Record Number: 12779

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

From Elizabeth Missing Sewell's Journal, 'Tuesday Evening, 9th June [1857]': 'I have just finished Mrs. Gaskell's [italics]Life of Miss Bronte[end italics]. Years ago, when [italics]Jane Eyre[end italics] came out I read it. People said it was coarse, and I felt it was, but I felt also that the person who wrote it was not necessarily coarse-minded, that the moral of the story was intended to be good; but that it failed in detail. The life is intensely, painfully interesting. A purer, more high-minded person it seems there could scarcely be, wonderfully gifted, and with a man's energy and power of will and passionate impulse; and yet gentle and womanly in all her ways [goes on to reflect upon Bronte's depressive temperament, and to characterise her religious feeling as 'abstract belief not personal love']'.

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1847 and 9 Jun 1857

Country:

Great Britain

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

19 Feb 1815

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Great Britain

Country of Experience:

Great Britain

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Charlotte Bronte

Title:

Jane Eyre

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1847

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12779

Source:

Print

Author:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell

Editor:

Eleanor L. Sewell

Title:

The Autobiography of Elizabeth M. Sewell

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1908

Vol:

n/a

Page:

159-60

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Elizabeth Missing Sewell, Eleanor L. Sewell (ed.), The Autobiography of Elizabeth M. Sewell, (London, 1908), p. 159-60, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12779, accessed: 26 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None