Enrollment and Endowment

Curriculum and Programs of Studies Distinguished and responsible faculties

Favorable academic environment and atmosphere The number of graduates to be employed

A Good University in My Eyes!

A University: Good or Bad?

It is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It is also regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions.

It traces its roots back to at least the end of the 11th century, although the exact date of foundation remains unclear.

After a dispute between students and townsfolk broke out in 1209, some of the academics at Oxford fled north-east to the town of Cambridge, where the Cambridge University was founded. The two universities have since had a long history of competition with each other.

One of the professors at Oxford once said, “Oxford teaches you nothing of everything; Cambridge teaches you everything about nothing”.牛津教你有中之无，剑桥教你无中之有。

Oxford Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford

Born:  December 30, 1869, Swanmore, Hampshire, England

Died:  March 28, 1944 (aged 75), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Occupation: writer Genres: humorous fiction. He is known as “Canadian Mar

k Twain”

Stephen Leacock(1869 - 1944)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Leacock

Literary Lapses (1910)Nonsense Novels (1911)Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912) Arcadian Adventures With The Idle Rich (1914) The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice (1920)My Discovery of England (1922)Economic Prosperity in the British Empire (1930)Mark Twain (1932)Humor: Its Theory and Technique (1935) Canada: Foundations of Its Future (1941)Montreal: Seaport and City (1942)My remarkable Uncle (1942)Canada and the Sea (1944)

Major Works

Natural Science:(theoretical) maths, physics, biology, chemistry, etc.(applied) plumbing, car-manufacturing, gas-fitting, electric wiring, civil engineering, etc.

Social Science:(theoretical)sociology, economics, politics, arts, ethics, psychology, etc.(applied)housekeeping, salesmanship, advertising, etc.

The Three Major Branches of Science

Humanities:

literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, aesthetics, etc.

1. The author begins with a derogatory (uncomplimentary) reference to Oxford’s outdated buildings.

Do you think it is a willing admission of Oxford’s drawbacks or it should be regarded as a reluctant concession?

What do you think is the author’s true feeling of Oxford’s buildings?

The opening phrase “in spite of” clearly indicates that it is an unwilling concession.

The author’s depreciative remarks do not express his genuine feeling about Oxford’s noble architecture. He just echoes some of the objections American scholars are raising. The mention of these drawbacks is obviously to emphasize the conviction that Oxford is the greatest University in the world.

Paragraph I

2. The author compares Oxford University with American universities on the basis of enrollment and endowment.

Why does the author start off by comparing the enrollment and the endowment of the universities?

What is the result of the comparison and the conclusion of the author?

Paragraph I

Because enrollment and endowment are generally regarded as reliable factors which influence the great reputation of a university. If one wants to compare the greatness of universities, he can’t do without concerning about the enrollment and endowment.

In both these aspects, the comparison puts Oxford in an insignificant and obscure position. In spite of the result displayed by the comparison, the author persists in his assertion that Oxford is superior and excellent. According to him, the factor contributed to its excellence must be investigated in other aspects.

1. To mention Oxford bedside the 26.000

students of Colombia University sounds

ridiculous.• to compare the number of students of Oxford

with the 26.000 students of Colombia

University.

Key Points in Paragraph I

2. leave Oxford nowhere.• put Oxford in an insignificant and obscure

position; reduce Oxford to nothingness;

Key Points in Paragraph I

3. It seems to get there every time.• to be among the most successful universities;

to get to the place of destination to which it’s

entitled.

Key Points in Paragraph I

1.The first sentence in paragraph 2 is concerned with both paragraph 2 and 3. What kind of sentence is it?

Organizing sentence: sentence that establishes the pattern of organization for an entire essay or for a major part of it.

Paragraph II

2.From the discussions in paragraph 2, what do you think North American universities emphasize?

What’s the difference between the Oxford students and American students?

Applied sciences. Oxford students learn nothing of …; American

students can do …

Paragraph II

3.In point of curriculum/programs of studies, is Oxford superior to North American universities?

By no means. Oxford is not superior at all. The comparison in this respect turns out to be even more disappointing. It seems Oxford is quite elapsed in Applied Science in contrast to North American curriculum.

Paragraph II

4.What do you think might be author’s genuine attitude toward the exclusion of Applied Science from Oxford curriculum?

The author actually regards the exclusion of these unscholarly areas of study from Oxford curriculum as something positive, for they are, anyhow, mechanical side of education --- the disciplines belonging to vocational school rather than a university of Oxford’s standard.

Paragraph II

5. Translation： It is these things indeed which stamp him as a college man, and occasion a very pardonable pride in the minds of his parents. But in all these things the Oxford student is the merest amateur.

正是这些本领标志着他是一个大学生，使他的父母为之欣慰和骄傲。而对于上述种种，牛津的学生几乎完全是外行。

Paragraph II

1. The author shifts the focus of comparison to the higher and more cultured aspects of university education.

What is the result of the comparison? Does Oxford bear favorable comparison with American

Universities in this aspect? The comparison in this aspect also puts Oxford in an

unfavorable position. Oxford excludes all these disciplines such as

housekeeping, salesmanship, advertising, comparative religion, etc. Oxford can boast none of the merits that can be reflected through the higher and more cultured studies offered by the universities on the other side of the Atlantic.

Paragraph III

2.What’s the difference between Oxford University and American universities in this respect?　

• Please try to find out whether the courses mentioned in paragraph 2 and 3 belong to natural science, social science or humanities.

Paragraph III

3.Translate the following sentence into Chinese and paraphrase the underlined part：

True: but one searches in vain in the Oxford curriculum for any adequate recognition of the higher and more cultured studies.

