Record Number: 34339

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

After listing some canonical writers discussed by Pound and whom Ford had never read he then goes on to write: 'On the other hand I possess a certain patience and, if I feel that I am going to get anything out of it I can read in a prose or verse book for an infinite space of time. At school I was birched into reading Vergil, who always excited in me the same hostility that was aroused by Goethe's FAUST. Homer was also spoiled for me a good deal by the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster did not contrive however to spoil for me Euripides. I have a good part of the BACCHAE and some of the ALKESTIS still by heart. But so, indeed, I have Books Two and nine of the AENEID, so that those mnemonics form no criterion; But for myself I have, I have read most of the books recommended for the formation of my mind in HOW TO READ—excepting of course "CONFUCIUS in full..." [...] I have read Doughty's DAWN IN BRITAIN, an epic in twelve books. And SORDELLO only last night. And CANTO'S.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between Mar 1932 and Apr 1932

Country:

France

Time

evening
night

Place:

city: Paris
specific address: 32 rue de Vaugirard

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:

Ford Madox Ford

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

17 Dec 1873

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Catholic

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

France

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Browning

Title:

Sordello

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

34339

Source:

Print

Author:

Ezra Pound

Editor:

Brita Lindberg-Seyersted

Title:

Pound/Ford: The Story of a Literary Friendship

Place of Publication:

New York

Date of Publication:

1982

Vol:

n/a

Page:

104

Additional Comments:

Ford reviewing in April 1932 in the "New Review" Ezra Pound's book of essays 'How to Read' which had appeared in book form in 1931.

Citation:

Ezra Pound, Brita Lindberg-Seyersted (ed.), Pound/Ford: The Story of a Literary Friendship, (New York, 1982), p. 104, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=34339, accessed: 26 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Ford was known to have been fond of Browning's works for many years so it is not clear whether this was a re-reading.