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

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Record Number: 21546


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Years ago I looked into "Typee" and "Omoo" but as I didn't find there what I am looking for when I open a book I did go no further. Lately I had in my hand "Moby Dick". It struck me as a rather strained rhapsody with whaling for a subject and not a single sincere line in the 3 vols of it.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

unknown

Country:

unknown, France or England

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

originally Polish Catholic, by now agnostic/atheist

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

unknown, France or England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Herman Melville

Title:

Moby Dick or The Whale

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

First British publication London:Richard Bentley 1851, details of copy read by Conrad unknown, possibly 1900 or 1902 edn or very recent Everyman edn

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

21546

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies)

Title:

The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 3, 1903-1907

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1988

Vol:

n/a

Page:

408

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to Humphrey Milford [Oxford University Press] dated 15 January 1907, Riche Hotel, Montpellier.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies) (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 3, 1903-1907 (Cambridge, 1988), p. 408, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=21546, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

1.Conrad had been approached by O.U.P. to write a preface and later in the letter suggested that W.H.Hudson be asked instead. 2. Melville's "Typee" and "Omoo" have not been recorded as reading experiences since the evidence suggests that they were not actually read.

   
   
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