The train rumbles to a stop at Oxford Station. A gaggle of students awaiting family arrivals is immediately diverted and enthralled by the sight of a bewitching beauty stepping off the train. So begins Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story, a satirical novel by Max Beerbohm that recounts the contagion of lovesickness created by the title character, a guest of her august grandfather, the Warden of Judas College. She soon meets the haughty, aloof Duke of Dorset and, much to her surprise, falls in love for the first time.  The Duke is smitten for the first time as well, which throws a wet blanket on her ardor, as she cannot love anyone who is not immune to her spell. The Duke resolves to commit suicide to teach her to constrain her powers of attraction, and soon the entire student body resolves to do the same.  The Duke reverses his decision, but events are in motion, chance and fate intervene, and all but one of the entire student body drowns in a storm during the boat races.  The faculty barely notices, of course. The closing scene has us back at the station, where Zuleika boards a special train for her next visit – Cambridge.

Zuleika Dobson was published in 1911 to great success. It was ranked 59^th on the 1998 Modern Library list of 100 best English-language novels of the 20^th century. It is remembered for the famous line “Death cancels all engagements”.

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