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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
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Record Number: 18032


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I shall have, however, to give up reading your works at dinner, for they are too disturbing. I can't explain, I'll have to explain verbally some day. Unless you can guess. How well you write, though, confound you. When I read you, I feel no one has ever written English prose before, - Knocked it about, put it in its place, made it into a servant.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

17 Jun 1926

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:

Vita Sackville-West

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

9 Mar 1892

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

Novelist

Religion:

unknown

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:

Virginia Woolf

Title:

unknown

Genre:

Fiction, Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

18032

Source:

Print

Author:

Vita Sackville-West

Editor:

Louise de Salvo

Title:

The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

Great Britain

Date of Publication:

1984

Vol:

n/a

Page:

144

Additional Comments:

Quotation taken from a letter dated 17 June 1926 written by Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf. 'How well you write' is printed in italics. Additional editor Mitchell A. Leaska.

Citation:

Vita Sackville-West, Louise de Salvo (ed.), The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf (Great Britain, 1984), p. 144, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=18032, accessed: 26 April 2024


Additional Comments:

As Vita Sackville-West was referring to Virginia Woolf's works in general it is not possible to specify a single place of experience. However the letter from which the quotation comes was written at Vita's home: Long Barn, Weald, Sevenoaks.

   
   
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