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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 32058


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I read Barbusse in trenches and he made me see things I had never seen before though they were before my eyes every day; yet his description bore the same relation to an ordinary man's as does a passage of Ęschylus.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between Jul 1915 and 1916

Country:

France

Time

n/a

Place:

other location: trench

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:

Stephen Lucius Gwynn

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

13 Feb 1864

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Captain, Connaught Rangers; journalist, poet, and politician

Religion:

Church of Ireland

Country of Origin:

Ireland

Country of Experience:

France

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Henri Barbusse

Title:

Le Feu

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

32058

Source:

Print

Author:

R. H. Kiernan

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Little Brother Goes Soldiering

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1930

Vol:

n/a

Page:

10

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

R. H. Kiernan, Little Brother Goes Soldiering, (London, 1930), p. 10, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32058, accessed: 12 October 2024


Additional Comments:

Gwynn served with the Connaught Rangers at Messines and in the Somme campaign, but it is impossible to pin down the exact location of his reading of Barbusse from this passage.

   
   
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