Textual graffiti
Students leave their mark on Oxford in various ways. The majority choose the conventional route, becoming JCR President, Captain of the 1st VIII, organ scholar, pooh sticks champ or whatever. But I'd like to bring to your attention those individuals who earn themselves abiding recognition for their supposed ingenuity on the printed page. No, I'm not talking about the Oxford Student feature writer here, nor any scholar, shape or form. I'm referring to the student who earns his or her fame sitting with old tome on his reading list from the library, inserting specious comments with blue biro in the margin. Far from being backward or shy, a student of this breed likes to engage physically and openly with the text. He or she throws respect for the printed page to the wind, revealing to a future audience exactly what he or she thinks of it. Does this egotistic biro-brandisher ever spare a thought for the person later to discover the book decorated with cryptic numbers, exclamation marks and incoherent scribbles which could easily be the coding of a government spy? As if the content wasn't hard enough to follow without the added cryptographics!
Sometimes these readers try to be funny. I came across this remark researching last week's essay. H.B.Garland's book said, "Schiller had not yet learned, nor had he had the slightest chance to learn, that a woman's character cannot be created merely by slightly softening that of a man." Underneath, an anonymous reader had put, "AND YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT WOMEN, EH MR GARLAND?" It is unsurprising that fame (or should I say infamy) of this kind has been hitherto unacknowledged: the miscreants mostly remain incognito. If the identity of these 'back-seat authors' was found out, they would be strung up, feet first, from a tall building, or suffer similar punishment. The university proctors levy £200 fines on vandals targeting the Philosophy library. However, what the proctors don't realise is that the widespread defacement of books probably explains the total absence of wall-scrawling around Oxford. There's no graffiti outside the Bod precisely because it is happening, secretively, inside. Hence the reason why university officials keep the tourists out. The libraries are where the anti-establishment abuse takes place, hidden from the public gaze, to be shared between the undergraduate community.
There will be those in favour of a mediating comment between the impenetrable black typeface and their eyes, especially when it directs them to the relevant bits with some helpful underlining, ticking, crossing, summarising or what have you. They will argue that these lay markings aid concentration, providing gestures of solidarity between fellow scanners, alleviating the loneliness and frustration encountered when ploughing through your reading list. Furthermore, they would claim, the margin from its very nature begs scribbled notation. They will justify their behaviour with the example of their literary prototype, Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights, who famously graffitied margins: "scarcely one chapter had escaped a pen-and-ink commentary - at least, the appearance of one - covering every morsel of blank that the printer had left... . An immediate interest kindled within me for the unknown Catherine, and I began, forthwith, to decypher her faded hieroglyphics."
Some people, on the other hand, fiercely resent the intrusion of brainless banter into their private space, favouring their own fresh judgement. The narrative persona in Brontë's work is, after all, obviously quite miffed by Catherine's vandalism: "Catherine's library was select, and its state of dilapidation proved it to have been well used, though not altogether for a legitimate purpose;" The clean page is surely sacred, and should be protected from molestation.
It is indubitable that textual graffiti is a time-worn Oxford trait, and impossible to obliterate. Its silent existence is noted (pun intended) by thousands, and the tradition is being upheld, with genuine enthusiasm, behind closed doors every day. Profanation or information - I leave it to your judgement.
16th Nov 2000