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Record Number: 32386

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

(1) 'I am still at The Newcomes...' (2) 'Talking about stodge, I finished "The Newcomes" before leaving home, and certainly enjoyed the end better than any parts except the scenes at Baden. Of course it is a great novel, and I am very thankful to have got it off my chest.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 10 Sep 1916 and 21 Sep 1916

Country:

Northern Ireland

Time

n/a

Place:

Belfast
County Down
'Little Lea', 76 Circular Road

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:

Northern Ireland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Makepeace Thackeray

Title:

The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family

Genre:

Other religious, Fiction, History, Geography / Travel, Politics, Arts / architecture, Satirical realist novel, banking, marrying for money, Methodism

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32386

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:

223, 225

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 18 September 1916 (2) From a letter to the same, 27 September 1916 'Stodge' refers to 'good, stodgy books like Scott' [i.e. Walter Scott]. Lewis left home for his tutor's house in Great Bookham, Surrey on the 22nd September 1916

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 223, 225, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32386, accessed: 04 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

Thackeray invented the word 'capitalism' to describe the possessing of capital. Its first recorded use is in this novel: 'The sense of capitalism sobered and dignified Paul de Florac.' (Ch.46 'The Hotel de Florac') I have marked the provenance as 'unknown' because although Lewis may have owned the book, it may equally well have belonged to his father, or been borrowed from the public library.