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

Record Number: 26475


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I have an idea dear Jack that any comment on your work can be nothing by now but ( in the words of the Pole in "[A] Lear of the Steppes"), "perfectly superfluous chatter". '

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1898 and 30 Dec

Country:

unknown

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

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Ivan Turgenev

Title:

A Lear of the Steppes and Other Stories

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Almost certainly Constance Garnett's translation (Heinemann, 1898) of the 1870 text

Provenance

owned
almost certainly sent to Conrad by Edward Garnett.


Source Information:

Record ID:

26475

Source:

Print

Author:

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:

381

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy dated 27 October, 1910 Capel House.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911 (Cambridge, 1990), 4, p. 381, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=26475, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

The reference is to Kvitzinsky the manager in the title story (fn.1, p.381 of source text.) It is known (Knowles and Moore 2000, p.376) that Conrad's immersed himself in reading Turgenev's works as soon as they appeared in Garnett's translations between 1895 and 1900.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design