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: 17980


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Tuesday 19 January 1915: 'I'm reading The Idiot. I cant bear the style of it very often; at the same time, he seems to me to have the kind of vitality in him that Scott had; only Scott merely made superb ordinary people, & D. creates wonders, with very subtle brains, & fearful sufferings. Perhaps the likeness to Scott partly consists in the loose, free & easy, style of the translation. I am also reading Michelet, plodding through the dreary middle ages; & Fanny Kemble's Life. Yesterday in the train I read The Rape of the Lock, which seems to me "supreme" -- almost superhuman in its beauty & brilliancy -- you really can't believe such things are written down.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1915 and 19 Jan 1915

Country:

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:

Virginia Woolf

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Jan 1882

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Agnostic

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Fanny Kemble

Title:

'Life'

Genre:

Drama, Biography, Arts / architecture

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

17980

Source:

Print

Author:

Virginia Woolf

Editor:

Anne Olivier Bell

Title:

The Diary of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1977

Vol:

1

Page:

23

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Virginia Woolf, Anne Olivier Bell (ed.), The Diary of Virginia Woolf (London, 1977), 1, p. 23, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=17980, accessed: 26 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Not clear which of Kemble's five autobiographical works Woolf was reading.

   
   
Green Turtle Web Design