List of fictional Oxford colleges
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Fictional colleges are found in many modern novels, films, and other works of fiction, probably because they allow the author greater licence for invention and a reduced risk of being accused of libel, as might happen if the author depicted unsavoury events as occurring at a real-life institution. Below is a list of some of the fictional colleges of the University of Oxford.
His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials novels feature a number of fictional Oxford colleges, most notably Jordan College, including:
Cardinal's College
Foxe College
Gabriel College
Jordan College
Queen Philippa's College
St Michael's College
St Scholastica's College
St Sophia's College
Wordsworth College
Wykeham College
Inspector Morse
The Inspector Morse series of books by Colin Dexter is predominantly set within Oxford and its environs, including the University. Consequently, many fictional colleges are named. The derived television series, Inspector Morse, Lewis and Endeavour, continued this practice.
T=TV series
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure is set in Christminster, "Wessex", a thinly fictionalised version of Oxford, and mentions the following colleges of Christminster University:
Biblioll College (Balliol)
Cardinal College (Christ Church)
Crozier College (Oriel?)
Oldgate College (New College)
Rubric College (Brasenose?)
Sarcophagus College
Tudor College
Loss and Gain
Loss and Gain by St John Henry Newman tells the story of the conversion of Charles Reding, an Oxford student, to Catholicism. In the novel, Newman creates the following colleges:
Saint Saviour's (the college of the main character, Charles Reding)
All Saints
Leicester College
Nun's Hall
Other works
Fictional library
In Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, Oxford's Bodleian Library has a secret part, known and accessible only to practitioners of Magic and containing among other things the secret writings of Isaac Newton on this subject.
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