Record Number: 24808
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I found Jessie crazy with tooth ache which lasted all day, and transported--it's the only word for it--with admiration of the fifteen chapters, it appears, she has read before posting the MS to you. She cried "wonderful"--which she has never done for anything of mine. But I am not jealous, since I share, I won't say her opinion, but her feeling. Without exaggeration it's no mean achievement for an imaginative work to produce such an effect on a person in bodily suffering and mental strain.' Hence follow several more lines about Jessie's reaction to the work.
Century:1900-1945
Date:16 Jul 1908
Country:England
Timedaytime
Place:city: Luton Hoo Estate
county: Bedfordshire
specific address: Someries
(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:1873
Socio-Economic Group:Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder
Occupation:housewife
Religion:Roman Catholic
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
Joseph Conrad's wife.
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Fraternity
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Manuscript: Sheet
Publication Detailssubsequently published by Heinemann 1909
Provenancen/a
Source Information:
Record ID:24808
Source:Joseph Conrad
Editor:Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies
Title:The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Date of Publication:1990
Vol:4
Page:92-93
Additional Comments:
Letter from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy probably 16 July 1908, Someries. See fn.4 p.92 of source text
Citation:
Joseph Conrad, Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911, (Cambridge, 1990), 4, p. 92-93, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24808, accessed: 07 February 2026
Additional Comments:
This reading experience has been recorded as it is one of the rare pieces of evidence of Jessie and Joseph Conrad reading the same text other than Conrad's own work.
