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: 4556


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The Bermant family arrived in Scotland when Chaim was eight: before his ninth birthday he had mastered enough English to read Beatrix Potter in the Mitchell Library. Her stories were not so alien to him as one might imagine: somehow the animal characters reminded him of the Latvian village from which he had come. Chaim soon became a fan of the Beano's Lord Snooty, an aristocrat who inexplicably consorted with a gang of working class kids: the strip fulfilled every schoolboy's fantasy of finding himself among wealthy people in a noble setting"...[as] young Bermant... followed the progress of the Second World War on the Glasgow Herald and the Manchester Guardian [he felt a strong sense of British identity]. The war, the school, the boys' weeklies were all "building up new obsessions to replace the old and drawing reassurance and pride from the Empire".'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1939 and 31 Dec 1945

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Glasgow

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:

Chaim Bermant

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

26 Feb 1929

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

father a rabbi then a slaughterer; Bermant later a writer

Religion:

Jewish

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

n/a

Title:

The Manchester Guardian

Genre:

Reference / General works

Form of Text:

Print: Newspaper

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

4556

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

334-5

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (New Haven, 2001), p. 334-5, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=4556, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

See Chaim Bermant, 'Coming Home' (London, 1976), pp 39-40, 54

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design