Revision by Daisy Hildyard, 2024
The magic trick:
An absolutely brilliant portrayal of a specific kind of class-war imposter syndrome
Day Three of our campus stories this week. “Revision” takes us to the hallowed halls of the University of Oxford for a story that is not only set on a college campus but it’s about college.
This is a finely written story. It reminds me of (a far more generous) Richard Yates in the way that it precisely brings characters, relationships, and scenes into life without the slightest bit of stylistic pretension. The story hints at juicy plot twists too. Will our hero Gabriel cheat on his exam? What’s with the electric tension between he and his professor? Are these platonic friendships Gabriel has with two young women classmates going to continue to be platonic?
Those questions will keep even the most casual reader plugged in. But what you’ll get mainly is a very nuanced and knowing consideration of English history, the current moment’s cancel culture reckoning with morality, and the nature of higher education, along with what may be the most insightful breakdown of a specific kind of class-war imposter syndrome (that I, incidentally, didn’t even know I related to until I read about it here) I’ve ever seen.
And that’s quite a trick on Hildyard’s part.
The selection:
Gabriel stood awkwardly between the door and the back of a sofa, facing Thornton, and his calm drained away. His tutor was completely absorbed, slight and otherworldly in his raincoat and hiking boots, as though he were about to set off for a mountain peak. Gabriel shifted from foot to foot. He cleared his throat.
“Dr. Thornton, I need you to help me. The Middle English examination will bring down my mark, and the grade is forever. My future is at stake.”
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