Record Number: 32429

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'My French is under rather different conditions to yours, as I read from 10 - 11 every night except on Wednesdays when I write to you. I have really never counted exactly how much I cover and it wd. not be accurate to count by pages, as they vary so in size and in type.... Then again why not get something in that 1/6 Dents edition with the lovely paper, say Voltaire's "Contes" (very amusing)....'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 21 Jan 1916 and 20 Mar 1917

Country:

England

Time

n/anight: Weekdays (except Wednesdays), between 10pm and 11pm

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'
Bedroom

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:

Adult (18-100+)

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:

François-Marie Arouet Voltaire

Title:

Contes Choisis. Preface de Gustave Lanson

Genre:

Other religious, Fiction, Social Science, Politics, Philosophical fiction, metaphysics, precursor to science fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

London: Dent, 1907

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32429

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:

273-74

Additional Comments:

From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 7 February 1917.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 273-74, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32429, accessed: 09 May 2025

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Additional Comments:

The date range starts with the beginning of term 21 January 1916 because Lewis writes to Greeves on the 28th February: 'I spend all the spare time on week-days in reading French books, which I want to get more fluent in.' (Letters, v.1, p. 169). In another letter, a few weeks later, he mentions reading Maeterlinck 'too late at night' (Letters, v.1, p. 176), so I think it safe to assume that Lewis did all his French reading in bed at night. The 'lights out' at 11.00pm is interesting: Mr Kirkpatrick writes to his father: 'The very idea of urging or stimulating him to increased exertion makes me remind him that it is inadvisable for him to read after 11 p.m.' (Letter from William Kirkpatrick to Albert Lewis, 7 April 1916: Letters, v.1, p. 178) The date range ends with his last day at Great Bookham. I have chosen the most likely edition. It contains Voltaire's best-known prose tales: Zadig, ou la destinee; Memmon, ou la sagesse humaine; Micromegas; Histoire d'un don bramin; Le blanc et le noir; Jeannot et Colin.