Record Number: 6168

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'In 1816, left alone in Bath by her husband, Mary Shelley records reading "The Solitary Wanderer", Charlotte Smith's "Letters of a Solitary Wanderer" (1799), a collection of interlocking tales in which a number of suffering women relate their stories. It is the single occasion her comprehensive reading diary mentions this book, which she seems to choose at this point to express a resentful, self-pitying protest against her desertion.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1816 and 31 Dec 1816

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Bath

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:

Mary Shelley

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

30 Aug 1797

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

unknown

Country of Origin:

England

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:

Charlotte Smith

Title:

Letters of a Solitary Wanderer

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

6168

Source:

Print

Author:

Jacqueline Pearson

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Women's Reading in Britain, 1750-1835. A dangerous recreation

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1999

Vol:

n/a

Page:

93

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jacqueline Pearson, Women's Reading in Britain, 1750-1835. A dangerous recreation, (Cambridge, 1999), p. 93, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=6168, accessed: 09 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

See Feldman and Scott-Kilvert (eds) Journals of Mary Shelley, vol 1, 135