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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 19369


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I wanted to write to you about Your book [...] you know how paralysed one is sometimes-- and then we had talked--I had tried to talk of the book so many times that it seemed to have become part of me, that part of belief amd thought so intimate that it cannot be put into speech as if it cannot live apart from one coherent self.' [See also additional comments].

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1900 and 5 Sep 1900

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Stanford near Hythe
county: Kent
specific address: Pent Farm

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

John Galsworthy

Title:

The Villa Rubein

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1900 published under the name of John Sinjohn

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

19369

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies)

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2, 1898-1902

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1986

Vol:

2

Page:

302-303

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy, dated 7th November 1900, Pent Farm.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies) (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2, 1898-1902, (Cambridge, 1986), 2, p. 302-303, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19369, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

The nature of Conrad's reaction to this book is unclear from the evidence here. In an earlier letter to Galsworthy's sister Mabel Reynolds 5th September 1900 Conrad comments that the story "The Cosmopolitan" (later to appear as "A Knight" ) is 'in the clearness of the idea superior to the "Villa"'. The overall tone of the letter to Galsworthy suggest some reluctance to comment.

   
   
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