这不假。但要在牛津的课程设置中找到高深学问的科目也是枉然。

branches of learning having primarily a cultured character as distinguished from those that have a utilitarian or vocational character.

Paragraph III

1. The author shifts the focus of comparison to the position of professors’ lectures. In this respect, Oxford is again given a crushing blow, how and why?

The author conducted a survey among the students. The very result of the opinion poll have proved that the lectures given by Oxford professors are entirely worthless. This gives Oxford a further crushing blow.

Paragraph IV

2. The passage is ended with five that clauses, which are concerned with the comments on the professors’ lectures at Oxford. Is there anything special in the order of the comments.

that the lectures were of no importance that nobody took them that they don’t matter

that you can take them if you like that they do you no harm

Paragraph IV

Although every single comparison has reduced Oxford to nothingness, the general comparison shows that Oxford has been as great as ever. In comparison with American and Canadian Universities Oxford is the greatest university in the world.

When the reader has carefully considered the values and standards held by American and Canadian Universities, he will feel relieved that Oxford has been spared from the pernicious effect of commercialization of higher education. Negative premise leads to positive meaning. Oxford drawback has conversely added to its greatness.

“Oxford teaches you nothing of everything; Cambridge teaches you everything about nothing”.

General Conclusion

What is Professor Leacock’s purpose of writing Oxford as I see it, to condemn or to praise Oxford? How does he achieve his purpose in this selection?

By using comparison and contrast, Leacock ironically and humorously condemns American universities and praises Oxford University.

Reader and Purpose

He achieves his purpose by using an extraordinary technique of comparison.

It is designed to bewilder the reader by misleading him all the way until he begins to question the validity and fairness of the comparison, until he ultimately finds himself convinced of Oxford’s excellence.

The advantage of his comparison, in this way is that he can give rein to irony, and strike out at opponents under the appearance of sharing common ground with them.

By misleading his readers and by pushing things to a ridiculous extreme, he has achieved in winning them over with far greater ease than if he had used positive persuasion.

1. Comparison seesaw pattern: The writer interweaves statements about both subjects, and

groups those statements under more general topics. Paragraph 1: The comparison develops by stating explicitly

in each sentence what is being compared (Oxford and American universities) and the basis of comparison (enrollment and endowment). Thus each sentence is a miniature comparison, complete in itself, and the total effect is built by addition of several such sentences.

This technique keeps a relative balance between the things compared, although obviously one of them is paramount.

Writing Technique

all-about pattern: The writer first writes one thing (all about it) and then

writes of the other thing (also all about it). Paragraph 2. In sentences 2, 3, 4, and 5, the author talks all

about Oxford University, which is “worse”; in sentences 6 and 7, he talks all about American universities, which are “better”; in the last sentence, he goes back to Oxford.

Writing Technique

sendoff pattern: The writer puts all the similarities between the subjects

together and all the differences together. This technique is suited to those subjects whose

similarities and differences are more balanced. Paragraph 4?

Writing Technique

Implied comparison/negative comparison The writer talks about one thing, but implies

another thing. Paragraph 3: The writer mostly talks about

American universities, but he implies that at Oxford, there are no such things.

Writing Technique

2. Irony (反语，讽刺 ) A figure of speech which either ridicules errors or faults by se

eming to approve them, or defends virtues by pretending to condemn them.

The method of using words to mean something different from or opposite to what you seem to say on the surface, often as a joke.

The entire text is ironic. Please find out the examples of irony

from the text. P1: profound scholar; P2: best models, frankly quite laughable, college man, pardon

able pride; P3: higher and more cultured studies, moral business man, the

feeble form; P4: a real part of the college life, punk, rotten.

Writing Technique

3. negative proof, positive effect (反证法） 1) The author applies the method of reduction to absurdity (b

y misleading his readers and by pushing things to a ridiculous extreme so as to make them question the validity and fairness of the comparisons).

2) the author pretends to share the opinions of the scholars on the other side of the Atlantic (so that he can use his irony).

What is the advantage of organizing the comparison by using negative proof?

This technique is designed to bewilder the reader by misleading him all the way until the reader begins to question the validity and fairness of the comparison. The advantage of organizing the comparison by using negative proof is that the author can give freedom to irony, strike out at opponents under the appearance of sharing common ground with them.

Writing Technique

Parallel Construction: Find out some examples for parallel construction from the text.

P1: Yet in spite of its dilapidated buildings and its lack of fire-escapes, ventilation, sanitation, and up-to-date kitchen facilities;

P2: The Oxford student learns nothing of chemistry, physics, heat, plumbing, electric wiring, gas-fitting or the use of a blow-torch.

Sentence

P3: there are no courses at Oxford in Housekeeping, or in Salesmanship, or in Advertising, or on Comparative Religion, or on the influence of the Press. There are no lectures whatever on Human Behavior, on Altruism, on Egotism, or on the Play of Wild Animals.

P4: Again and again I have heard the graduates of my own college assert that they had got as much, or nearly as much, out of the lectures at college as out of athletics or the Greek letter society or the Banjo and Mandolin Club. Other judgments were that the lectures were of no importance: that nobody took them: that they don't matter: that you can take them if you like: that they do you no harm.

For what purpose does the author use both British English words (e.g. programme of studies, rotten) and American English words (e.g. curriculum, punk) in the text?

1. for the people both in Britain and US to understand well. 2. for comparison and contrast.

Diction

A comparison of higher education in China and USA.

Should universities emphasize the theoretical or practical side of study?

Discussion