Record Number: 28758

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Catherine Winkworth to Emma Shaen, 23 March 1853:

'I made up my mind not to write to you again till I had read "Villette" and now I have finished it [...] It is a thorough enjoyment to read it, so powerful everywhere, no rant, as there were bits of in her other books, so deep and true in its appreciation of character [comments on characters of John Bretton and Paul Emanuel] [...]
'"Villette" makes one feel an extreme reverence for any one capable of so much deep feeling and brave endurance and truth, but it makes one feel "eerie," too, to be brought face to face with a life so wanting in Versohnung, as Germans would say. I wonder whether Miss B[ronte]. is so, and I wonder, too, whether she ever was in love; surely she could never herself have made love to any one, as all her heroines, even Lucy Snowe, do. [comments further]
[...]
there are bits that go very deep into one's heart; more especially with me all she says about facing and accepting some evil fate. And yet, yet, it never goes quite deep enough; it comes to an heroic Stoicism which is grand, but not the best.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 23 Jan 1853 and 23 Mar 1853

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:

Catherine Winkworth

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

13 Sep 1827

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer and translator

Religion:

Church of England

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:

Villette

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

23 January 1853

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28758

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:

2:4

Page:

54-55

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2:4, p. 54-55, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28758, accessed: 16 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

None