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

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Listings for Author:  

Charles Kingsley

 

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Charles Kingsley : Westward Ho!

Either at school or at home I read all the classics considered necessary for children: 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped', 'Little Women', 'David Copperfield', 'Ivanhoe', 'Robinson Crusoe'. I suppose I enjoyed them; I certainly did not resent or avoid them. Very occasionally some incident would seem to connect with my own life: the doings of the Spanish Inquisition in 'Westward Ho!' for example, fitted in exactly with what I had heard about Roman Catholics. But on the whole the themes appeared completely abstract and impersonal, even when the author intended a message to strike home. 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did not cause me a moment's concern for the plight of Negro slaves in America, and neither did 'The Water Babies' for the sufferings of the child chimney-sweeps, not because these situations had been done away with, but because no book stirred me in that way...

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Patricia Beer      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : The Water Babies

Either at school or at home I read all the classics considered necessary for children: 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped', 'Little Women', 'David Copperfield', 'Ivanhoe', 'Robinson Crusoe'. I suppose I enjoyed them; I certainly did not resent or avoid them. Very occasionally some incident would seem to connect with my own life: the doings of the Spanish Inquisition in 'Westward Ho!' for example, fitted in exactly with what I had heard about Roman Catholics. But on the whole the themes appeared completely abstract and impersonal, even when the author intended a message to strike home. 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did not cause me a moment's concern for the plight of Negro slaves in America, and neither did 'The Water Babies' for the sufferings of the child chimney-sweeps, not because these situations had been done away with, but because no book stirred me in that way...

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Patricia Beer      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia

'[In The Saturday Review, 19 November 1904], "A Mother" records the books consumed since July by her sixteen-year-old daughter ... [who is] on the point of going in for the "Senior Cambridge" ... : "Old Mortality", "The Farringdons", "By Mutual Consent" (L. T. Meade), "To Call Her Mine", "Kathrine Regina", and "Self or Bearer" (Besant); "Christmas Carol", "The Cricket on the Hearth", "Hypatia", "Concerning Isabel Carnaby", "The Virginians", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Head of the House" (E. Everett-Green), "A Double Thread", "The Heir-Presumptive and the Heir-Apparent", "Sesame and Lilies", "A Tale of Two Cities".'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group:      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Westward Ho!

'Lucy Lyttelton ... continued reading as avidly as ever after her marriage to Lord Frederick Cavendish, although she seems to have been happy that he should choose the books for their honeymoon: "Westward Ho!", Carlyle's "French Revolution", and Butler's "Analogy" ... A month after they left for their travels, they were still on "Westward Ho!".'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Lord and Lady Cavendish     Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : The Greek Heroes

'Read Kingsley's Greek Heroes'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot [pseud.]      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Westward Ho!

'Louis and I have begun reading "Westward Ho!" together [...] He reads to me every day out of "Westward Ho!" which I think very beautiful and interesting'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Alice Maud Mary or "Princess Alice"      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : The Heroes

'Friday 10th September Today my friend Pat bought Kingsley?s ?Heroes? for Monica. I am reading it myself and then it goes away, to be out on her shelf, which I am planning with some thought, and, I hope, taste for childish requirements. It would make a nice subject for an essay. Teddie and I already have following for our childrens? bookshelf ? Kinsgley?s ?Heroes?, ?Alice in Wonderland? and ?Through the Looking Glass?. A complete ?Hans Andersen? also a selection, beautifully illustrated by Dulac Lamb?s ?Tales from Shakespeare? and Hope-Moncrieff?s ?Classic Myth and Legend?. It is a fairly good beginning.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Gerald Moore      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Westward Ho!

'Monday 11th October ?Westward Ho!? (Charles Kingsley)'.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Gerald Moore      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : [unknown]

'As I began to mend, the Governor, to keep me from brooding too much, gave orders that I was to have all the reading matter I wanted within the limits of the prison library, and my book changed just as often as I liked and at any hour of the day. To a man eager to improve his acquaintance with standard literature such a privilege was immeasurably great, and for the next six weeks or so I browsed among the Victorian novelists - Austin [sic?], the Brontes, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Meredith, Lytton, Kingsley, Reade, Hughes, Trollope and others.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Stuart Wood [pseud?]      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia

From Elizabeth Missing Sewell's Journal, 19 February 1856: 'I came here [Bournemouth] for a fortnight and have stayed a month. I have written a little, and read a good deal, -- the second volume of [italics]Sir Charles Metcalfe's Life[end italics], which makes me look upon him as more of a hero than many whom Carlyle would worship; and [italics]Hypatia[end italics] and two sermons of Dr. Pusey's against Germanism, and part of [italics]Hero Worship[end italics], to say nothing of pamphlets and magazines, and a diligent study of [italics]The Times[end italics] every evening.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Missing Sewell      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia - or New Foes with an Old Face

'I have written a little, and read a good deal, - the second volume of "Sir Charles Metcalfe's Life", which makes me look upon him as more of a hero than many whom Carlyle would worship; and "Hypatia" and two sermons of Dr Pusey's against Germanism, and part of "Hero Worship", to say nothing of pamphlets and magazines, and a diligent study of "The Times" every evening. "Hypatia" is a marvel; very painful because it gives such a miserable view of Christianity in those days. In striving to be true, the description seems as if it must be untrue, even by its own acknowledgment. There must have been self-denial and faith, and charity working beneath those turbulent outward scenes. Yet it gives one no sympathy with philosophy. Mrs Meyrick and I both agree that "Pelagia" wins our affection much more than "Hypatia".'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Missing Sewell      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia or New Foes with an Old Face

