Record Number: 32311

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'This week I have been reading a most remarkable book which has created a great impression. it is "The Upton Letters", a series of letters from a school master at "Upton College" to a friend whose health confines him in Madeira. They purport to have been actually written on such an occasion and not for publication; and indeed the utter absence of plot, or in some cases even of connection, make this seem to be true, although their wonderful beauty argues against it. but to come to my point: the great revelation of the book is the statement made somewhere that "we ought not to write about our actions but about our thoughts." How wonderfully true.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 14 Jun 1914 and 22 Jun 1914

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Malvern
Worcestershire
Malvern College

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:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

n/a

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Arthur Christopher Benson

Title:

The Upton Letters

Genre:

Fiction, Essays / Criticism, Autobiog / Diary, Essays and autobiography in the form of fictional letters

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (institution library)

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32311

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

61

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 61, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32311, accessed: 19 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

By 1926 Lewis is remembering this work as a book of autobiographical essays: 'Do you remember an essay of Arthur Benson's about travelling by rail through a countryside where one has walked as a child?' (Letters, p. 659). The reference is to the Upton Letter of 4th August 1904. (Footnote by Hooper)