Record Number: 19047

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Monday 18 November 1940: 'These queer little sand castles, I was thinking; I was finishing Herbert Read's autobiography this morning at breakfast. Little boys making sand castles. This refers to H. Read; Tom Eliot; Santayana; Wells. Each is weathertight, & gives shelter to the occupant. I think I can follow Read's building; so far as one can follow what one cannot build. But I am the sea which demolishes these castles [...] meaning that owing to Read's article on Roger [Fry, or Woolf's biography of Fry], his self that built the castle is to me destructive of its architecture [comments further] [...] I am carrying on, while I read, the idea of women discovering, like the 19th century rationalists, agnostics, that man is no longer God. My position, ceasing to accept the religion, is quite unlike Read's, Wells', Tom's, or Santayana's. It is essential to remain outside; & realise my own beliefs: or rather not to accept theirs.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

18 Nov 1940

Country:

England

Time

morning

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

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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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Herbert Read

Title:

Annals of Innocence and Experience

Genre:

Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1940

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

19047

Source:

Print

Author:

Virginia Woolf

Editor:

Anne Olivier Bell

Title:

The Diary of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1984

Vol:

5

Page:

340

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Virginia Woolf, Anne Olivier Bell (ed.), The Diary of Virginia Woolf (London, 1984), 5, p. 340, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=19047, accessed: 25 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None