Record Number: 32358

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The other book — which I am denying myself to write to YOU, yes YOU of all people — is from the library by Blackwood called "Uncle Paul". Oh, I have never read anything like it, except perhaps "The Lore of Proserpine. When you have got it out of your library and read how Nixie and Uncle Paul get into a dream together and went to a primaeval forest at dawn to "see the winds awake" and how they went to the "Crack between yesterday and tomorrow you will agree with me.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 21 Jan 1916 and 1 Feb 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'

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:

Clive Staples Lewis

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Algernon Blackwood

Title:

The Education of Uncle Paul

Genre:

Other religious, Fiction, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Fantasy of nature and childhood

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

London: Macmillan, 1909

Provenance

borrowed (public library)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32358

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

161/162

Additional Comments:

From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 1 February 1916. 'The Lore of Proserpine' is a fantasy work by Maurice Hewlett.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 161/162, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32358, accessed: 04 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

In an earlier letter to Greeves (29 June 1915, v.1, p. 134) Lewis writes that he has never heard of 'The Lore of Proserpine' but: 'from your description am very eager to read it.' He had evidently done so at some point between that date and 1 February 1916. I think the Blackwood was borrowed from the public library because of the comparison with Greeves's - almost certainly the public library in Belfast.