Record Number: 32401

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

(1) '... through reading Maeterlinck, to improve my French, too late at night, I have developed a penchant for mystical philosophy' (2) 'My other reading — in French — has been Maeterlinck's "Oiseau Bleu": of course I have read it before in English and seen it on the stage, as you know, but I am absolutely delighted to read it again. Now that I have the original I wish you would adopt my English version, which is yours forever for the taking whenever you care to walk up to my room at home and find it on the little open bookcase.... I don't know why you have never read this glorious book before, but please do as I suggest & (though it is always dangerous, as we know, to recommend) I think you will have some real joy out of it. The scenes in the Temple of Night and in the Kingdom of the Future are exactly in our line.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 19 Oct 1916 and 25 Oct 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Maurice Maeterlinck

Title:

L'oiseau bleu Feerie en cinq actes et dix tableaux

Genre:

Drama, Children's Lit, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Symbolist allegory about the search for happiness

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32401

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:

239-40

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 21 March 1916 (2) From a letter to the same, 25 October 1916 The former reference may be to an earlier reading of the same work in French: I cannot find any definite reference to Lewis's reading it in English translation. I have given a date range for the reading of October 1916.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 239-40, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32401, accessed: 19 March 2025

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Additional Comments:

None