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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

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

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Reading County Gaol
other location: in his prison cell

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Stuart Wood [pseud?]

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:

Charles Dickens

Title:

David Copperfield

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (institution library)
prison library


Source Information:

Record ID:

12644

Source:

Print

Author:

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: 05 November 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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