Record Number: 1975
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Thomas Jones recalled that his mother, a Rhymney straw-hat maker, "was fifty before she read a novel and to her dying day she had not completely grasped the nature of fiction or of drama". When she read Tom Jones, "she believed every word of it and could not conceive how a man could sit down and invent the story of Squire Allworthy and Sophia and Tom out of his head".
Century:1850-1899
Date:unknown
Country:n/a
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:n/a
Socio-Economic Group:Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder
Occupation:straw hat maker
Religion:n/a
Country of Origin:Wales
Country of Experience:n/a
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Tom Jones
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:1975
Source: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:97
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 97, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=1975, accessed: 28 April 2025
Additional Comments:
See Thomas Jones, 'Rhymney Memories', pp.42-3.