Record Number: 24256

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

John Wilson Croker to John Murray, 18 July 1819: 'I am agreeably disappointed by finding "Don Juan" very little offensive. It is by no means worse than "Childe Harold," which it resembles as comedy does tragedy. There is a prodigious power of versification in it, and a great deal of very good pleasantry. There is also some magnificent poetry, and the shipwreck, though too long, and in parts very disgusting, is on the whole finely described [...] on the score of morality, I confess it seems a more innocent production than "Childe Harold." What "Don Juan" may become by-and-bye I cannot foresee, but at present I had rather a son of mine were Don Juan than, I think, any other of Lord Byron's heroes. Heaven grant he may never resemble any of them.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jul 1819 and 18 Jul 1819

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Ryde

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:

John Wilson Croker

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

20 Dec 1780

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Secretary to the Admiralty

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Ireland

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:

George Gordon, Lord Byron

Title:

Don Juan: cantos I-II

Genre:

Fiction, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1819

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

24256

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Louis L. Jennings

Title:

The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of The Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.,D., F.R.S.

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1884

Vol:

1

Page:

145

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Louis L. Jennings (ed.), The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of The Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.,D., F.R.S., (London, 1884), 1, p. 145, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24256, accessed: 26 April 2025

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Additional Comments:

None