The Global Novel: a literature podcast
Zuleika Dobson (1911)
Zuleika Dobson, or an Oxford love story, is the only novel by English essayist Max Beerbohm, a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford published in 1911. The book largely employs a third-person narrator limited to the character of Zuleika then shifting to that of the Duke, then halfway through the novel suddenly becoming a first-person narrator who claims inspiration from the Greek Muse Clio, with her all-seeing narrative perspective provided by Zeus. This allows the narrator to also see the ghosts of notable historical visitors to Oxford, who are present but otherwise invisible to the human characters at certain times in the novel, adding an element of the supernatural. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Zuleika Dobson 59th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Robert Mighall in his Afterword to the New Centenary Edition of Zuleika (published by Collector's Library, in 2011), writes: "Zuleika is of the future that Beerbohm anticipates an all-too-familiar feature of the contemporary scene: the D-list talent afforded A-list media attention."
With us today is Dr. Margaret Stetz, the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware.
Recommended Reading:
Zuleika Dobson
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