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.'
1900-1945
Date:Between 6 Aug 1924 and 13 Aug 1924
Country:Iraq (Mesopotamia)
Timeafternoon
Place:city: Baghdad
specific address: own residence
location in dwelling
(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: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: Title:?Man and Masses
Genre:Drama
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceowned
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.