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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 7238


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Communist activists often displayed hostility to literature, including Willie Gallacher. However his 'hostility to literature abated' in later years and in his later memoirs] 'he confessed a liking for Burns, Scott, the Brontes, Mrs Gaskell, children's comics and Olivier's film of Hamlet... Of course he admired Dickens, and not only the obvious Oliver Twist: the communist MP was prepared to admit that he appreciated the satire of the Circumlocution Office in Little Dorrit'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

unknown

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

William Gallacher

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

25 Dec 1881

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (non-agricultural)

Occupation:

brass fitter, later Communist MP

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Emily Bronte

Title:

[unknown]

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

7238

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

319

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 319, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=7238, accessed: 05 October 2024


Additional Comments:

See William Gallacher, 'Rise Like Lions' (London, 1951), pp. 129-30, 180; and The Last Memoirs of William Gallacher (London, 1966), pp. 25, 35.

   
   
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