Switch to English Switch to French

The Open University  |   Study at the OU  |   About the OU  |   Research at the OU  |   Search the OU

Listen to this page  |   Accessibility

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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
  RED International Logo

RED Australia logo


RED Canada logo
RED Netherlands logo
RED New Zealand logo

Listings for Author:  

Rebecca West

 

Click here to select all entries:

 


  

Rebecca West : Return of the Soldier

'Sunday 25th July. ?Return of the Soldier? - (Rebecca West). A very sad book. The hero is rather imbecile as interpreted by the woman character who tells the story.'

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

  

Rebecca West : The Strange Necessity

'I have been reading a very fine essay by Rebecca West, ?The Strange Necessity?. It is on the nature of Art ? and even Robert Lynd considers it difficult. I?ve just finished my second reading ? and will go through it again to copy out definitions. She has really a first class mind.'

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

  

Rebecca West : The Judge

Virginia Woolf to Ottoline Morrell, 18 August 1922: 'Poor Rebecca West's novel bursts like an over stuffed sausage. She pours it all in; and one is covered with flying particles; indeed I had hastily to tie the judge tight and send it back to Mudies [Library] half finished. But this irreticence does not make me think any the worse of her human qualities [...] I do admire poor old Henry [James], and actually read through the Wings of a Dove [1902] last summer, and thought it such an amazing acrobatic feat, partly of his, partly of mine, that I now look upon myself and Henry James as partners in merit. I made it all out. But I felt very ill for some time afterwards. I am now reading Joyce, and my impression, after 200 out of 700 pages, is that the poor young man has got the dregs of a mind compared even with George Meredith. I mean if you could weigh the meaning on Joyces [sic] page it would be about 10 times as light as on Henry James'.'

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

  

Rebecca West : Harriet Hume

Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West, 17 September 1929: 'I've only read 30 pages of Rebecca [West] [...] I agree that the convention is tight and affected and occasionally foppish beyond endurance, but then it is a convention and she does it deliberately, and it helps her to manufacture some pretty little China ornaments for the mantelpiece. One could read some of it again'.

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

  

Rebecca West : Harriet Hume

'I say, has Rebecca West's book come your way? It is unreadable. It is a brew of Meredith, 'Orlando' and Amanda Ross.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Vita Sackville-West      Print: Book

  

Rebecca West : The Judge

'It was at this meeting, where she was one of the speakers, that I first saw Rebecca West, whose novel "The Judge", which had recently been published, I had read with a disturbed and passionate interest.'

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

 

Click here to select all entries:

 

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design