Record Number: 32318

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'He handed me over Crusius' Lexicon and, having told me to go through again as much as I could of what he had done, left the room. It seems an odd method of teaching, but it worked. At first I could travel only a very short way along the trail he had blazed, but every day I could travel further... I was beginning to think in Greek.That is the great Rubicon to cross in learning any language.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 19 Sep 1914 and 3 Dec 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'
schoolroom
probably other rooms also

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:

Male

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

He was studying with his tutor, William Kirkpatrick, who sometimes worked with him, sometimes left him to work by himself.

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Gottlieb Christian Crusius

Title:

A Complete Greek and English Lexicon for the Poems of Homer and the Homeridae: Illustrating the Domestic, Religious, Political, and Military Condition of the Heroic Age, and Explaining the Most Difficult Passages

Genre:

Classics, Essays / Criticism, Poetry, Education, Textbook / self-education, Reference / General works, Mythology of ancient Greece

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

translated from by German Henry Smith; rev.& ed.Thomas Kerchever Arnold 1862

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32318

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:

71

Additional Comments:

This evidence is in a footnote by Hooper, referring to Lewis's letter of [26] September 1914 to Arthur Greeves. He is quoting from Lewis's autobiography 'Surprised by Joy', chapter nine.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 71, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32318, accessed: 17 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

This reading experience began in September 1914. I cannot determine when it ended, but it was certainly no later than 3rd December 1916. The next day, Lewis went to Oxford to sit for a scholarship examination.