Record Number: 4554

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The Bermant family arrived in Scotland when Chaim was eight: before his ninth birthday he had mastered enough English to read Beatrix Potter in the Mitchell Library. Her stories were not so alien to him as one might imagine: somehow the animal characters reminded him of the Latvian village from which he had come. Chaim soon became a fan of the Beano's Lord Snooty, an aristocrat who inexplicably consorted with a gang of working class kids: the strip fulfilled every schoolboy's fantasy of finding himself among wealthy people in a noble setting"...[as] young Bermant... followed the progress of the Second World War on the Glasgow Herald and the Manchester Guardian [he felt a strong sense of British identity]. The war, the school, the boys' weeklies were all "building up new obsessions to replace the old and drawing reassurance and pride from the Empire".'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1937 and 31 Feb 1938

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Glasgow
specific address: Mitchell Library

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:

Chaim Bermant

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

26 Feb 1929

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

father a rabbi then a slaughterer; Bermant later a writer

Religion:

Jewish

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Beatrix Potter

Title:

[unknown]

Genre:

Children's Lit

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

4554

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:

334-5

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 334-5, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4554, accessed: 29 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

See Chaim Bermant, 'Coming Home' (London, 1976), pp 39-40, 54