Switch to English Switch to French

The Open University  |   Study at the OU  |   About the OU  |   Research at the OU  |   Search the OU

Listen to this page  |   Accessibility

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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 18250


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Monday 2 September 1929: 'I have just read a page or two out of Samuel Butler's notebooks to take the taste of Alice Meynell's life out of my mouth. One rather craves brilliance & cantankerousness. Yet I am interested; a little teased by the tight airless Meynell style; & then I think what they had that we had not -- some suavity & grace, certainly [comments further on Meynell's work, life and personality] [...] When one reads a life one often compares one's own life with it. And doing this I was aware of some sweetness & dignity in those lives compared with ours [...] Yet in fact their lives would be intolerable -- so insincere, so elaborate; so I think [goes on to comment further on Meynell family, and others' reminiscences of them]'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

2 Sep 1929

Country:

England

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


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:

Agnostic

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:

Viola Meynell

Title:

Alice Meynell. A Memoir

Genre:

Biography, Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1929

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

18250

Source:

Print

Author:

VIrginia Woolf

Editor:

Anne Olivier Bell

Title:

The Diary of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

3

Page:

250-251; 250

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

VIrginia Woolf, Anne Olivier Bell (ed.), The Diary of Virginia Woolf, (London, 1980), 3, p. 250-251; 250, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18250, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

Viola Meynell daughter to Alice Meynell, who had died in 1922.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design