Record Number: 12644
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I am not ashamed to confess that during those weeks of imprisonment I too wept both by day and by night; not loudly or clamorously, but silently and with an intensity of misery that wasted my strength and filled my brain with hideous thoughts. The first library book issued to me was "David Copperfield"; and with the incipient ego-centrism of the budding criminal I imagined I could detect similarities between Dickens's early experiences and my own. For many nights I cried myself to sleep with "David Copperfield" hugged close, as if in him I had found a fellow sufferer.'
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 1 Sep 1901 and 30 Sep 1901
Country:England
Timeevening
Place:city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Reading County Gaol
other location: in his prison cell
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:27 Feb 1885
Socio-Economic Group:Labourer (non-agricultural)
Occupation:son of master craftsman, but habitual criminal
Religion:family Methodist but becomes athiest
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:David Copperfield
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceborrowed (institution library)
prison library
Source Information:
Record ID:12644
Source:Stuart Wood
Editor:n/a
Title:Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1932
Vol:n/a
Page:32
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Stuart Wood, Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir, (London, 1932), p. 32, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12644, accessed: 18 April 2024
Additional Comments:
None
