Record Number: 19434

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I can't tell you what delight and happiness The Eternal Moment has been to me, and I can't thank you enough for your very great kindness in sending it to me. Even though I was undergoing the horrors of a bad attack of influenza, I realised what a wonderful book it is. Well, all I know is that "The Machine Stops" made me feel as though I had come out of dark tunnel in which I had always lived into an immense open space, and were seeing things living for the first time. I believe it is the most tremendous short story of our generation. But then the whole book has got every quality of beauty and truth and illumination. I do think "The Point of It" is such a wonderful story too, and "The Eternal Moment" is enough to frighten one out of one's wits - but not to frighten one only. It is, in a way, the most terrifying ghost story I have ever read. The strange thing about these stories is that every time one reads them and I've read them all several times already, one finds fresh beauties in them. They seem to have an inexhaustible store.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1928 and 30 Mar 1928

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

specific address: Likely to be 22 Pembridge Mansions, Moscow Road, London W2

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:

Edith Sitwell

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

7 Sep 1887

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

Poet

Religion:

Christian

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:

E M Forster

Title:

The Eternal Moment

Genre:

Fiction, Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1928. The Eternal Moment is an assembly of six stories that, although not published until 1928, were all written before 1914.

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

19434

Source:

Print

Author:

Edith Sitwell

Editor:

Richard Greene

Title:

Selected Letters of Edith Sitwell

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1998

Vol:

n/a

Page:

90

Additional Comments:

This is an extract from a letter dated 30 March 1928 to E M Forster that begins ' 'