[Meat is Murder]

I wondered if anyone could suggest a fiction book that is centred around students of Oxbridge and their time spent in their respective colleges?

Thank you in advance

P.s. Oxbridge doesn't appear in my book, this question is put forth simply to gain a better idea of university life in collegiate institutions.

[Chief Wiggum]

For research into life at collegiate institutions, I would recommend looking at the colleges' websites, as well as prospectuses/alternative prospectuses.

[Meat is Murder]

(Original post by Chief Wiggum)
For research into life at collegiate institutions, I would recommend looking at the colleges' websites, as well as prospectuses/alternative prospectuses.

You don't get good at writing by learning words from a dictionary I want to live the life to get a better idea of it.

[G56]

(Original post by Meat is Murder)
You don't get good at writing by learning words from a dictionary I want to live the life to get a better idea of it.

Start by getting 2 - 3 A*'s in your A levels and stressing about a 60 minute interview for the best part of a year.
Good luck!

[Historophilia]

Well the first one I can think of is Brideshead Revisited but it's hardly going to be an accurate portrayal of Oxford life as it is today (or when it was written either).

It is however, a bloody good book. The TV series is brilliant as well.

Just don't watch the film. The film is satan.

[CantThinkOfaUsername]

'Starter for Ten' and 'An Education' are the only ones that come to mind. Neither are about life at Oxbridge but they're not totally irrelevant either and you might find something in them that you could use for your novel.

Have a look at this though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_novel

[hobnob]

Well, Naomi Alderman's The Lessons (published a few years ago) sounds like the kind of thing you're after. The first half of that is set in Oxford and describes the life of a group of friends at various colleges. For what it's worth, though, I didn't think that bit was particularly good, so I'm a bit wary of recommending it - the portrayal of Oxford / Oxford life (whatever that's supposed to mean) struck me as hopelessly antiquated and clichéd. Quite well-written, though, if you can bring yourself to put up with the story.

[lukas1051]

Sounds like one of the dullest stories possible.

[whatsername2009]

(Original post by Meat is Murder)
I wondered if anyone could suggest a fiction book that is centred around students of Oxbridge and their time spent in their respective colleges?

Thank you in advance

P.s. Oxbridge doesn't appear in my book, this question is put forth simply to gain a better idea of university life in collegiate institutions.

I can't really think of any recent novels set at Oxbridge, and as someone's already pointed out Brideshead Revisited probably isn't a realistic portrayal of Oxford even at that time. I know that writers are supposed to read a lot of fiction to help them improve their style, but perhaps you should separate this from the specific research you need to do for this particular novel.

If you're researching life at Oxbridge for a novel, wouldn't it be better to talk to some real Oxbridge students? You're on a student forum, after all, and there are loads of threads here about what it's really like to study at Oxford and Cambridge. I'm at Oxford myself, and I'll gladly talk about my experiences if you want to PM me. Another option would be to read memoirs and autobiographies by people who studied at Oxbridge - a quick Google search yielded this, for example, which I haven't read but looks interesting.

The only other recommendation I can give you is a play by Tom Stoppard called The Invention of Love, which is about the late-Victorian poet AE Housman and is set mostly during his time at Oxford. Like Brideshead it's not an accurate representation of Oxford as it is now, but it's useful if you're interested in the history of the place and what Oxford has meant to different people over time.

[Meat is Murder]

(Original post by whatsername2009)
I can't really think of any recent novels set at Oxbridge, and as someone's already pointed out Brideshead Revisited probably isn't a realistic portrayal of Oxford even at that time. I know that writers are supposed to read a lot of fiction to help them improve their style, but perhaps you should separate this from the specific research you need to do for this particular novel.

If you're researching life at Oxbridge for a novel, wouldn't it be better to talk to some real Oxbridge students? You're on a student forum, after all, and there are loads of threads here about what it's really like to study at Oxford and Cambridge. I'm at Oxford myself, and I'll gladly talk about my experiences if you want to PM me. Another option would be to read memoirs and autobiographies by people who studied at Oxbridge - a quick Google search yielded this, for example, which I haven't read but looks interesting.

The only other recommendation I can give you is a play by Tom Stoppard called The Invention of Love, which is about the late-Victorian poet AE Housman and is set mostly during his time at Oxford. Like Brideshead it's not an accurate representation of Oxford as it is now, but it's useful if you're interested in the history of the place and what Oxford has meant to different people over time.

Thank you for the advice!

As I said in my opening post, actual information about Oxbridge is of secondary importance to how university students go about their studies in close proximity to other students, which is why I have flagged up Oxbridge as being the most helpful when looking into this. What I am working on is the dialogue part of my writing, with discourse between characters something I wish to improve. I have also been reading plays in order to impact upon this part of my writing.

[Glutamic Acid]

Engleby (Sebastian Faulks) is set in 1970s Cambridge. Not a bad read, but I doubt it's what you're after.

[Flibble22]

Have a look at Stephen Fry's autobiography - The Fry Chronicles. He goes into considerable detail about his uni life at Cambridge.

There's an audio book version voiced by the man himself too.

[DJKL]

"The Glittering Prizes" is set in Oxford and is slightly more recent in period than "Brideshead", albeit still dated.

Maybe "Porterhouse Blue" might assist, however somehow I doubt it will be of much use. " Decline and Fall" starts at Oxbridge but again dated and probably of little use.

A very dated insight into college internal politics might be gleaned by reading selected parts of C P Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" series (eg "The Master") however they are again set circa fifty odd years ago and are very heavy going.

General University novels might include "Lucky Jim", and maybe "The History Man". I also think from memory a couple of David Lodge's novels are set in universities, albeit certainly not Oxbridge.

[dotty_but_good]

Some of Stephen Fry's novels are based around life in Cambridge for at least some parts.
Making History is a good example of this, The Liar is partly autobiographical and is probably less useful, it is set in part in Cambridge but isn't particularly about the students from what I recall of reading it.