Record Number: 28682

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charlotte Bronte to her publisher, W. S. Williams, 19 March 1850:

'I enclose for your perusal a scrap of paper which came into my hands without the knowledge of the writer. He is a poor working man of this village — a thoughtful, reading, feeling being, whose mind is too keen for his frame, and wears it out. I have not spoken to him above thrice in my life, for he is a Dissenter, and has rarely come in my way. The document is a sort of record of his feelings, after the perusal of "Jane Eyre"; it is artless and earnest, genuine and generous. You must return it to me, for I value it more than testimonies from higher sources. He said: "Miss Bronte, if she knew he had written it, would scorn him"; but, indeed, Miss Bronte does not scorn him; she only grieves that a mind of which this is the emanation should be kept crushed by the leaden hand of poverty — by the trials of uncertain health and the claims of a large family.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1847 and 19 Mar 1850

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

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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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

unknown unknown

Title:

[Haworth working man's written response to reading Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre]

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28682

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:

2:3

Page:

89

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2:3, p. 89, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28682, accessed: 18 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None