Evidence: | 'There was Hamish, confirmed practical joker, who donned stage make-up and a false beard and, pretending serious research, persuaded a member of the Bodleian staff to bring him John Wilkes's "Essay on Woman" - a work so scandalous that it was on the restricted access list - and copied it out for [itaklics] zamizdat [end italics] circulation among a select few:
"Awake my Fanny, leave all meaner things,
This morn shall show what rapture swiving brings..."
I accepted a copy, on several sheets of smudged carbon, and for many weeks hid it in the lining of my trunk, expecting that at any moment, in some fateful fashion, the sin would proclaim itself'. |
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Century: | 1900-1945 | ||||||||||
Date: | From: 1 Oct 1939 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | city: Oxford | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
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Reader: | Ralph Glasser |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | 3 Apr 1916 |
Socio-economic group: | Professional / academic / merchant / farmer |
Occupation: | later economist |
Religion: | Jewish |
Country of origin: | England, of Lithuanian origins |
Country of experience: | England |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | John Wilkes |
Title: | Essay on Woman |
Genre: | Poetry |
Form of Text: | Manuscript: Unknown |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | owned |
Record ID: | 20320 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | Ralph Glasser | |
Editor: | n/a | |
Title: | Gorbals Boy at Oxford | |
Place of Publication: | London | |
Date of Publication: | 1988 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 11-12 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | Ralph Glasser, Gorbals Boy at Oxford (London, 1988), p. 11-12, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=20320, accessed: 26 April 2024 |
MS copy of a book held at the Bodleian library |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)