Record Number: 24305

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[letter from M. Jusserand to Mrs Ward] 'I spent yesternight a most charming evening reading your essay [on the Brontes]. Shall I confess that I feel with Kingsley, having had a similar experience. I could never go beyond the terrible beginning of "Shirley" - and yet I tried and did my best, and the book remains unread, and I the more sorry as my copy does not belong to me, but to Lady Jerseyu, who charged me to return it when I had finished reading. I really tried earnestly: I took the volume with me on several occasions; it has seen, I am sure, as many lands as wise Ulysses, having crossed the Mediterranean more than once and visited Assuan. But there it is, and I see from my writing-table its threatening green cloth and awful back, with plenty of repulsive persons within. And yet I [italics] can [end italics] read. I have read with delight and unflagging interest Vol. I in-folio of the Rolls of Parliament, without missing a line. "Shirley", I cannot'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Until: 31 Dec 1900

Country:

various

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:

M. Jusserand

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

diplomat

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

France

Country of Experience:

various

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:

Shirley

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)
borrowed from Lady Jersey

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Source Information:

Record ID:

24305

Source:

Print

Author:

Janet Penrose Trevelyan

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Life of Mrs Humphry Ward

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1923

Vol:

n/a

Page:

169-70

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Janet Penrose Trevelyan, The Life of Mrs Humphry Ward, (London, 1923), p. 169-70, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24305, accessed: 19 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None