Record Number: 25777
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'At one time I knew entire pages of "Madame Bovary" by heart. But if "Madame Bovary" is a masterpiece "Salammbô" is close to a miracle. I well remember that when I was writing "[The]N[igger]of [the] N[arcissus]", "Salammbô" was my morning book.While taking coffee I would read a page or two at random--and there is hardly a page that isn't marvellous.'
Century:1850-1899
Date:Between 1879 and 1887
Country:England
Timemorning
Place:city: Stanford le Hope
county: Essex
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: 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:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Salammbô
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsfirst published Paris: Charpentier, 1862. The specific French edition read by Conrad unidentified
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:25777
Source:Joseph Conrad
Editor:Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies
Title:The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Date of Publication:1990
Vol:4
Page:310
Additional Comments:
Trans. of letter in French from Joseph Conrad to Robert d'Humières dated 23 December 1909, Aldington.
Citation:
Joseph Conrad, Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911 (Cambridge, 1990), 4, p. 310, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=25777, accessed: 25 April 2024
Additional Comments:
Robert d'Humières (1868-1915), translated "The Nigger of the Narcissus" into French in 1910. Conrad's debt to Flaubert is well documented (see Yves Hervouet, Cambridge University Press, 2008).