Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

G B *

Subjects:

Universities, Education, Mathematics

    The initial letter forms part of an illustration showing a student at his writing desk. Above him rises the smoke from his pipe and beneath him lie scraps of paper—evidently drafts of his love letter. In the text, the author tells his beloved that his second attempt at the 'Little-go' examination at the University of Cambridge is imminent and that she is a 'sad hindrance' to his 'studies for this dreadful examination'. The rest of the letter reveals the difficulty the author has in keeping his mind off his beloved and his interpretation of course texts in terms of his love affair. For example, he notes, 'In my Euclid your happiness is my "problem", your love my "Theorem", and that you should ever prove faithless to me my "reductio ad absurdam"'. Similarly, he tells her that she is 'no Vulgar Fraction', but the 'sum total' of his existence.