Oxford, Mississippi in The Unvanquished (Location)

Oxford is a real town in north-central Mississippi, about 75 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. It is the seat of Lafayette County, and the home of the University of Mississippi. William Faulkner lived there for most of his life (including the years during which he wrote The Unvanquished). Just as Lafayette provided Faulkner with much of Yoknapatawpha, Oxford served as the basis for his fictional Jefferson. Here the two towns, real and fictional, are located "forty miles" apart (213). In the novel Oxford is first mentioned as one of the locations where Granny and Ringo stole mules. It is also where, at the end of the novel, Bayard is working toward a "law degree" with Professor Wilkins and living in his house, which is presumably near the campus of the University (219). Also nearby, presumably, is the livery stable where Bayard boards his horse Betsy.