Record Number: 4278

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[Edith] Hall recalled that she discovered Thomas Hardy in a WEA class in the 1920s when "Punch and other publications of that kind showed cartoons depicting the servant class as stupid and 'thick'...[Tess of the d'Urbervilles] was the first serious novel I had read up to this time in which the heroine had not been of gentle birth and the labouring classes as brainless automatons. This book made me feel human".'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1920 and 1930

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

Edith Hall

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Servant

Occupation:

housemaid

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

n/a

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:

Thomas Hardy

Title:

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

4278

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

275

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 275, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4278, accessed: 19 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

See Edith Hall, 'Canary Girls and Stockpots' (Luton, 1977) pp39-40