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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 18328


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Tuesday 1 September 1931: 'And so a few days of bed & headache & overpowering sleep, sleep descending inexorable as I tried to read Judith Paris, then Ivanhoe. A note on Judith Paris: its a London museum book. Hugh bouncing with spurious enthusiasm -- a collection of keepsakes bright beads -- unrelated. Why? No central feeling anywhere [...] All a trivial litter of bright objects to be swept up. 'Scott: a note. A pageant. And I know the man [Locksley] (I forget his name) will hit the mark. So I'm not excited. Almost incredible that my father [Leslie Stephen, in Hours in a Library vol. 1 p.158] shd. have taken this scene seriously. But I think some roots. A perfectly desire surely to amuse, now & then ruffled (but oh how seldom!) by some raid from the sub-conscious -- only in the humour tho. Rowena, Rebecca, hairdressers ornaments -- Madame Tussaud sham jewels [...] But I think I trust him & like him better than Hugh. Question of morality. That we are all moralists; with a temporary standard.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 19 Aug 1931 and 1 Sep 1931

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Virginia Woolf

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Jan 1882

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

agnostic

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Walter Scott

Title:

Ivanhoe

Genre:

Fiction, History

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

18328

Source:

Print

Author:

Virginia Woolf

Editor:

Anne Olivier Bell

Title:

The Diary of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1982

Vol:

4

Page:

41

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Virginia Woolf, Anne Olivier Bell (ed.), The Diary of Virginia Woolf, (London, 1982), 4, p. 41, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18328, accessed: 08 December 2024


Additional Comments:

Woolf refers to chapter 13 in Ivanhoe; see p.41 n.2 for reference to Stephen's essay on Scott.

   
   
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