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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 19612


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Anna Brownell Jameson, 2 April 1850: 'I have read Shirley lately: it is not equal to Jane Eyre in spontaneousness & earnestness: I found it heavy, I confess, though in [...] the compositional savoir faire, there is an advance. Robert has exhumed some French books, just now, from a little circulating li[brary] which we had not tried -- and we have just been making ourselves uncomfortable over Balzac's "Cousin Pons". But what a wonderful writer he is! Who could have taken such a subject, out of the lowest mud of humaity, & glorified & consecrated it?'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Mar 1850 and 2 Apr 1850

Country:

Italy

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Florence

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:

Reading Group:

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Unknown

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writers

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Italy

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Honore de Balzac

Title:

Le Cousin Pons

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1848

Provenance

Borrowed (circulating library)


Source Information:

Record ID:

19612

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley, Scott Lewis, Edward Hagan

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

2007

Vol:

16

Page:

90

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley, Scott Lewis, Edward Hagan (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 2007), 16, p. 90, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19612, accessed: 28 April 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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