Thistle Physics Building

I finished reading “The Last Enchantments” by Charles Finch this weekend. It’s a novel about a young American’s year at Oxford after graduating from Yale and working as an aide on an unsuccessful political campaign. I won’t give away any more of the plot – I’ll save that for the end of the month when I discuss my reading.

What I want to talk about is a passage on page 239 of the hardback in which the main character discusses Oxford in the winter. It reminded me of a similar view I’ve had of Washington and Jefferson College where I went to college in the sixties. First, the entry from the book:

            “Already I’ve forgotten to explain how the Bodleian looked under snow, how total the silence of that inner courtyard became, above all how companionable it was for all of us working anonymously together in the bright reading rooms, warm. How we all glanced through the window from time to time at the chill fall of light, how honored and safe it seemed to belong to that loose set of humans inside the Bod, in the days after it snowed, for a moment present in the infinite continuum of Oxford.”     

As soon as I read that passage I immediately thought back to my undergraduate days, actually my freshman year, when I would seek out a place to study my mathematics and chemistry courses. The Thistle Building had a great study area below the main floor of the building where the classes and laboratories were located. The phrase “bright reading rooms, warm…” was what made me remember my own days of winter studying. The under room was filled with overstuffed large leather chairs for reading and studying, while interspersed among them were heavy, overlarge dark wood rectangular tables where students could sit in dark wood chairs with large spindle backs.

My favorite spot, which we all would first seek out if we didn’t have much writing to do, was the center of the room where two of those large stuffed chairs sat as sentinels guarding large roaring wood fire. As soon as I sat in one of those chairs I would be out in minutes, but it was so warm and cozy I was only copying what everyone else did when they were lucky enough to get there first.

I still remember the fire and snow outside and the chairs and the smell of furniture polish, wood burning, and rich leather. It was a great place to read.

(Cambria 13 font)