Record Number: 28582

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'You say [in Walpole's critical study "Joseph Conrad"(1916)] that I have been under the formative influence of "Madame Bovary". In fact I have read it only after finishing "A.[Almayer's] F.[Folly]" as I did all the other works of Flaubert; and anyway my Flaubert is the Flaubert of "St. Antoine" and "Ed[ucation] Sent[imentale]" and that only from the point of view of rendering of concrete things and visual impressions.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1894 and 7 Jun 1918

Country:

unknown

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

unknown

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Gustave Flaubert

Title:

Madame Bovary

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published Paris: Charpentier, 1857. The specific French edition read by Conrad unidentified

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28582

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Laurence Davies, Frederick R. Karl and Owen Knowles

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 6, 1917-1919

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

2002

Vol:

6

Page:

228

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to Hugh Walpole dated 7 June 1918, Capel House

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Laurence Davies, Frederick R. Karl and Owen Knowles (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 6, 1917-1919, (Cambridge, 2002), 6, p. 228, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28582, accessed: 04 October 2024

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Additional Comments:

There is some confusion as to when Conrad first read Flaubert (see Hervouet, 1990 pp.10-13). Record ID.18526 indicates an earlier date, and Record ID.25760 indicates frequent re-reading. This current record is submitted since it appears to contradict earlier evidence, suggesting that the text was only first read after 1894. No separate entry is recorded concerning the experiences of reading the other two novels mentioned. Conrad's reading of a critical work concerning himself has not been recorded.