the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve : Volupte

'[letter to Mrs Ward from Mr Creighton] I have read "Miss Bretherton" with much interest. It was hardly fair on the book to know the plot beforehand, but I found myself carried away by the delicate feeling with which the development of character was traced. The Nuneham scene, the death-bed and the final reconciliation were really touching and powerfully worked out. At the same time it is not a novel of my sort. I demand that I should have given me an entire slice of life, and that I should see the mutual interaction of a number of characters. Your interest centres entirely on one character: your characters all move in the same region of ideas, and that a narrow one.' [the critique continues at length; Creighton asks Mrs Ward] 'Have you read Sainte Beuve's solitary novel, "Volupte"? it is instructive reading.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Mr Creighton      Print: Book

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