OXFORD University Press was urged to rescue its international reputation from the forces of commercialism yesterday. Margaret Drabble and Alan Howarth, the Arts Minister, joined a chorus of disapproval over standards at the publishing house.
Critics say that sloppy mistakes are too often allowed through, reducing the stature of the world-renowned company. They also believe that OUP has been demeaned by its decision to stop publishing modern poetry and a number of books on the arts and humanities. At a poetry reading in Oxford last night Mr Howarth lent his voice to OUP's critics: "It is a perennial complaint by the English faculty that the barbarians are at the gate. Indeed they always are. But we don't expect the gatekeepers themselves, the custodians, to be barbarians." He called for OUP to reverse its decision to delete poetry from its lists.
Drabble, whose novels include The Radiant Way, said that OUP seemed unable to decide whether it was an "academic, general, profit-making, world-market or charitable publisher". She expressed concern about editing, saying that books "were being rushed through without sufficient care". She began working with OUP 20 years ago, editing and revising the fifth edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. She said that basic mistakes had crept into her work, such as a misspelling of Ben Jonson's name. When she started, Drabble said, OUP was directed by "a venerable body" dedicated to maintaining academic standards. "I now feel commercial pressures. The word 'marketing' comes up a lot. I understand that it needs to compete commercially but I don't think OUP can afford to let standards slip."
The Booker-winning novelist A. S. Byatt said: "I believe there has been an erosion of standards. They didn't pick up that I had mentioned Robert Carver instead of Raymond Carver in the preface to The Oxford Book of Short Stories. That was picked up at the last moment by the publicity girl." Her view was echoed by Jon Stallworthy, Professor of English Literature at Oxford, who worked for OUP between 1959 and 1977. "I was proud to work for OUP. Today, I'm ashamed of my university press... OUP is no longer one of the leaders in scrupulous accuracy for which it was internationally famed."
Critics believe that low pay and redundancies have taken their toll on standards at OUP. Helen Langdon, who was an advisory editor to The Oxford Companion to Western art said she was paid little more than £2,000 for a project that was expected to last five years. Keith Thomas, chairman of OUP's finance committee, said: "Oxford's editorial standards remain exceptionally high and are enforced by a legendary copy editor who can read 40 different languages. "Most commercial publishers have given up publishing new poetry. To ask OUP to continue this task is to invite it to subsidise creative writing."