Record Number: 32272

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Grant Allen’s”[The] Woman Who Did”, c’est un livre mort. Gr.[ant]Allen is a man of inferior intelligence and his work is not art in any sense. “[The] Woman Who Did” had a kind of success, of curiosity mostly—and that only among the philistines –the sort of people who read Marie Corelli and Hall Caine. Neither of these writers belongs to literature. All three are very popular with the public—and they are also puffed in the press.[...] Grant Allen is considered a man of letters among scholars and a scholar among men of letters. He writes popular scientific manuals equally well. En somme—un imbecile. Marie Corelli is not noticed critically by the serious reviews. She is simply ignored. Her books sell largely; Hall Caine is a kind of male Marie Corelli. [...] Among the writers who deserve attention the first is Rudyard Kipling (his last book, ”The Day’s Work”,a novel). J.M. Barrie—a Scotsman. His last book “Sentimental Tommy” (last year). [...] George Moore has published the novel “Evelyn Innes”—un succès d’estime. He is supposed to belong to to the naturalistic school and Zola is his prophet. Tout ça, c’est très vieux jeu. A certain Mr. T Watts-Dunton published the novel “Aylwin”, a curiosity success, as this Watts- Dunton (who is also a barrister) is apparently a friend of different celebrities in the world of Fine Arts (especially in the pre-Raphaelite School). He has crammed them all into his book. H.G. Wells published this year “The War of the Worlds” and “The Invisible Man”. He is a very original writer, romancier du fantastique, with a very individualist judgement in all things and an astonishing imagination.’

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1895 and 31 Dec 1898

Country:

probably England

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Essex or Kent
specific address: Ivy Walls Farm or Pent Farm

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'szlachta' or Polish landed gentry

Occupation:

master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

probably England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Grant Allen

Title:

The Woman Who Did

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published London John Lane 1895 15 editions that year

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32272

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Frederick R Karl and Laurence Davies

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2 1898-1902

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1986

Vol:

2

Page:

137-138

Additional Comments:

Letter from Conrad to Aniela Zagorska, Pent Farm,Christmas 1898

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Frederick R Karl and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2 1898-1902, (Cambridge, 1986), 2, p. 137-138, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32272, accessed: 04 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

The time and location of this reading experience is speculative. The evidence suggests that Conrad at some stage picked up and at least browsed in this bestseller, though the actual extent of his (obviously negative) engagement with this text is unclear. It is even les clear that he had read works by Marie Corelli and Hall Caine and may simply have been sufficiently aware of their reputation to warn his correspondent. These two have therefore not been included as individual RED entries