Well, for the period 1945 to 1988,
1945年到1988年期间
a scholar has as they say done the math,
据说有个学者做过统计
a total of 204 novels were set on British campuses,
总共有204部小说以英国校园为背景
of these, 145, over 70%, took place in only two universities.
其中145部,占70%都是发生在两所大学
Yes, Oxford and Cambridge.
对,牛津和剑桥
And Oxford's own share was, says the author,
作者说单单牛津这一所大学
monstrously large with 119 novels out of 205
就占据了绝大多数
set in this single campus.
205部中有119部
So British fiction generally privileges Oxbridge,
因此英国小说给了牛津和剑桥不一般的待遇
and so in that sense not surprisingly so does crime fiction.
由此来说犯罪小说也是如此并不奇怪
And that provides the first element
这个是解答问题
in the answer to the question "why Oxford".
"为什么是牛津"的首要原因
Almost all the authors...
几乎所有作者...
this is the second element,
这个是第二个原因
that almost all of the authors of these campus novels
几乎这些校园小说和很多侦探小说的
and many of the detective novels were students at Oxford.
所有作者都是牛津的学生
They were here at an impressionable age,
他们此时正处一个易受影响的年纪
they living in the intense, cloistered,
处在一个本科大学的紧张强烈
rarified setting of an undergraduate college.
与世隔绝,纯洁简单的环境中
Small wonder that they revisit this experience in fiction.
难怪他们在小说中重温这样的感觉
The crime writer Martin Edwards, a Balliol graduate,
犯罪小说作家马丁·爱德华,贝利奥尔学院的毕业生
notes that 30 alumni of his college
指出有30个大学校友
have written crime novels set in Oxford.
把犯罪小说背景设在牛津
One of them, Tim Heald, has written a series of novels,
其中有一个作家蒂姆·希尔德写过一系列的小说
featuring a detective called Simon Bognor,
塑造了一个名叫西蒙·博格诺的侦探
and one of these, Masterstroke, is set in Oxford
其中一部,妙举,就是设在牛津
And Heald's website remarks of this book:
希尔德在这本书的网站上说
"every novelist who went to Oxford University
"每一个在牛津大学上过学的小说家
has to write an Oxford novel, and this is mine."
都应该写一部牛津小说,而这本就是我写的"
I think it's another element in the explanation
我想这是可以解释的另一个原因
The same rule, Tim Heald's rule,
同样的标准,蒂姆·希尔德的标准
applies to other one-off appearances in Oxford
对于在其他地方工作的
by detectives who usually work elsewhere.
但在牛津现身一次的侦探也同样适合
Antonia Fraser brought her detective Jemima Shore
安东尼娅·弗瑞泽在一个故事,牛津血案中
to Oxford for one story, Oxford Blood.
把她的侦探杰迈玛·肖尔也带到了牛津
Hazel Holt brought Sheila Malory here
黑兹尔·霍尔特在19部小说中
just once in 19 novels.
有一次把希拉·马洛里带到了牛津
And Val McDermid, a hugely successful crime and thrill writer,
成功的犯罪小说和悬疑小说家瓦尔·麦克德米德
waited until her resent 28th novel, A Trick of the Dark
终于将她的第28部小说,黑夜诡计的
for an Oxford setting.
故事背景设在了牛津
McDermid emphasized when she talked about "why Oxford",
麦克德米德在谈到"为什么是牛津"的时候强调
she emphasized the spirit of the place,
她强调了这个地方的精神
the extend to each members of the university love crime fiction,
在大学里每一位生产者和消费者
both as producers and consumers.
都非常钟爱犯罪小说