'I have written a little, and read a good deal, - the second volume of "Sir Charles Metcalfe's Life", which makes me look upon him as more of a hero than many whom Carlyle would worship; and "Hypatia" and two sermons of Dr Pusey's against Germanism, and part of "Hero Worship", to say nothing of pamphlets and magazines, and a diligent study of "The Times" every evening. "Hypatia" is a marvel; very painful because it gives such a miserable view of Christianity in those days. In striving to be true, the description seems as if it must be untrue, even by its own acknowledgment. There must have been self-denial and faith, and charity working beneath those turbulent outward scenes. Yet it gives one no sympathy with philosophy. Mrs Meyrick and I both agree that "Pelagia" wins our affection much more than "Hypatia".'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Mrs Meyrick      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : 

'I mean to copy you out some lines of my [italics] hero [end italics], Mr Kingsley'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Alton Locke

'On the 21st February [1851] their [Alfred and Emily Tennyson's] diary reads: "We read Alton Locke"'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Alfred and Emily Tennyson     Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia

Alfred Tennyson to Charles Kingsley (1853): 'Part of the conclusion [of Hypatia] seems to me particularly valuable. I mean the talk of the Christianized Jew to the classic boy. Hypatia's mistreatment by the Alexandrians I found almost too horrible. It is very powerful and tragic; but I objected to the word "naked." Pelagia's nakedness has nothing which revolts one... but I really was hurt at having Hypatia stript, tho' I see that it adds to the tragic, and the picture as well as the moral is a fine one.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Alfred Tennyson      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : 

'The programme of selections from and papers on Kingsley was then proceeded with, C.E. Stansfield reading a paper on Kingsley as a religious leader and F.J. Edminson on a visit to Warsley [?]. Readings were given by Mrs Stansfield, Mrs Goadby and A. Rawlings.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Alfred Rawlings      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : 

'The programme of selections from and papers on Kingsley was then proceeded with, C.E. Stansfield reading a paper on Kingsley as a religious leader and F.J. Edminson on a visit to Warsley [?]. Readings were given by Mrs Stansfield, Mrs Goadby and A. Rawlings.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Pattie Stansfield      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : 

'The programme of selections from and papers on Kingsley was then proceeded with, C.E. Stansfield reading a paper on Kingsley as a religious leader and F.J. Edminson on a visit to Warsley [?]. Readings were given by Mrs Stansfield, Mrs Goadby and A. Rawlings.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Lilian Goadby      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hypatia

'On board the steamer between Marseilles and Malta, besides reading "Hypatia", which was "too highly coloured" for his taste, and re-reading "Tancred", and writing "more than half the preface" to his lectures, he found time to send home a long letter'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Arthur Penrhyn Stanley      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : The Water Babies

Transcript of interview: 'I don’t think there was anything that I wasn’t allowed to read. It was only when I went to school to boarding school and all my friends were reading Gone with the Wind, and my mother decided she would rather I didn’t read Gone with the Wind because of a very racy chapter where Melanie gives birth to a baby and she didn’t think that was suitable for me. I was thirteen or fourteen and I didn’t read it but I did read Vicky Baum’s Hotel Berlin which had a much worse scene where a woman gave birth in a rowing boat… I can’t think of anything that was actually banned at all. I read lots and lots of my father’s books and this was a book that I loved - Palgrave’s Golden Treasury [shows book]. My mother gave me this [shows book]. This is the one I learned to read on. This is the Water Babies. I remember sitting up in bed reading Mrs Be Done By As You Did and shouting out “I can read, I can read”! I was six. I didn’t learn to read until quite late.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Hilary Spalding      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Hereward

8 February 1875: 'We had an agreeable journey to Folkestone where we took ship [for china-collecting expedition in Europe] [...] I was driven below by the intense cold so I lay down and read, with the greatest interest, my friend Charles Kingsley's Hereward. The subject is laid in my own Lincolnshire, and I know all the scenery he describes o'er well.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Lady Charlotte Schreiber      Print: Book

  

Charles Kingsley : Westward Ho!

Meeting held at Ashton Lodge :- 3. 7. 37.

Henry Marriage Wallis in the Chair.

1. Minutes of last read & approved


[...]

7. The Meeting then gave its attention to Witches.

H. M Wallis led off with a paper on Witchcraft and readings were given from the following books:- MacBeth – The Witch Scene[?] by Janet Rawlings, Dorothy Brain, & Dorothea Taylor with F. E. Pollard & V. W. Alexander as Banquo & MacBeth
Samuel – The Witch of Endor scene by Mary Robson
Westward Ho (Lucy), by Dorothy Brain
Trials for Witchcraft, by Howard Smith
Precious Bane, by Rosamund Wallis

Between all these items there was considerable discussion. Members were able to vie with one another in tale of mystery and eerie happenings, and if all the conversation was not strictly relevant at least the interest did not flag.

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Dorothy Brain      Print: Book

 

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