Record Number: 32910
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
‘Here I am, sitting on my bed, half-reading Carlyle, little soaking through to my dull mind, when I become aware that a boxing match is being arranged … I am not altogether in agreement with the Russian attitude to suffering. It is too passive. In a review of Rupert Brooke’s "Letters from America", I found that Henry James had written to this effect, in the preface. “I admire the British soldier. His mind seems to contain a moral hospitality to all the vagaries of fortune” … So it does. He grins nearly all the time that one might expect him to have little reason for doing so … We are 14 miles away from Salisbury, near Tidworth. If we stay for any time I mean to visit Stonehenge.’
Century:1900-1945
Date:22 Mar 1916
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Salisbury
county: Wiltshire
specific address: Park House Camp
(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:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:28 Aug 1890
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Private, Gloucestershire Regiment
Religion:Christian (Anglican)
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Letters from America
Genre:Essays / Criticism, Geography / Travel
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:32910
Source:Ivor Gurney
Editor:R. K. R. Thornton
Title:Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters
Place of Publication:Manchester
Date of Publication:1991
Vol:n/a
Page:74-75
Additional Comments:
Letter to Marion Scott, from Park House Camp, Salisbury, 22 March 1916
Citation:
Ivor Gurney, R. K. R. Thornton (ed.), Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters, (Manchester, 1991), p. 74-75, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32910, accessed: 19 April 2024
Additional Comments:
From the evidence it is not clear whether Gurney had read the TLS review (March 09, 1916; pg. 114; Issue 738) or whether he had also read the book itself, since the quotation from Henry James's preface is not to be found in the TLS review. It is of course entirely possible that he read another review in another periodical.
