Record Number: 32397

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Talking of Kipling it is time you began him: try "Rewards & Fairies" and if the first story in it "Cold Iron" doesn't knock you head over heels, I don't know what will.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jul 1913 and 18 Oct 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Malvern
Worcestershire

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:

Rudyard Kipling

Title:

Rewards and Fairies

Genre:

Fiction, History, Poetry, Children's Lit, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Poems & children's stories, Norse myths, sequel to 'Puck of Pook's Hill'

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32397

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:

236

Additional Comments:

From a letter to Arthur Greeves, [18 October 1916]

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 236, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32397, accessed: 27 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Reasons for a date range of more than three years: in advising Greeves to read Kipling, Lewis is remembering an earlier reading experience of his own, but gives no details. He first mentions Kipling in a letter to his father, 6 July 1913, written from Cherbourg School (the prep. school for Malvern College): 'There is nothing I should prize more than a nice edition of Kipling, whose poems I am just beginning to read.' (Letters, v.1, p.26) His wish may have been granted, because in the letter to Greeves quoted above he refers to 'my Kipling'. It is impossible to tell for certain where or when Lewis first read 'Cold Iron', but his appreciation for it never failed. In a letter to his brother many years later he describes a poetry reading: 'Ridley read to us a Swinburne ballad and, immediately after it, that ballad of Kipling's which ends up "You've finished with the flesh, my Lord.".... it just killed the Swinburne as a real thing kills a sham. I then made him read "Iron, cold iron" with the same result.' (From a letter to his brother, 18 December 1939, v.2, p.302)