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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 17845


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Virginia Woolf to Ethel Smyth, c.28 December 1932: 'D'you know I get such a passion for reading sometimes its like the other passion -- writing -- only the wrong side of the carpet [...] this passion, which has been so well advised, lands me tonight in a book like the reek of stale cabbage and cheap face powder -- a book called The Story of San Michele by [Axel] Munthe [1929] [...] A book more porous with humbug, reeking more suddenly with insincerity, I've never read. I'm at page 50 [...] And I'm reading Stella Benson [Tobit Transplanted (1931)]: with pleasure'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

28 Dec 1932

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Rodmell
county: Sussex

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:

Virginia Woolf

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Jan 1882

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

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:

Axel Munthe

Title:

The Story of San Michele

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1929

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

17845

Source:

Print

Author:

Virginia Woolf

Editor:

Joanne Trautmann Banks

Title:

Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1989

Vol:

n/a

Page:

318

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Virginia Woolf, Joanne Trautmann Banks (ed.), Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters of Virginia Woolf, (London, 1989), p. 318, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17845, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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