Record Number: 28774

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charlotte Bronte to Elizabeth Gaskell, 30 September 1854:

'We all know that it is not precisely advantageous to a really good book to be published piecemeal in a periodical — but still — such a plan has its good side. "North and South" will thus be seen by many into whose hands it would not otherwise fall.
'What has appeared I like well, and better and better each fresh number; best of all the last (to-day's). The subject seems to me difficult; at first, I groaned over it [...] but I think I see the ground you are about to take as far as the Church is concerned; not that of attack on her, but of defence of those who conscientiously differ from her, and feel it a duty to leave her fold.
'Well — it is good ground, but still rugged for the step of Fiction [...] It seems to me you understand well the Genius of the North. Where the Southern Lady and the Northern Mechanic are brought into contrast and contact, I think Nature is well respected. Simple, true, and good did I think the last number — clear of artifical trammels of style and thought.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

30 Sep 1854

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

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

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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:

n/a

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:

Elizabeth Gaskell

Title:

North and South (instalment)

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

30 September 1854

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28774

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:

153-154

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. 153-154, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28774, accessed: 01 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

None