Record Number: 28780

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charles Kingsley to Elizabeth Gaskell, 14 May 1857:

'Let me renew our long interrupted acquaintance by complimenting you on poor Miss Bronte's "Life." You have had a delicate and a great work to do, and you have done it admirably [...] I confess that the book has made me ashamed of myself. "Jane Eyre" I hardly looked into, very seldom reading a work of fiction — yours, indeed, and Thackeray's are the only ones I care to open. "Shirley" disgusted me at the opening, and I gave up the writer and her books with a notion that she was a person who liked coarseness. How I misjudged her! [...] Well have you done your work, and given us the picture of a valiant woman made perfect by sufferings I shall now read carefully and lovingly every word she has written'.

Century:

1800-1849, 1850-1899

Date:

unknown

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:

Charles Kingsley

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

12 Jun 1819

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:

Charlotte Brontë

Title:

Shirley

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1849

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28780

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:

222-223

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. 222-223, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28780, accessed: 16 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

None