A visiting Spanish lecturer at Oxford turns his sharp continental gaze on the Anglo-Saxon quirks of town and gown. Gossip-mongering, one-upmanship, lust, loneliness: Oxford, he finds, "is a city in syrup, where simply being is far more important than doing or even acting". And though he starts an affair with a colleague - young, lively and very married - soon the spirit of Oxford is affecting even him... With its crystalline observations and brilliantly funny set pieces, 'All Souls' perfectly captures the drifting rhythms of academic life.
