Record Number: 32347
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I have been reading a horrible book of Jack London's called "The Jacket". If you come across [it] anywhere, don't read it. it is about the ill-treatment in an American prison, and has me quite miserable.'
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 5 Oct 1915 and 12 Oct 1915
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:29 Nov 1898
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Student
Religion:Church of England
Country of Origin:Northern Ireland
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Star Rover
Genre:Fiction, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Reincarnation, torture, prison life
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication DetailsPublished in Britain under the title "The Jacket" (Mills & Boon, 1915)
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:32347
Source:Clive Staples Lewis
Editor:Walter Hooper
Title:C. S. Lewis Collected Letters
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:2000
Vol:1
Page:147
Additional Comments:
From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 12 October 1915
Citation:
Clive Staples Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 147, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32347, accessed: 20 May 2024
Additional Comments:
Lewis is writing candidly to his friend Greeves; his reaction to London's book is interesting because, as a young man, he was fascinated by sadism, e.g.: 'that torture with brushes... beautifully intimate and also very humiliating for the victim.' (From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 28 January 1917, v. 1, p. 269).
