Record Number: 32368

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I went to a play that would have appealed to you — "Disraeli", which you will remember to have seen reviewed in Punch's "At the play". If the real man was at all like the character in the piece he certainly must have been a prince of cards. I suppose that most of the bons mots that I heard at the Royalty are actual historic ones, preserved in his letters and so forth.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 12 Apr 1916 and 28 May 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:

[Anon] [Anon]

Title:

'At the Play: "Disraeli"'

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, Review of the play 'Disraeli'

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

Punch, vol. CL (12 April 1916), p. 252

Provenance

owned
Probably owned by the Kirkpatrick household

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32368

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:

184

Additional Comments:

From a letter to his father, 28 May 1916. The play is 'Disraeli: a play in four acts', by Louis Napoleon Parker, published by John Lane, 1916

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 184, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32368, accessed: 09 May 2025

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Additional Comments:

'I wouldn't have missed Mr Dennis Eadie's 'Disraeli' for a good deal. Where it was at all possible — which it was in general; Mr Parker only sprinkled his extravagances — the ease and plausibility of it were quite admirable.' (From the final paragraph of the review.) I don't know whether Lewis is remembering reading the review when it was published some six weeks before he saw the play, or whether he re-read it afterwards.