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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 28631


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charlotte Bronte to her publisher, W. S. Williams, 4 February 1849:

'I send the parcel [returning books loaned by Williams] up without delay [...] Emerson's essays I read with much interest and often with admiration, but they are of mixed gold and clay — deep and invigorating truth — dreary and depressing fallacy seem to me combined therein. In George Borrow's works I found a wild fascination, a vivid graphic power of description, a fresh originality, an athletic simplicity (so to speak) which give them a stamp of their own. After reading his "Bible in Spain" I felt as if I had actually travelled at his side [...] wandered in the hilly wilderness of the Sierras — encountered and conversed with Manchegan, Castillian, Andalusian, Arragonese, and above all with the savage gitanos.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Nov 1848 and 1 Feb 1849

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Haworth
county: Yorkshire

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:

Charlotte Brontë

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

21 Apr 1816

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Church of England

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:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Title:

Essays

Genre:

Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)


Source Information:

Record ID:

28631

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington

Title:

The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships, and Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

1:2

Page:

306

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships, and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 1:2, p. 306, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28631, accessed: 10 November 2024


Additional Comments:

None

   
   
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