Record Number: 28690

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Mary Taylor to her schoolfriend Charlotte Bronte, 13 August 1850:

'After waiting about six months we have just got "Shirley." It was landed from the Constantinople on Monday afternoon [...] On Wednesday I began "Shirley" and continued in a curious confusion of mind till now, principally at the handsome foreigner who was nursed in our house when I was a little girl [...] What a little lump of perfection you've made me! There is a strange feeling in reading it of hearing us all talking. I have not seen the matted hall and painted parlour window so plain these five years. But my father is not like [...] he is not honest enough [...] "Shirley" is much more interesting than "Jane Eyre," who never interests you at all unless she has something to suffer. All through this last novel there is so much more life and stir that it leaves you far more to remember than the other.'

Century:

1800-1849, 1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1847 and 13 Aug 1850

Country:

n/a

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:

Mary Taylor

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

26 Feb 1817

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Charlotte Brontë

Title:

Jane Eyre

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1847

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28690

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:

135-136

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. 135-136, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28690, accessed: 29 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Bronte had based characters in Shirley on Mary Taylor and her family.