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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 30941


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'But this is specially to thank you for the two books — the "Adding Machine" and "Men and Masses". Modern literature is very queer isn't it, but it's also extremely interesting. One has to get oneself accustomed to entirely new forms — that which they embody is as old as the world because it is variant of the human story. I thought both those books — I can't call them plays — very striking and I'm so grateful because that is just the kind of thing I miss, not knowing about them. Yes, I've read "St Joan", this week. I thought it was wonderful; I wish I had seen it on the stage. It's so clever of him to have made her a bluff — not to say rough — country girl. Of course so she was, with the mysticism threaded separately through her.

I'll tell you a novel I thought extremely clever — "God's Step Children"; have you read it? by Millin. I've been chiefly absorbed however by a new book on Mohammadan architecture by a man I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of, namens Briggs. It's admirable, but unfortunately deals only with Egypt and Syria which is all he knows. So I've written to him and invited him to come here and study our monuments — without which he can't really (but I didn't tell him so) write a history of that kind at all. He makes a lot of mistakes when he alludes to them.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 6 Aug 1924 and 13 Aug 1924

Country:

Iraq (Mesopotamia)

Time

afternoon

Place:

city: Baghdad
specific address: own residence
location in dwelling

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:

Gertrude Bell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

16 Jul 1868

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Linguist, traveller, archaeologist, intelligence officer and Middle East political advisor

Religion:

originally Christian (Anglican) by now declared atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Iraq (Mesopotamia)

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Ernst Toller

Title:

?Man and Masses

Genre:

Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
sent by (step) mother


Source Information:

Record ID:

30941

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Information:

Gertude Bell Archive, Newcastle University http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/

Additional Information:

Letter from Gertrude Bell to Florence Bell, 13 August 1924 http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/letter_details.php?letter_id=749

Citation:

Gertude Bell Archive, Newcastle University http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30941, accessed: 09 October 2024


Additional Comments:

It has not been possible to identify this work. A play called "Masks and Men" by Sarah Humason appeared in 1921; no other possible candidate texts have been found.
However, Ernst Toller's play "Man and Masses," which had appeared in 1919, is a possibility, the title variation being explained as either a slip by Bell or an error in the transcription.

   
   
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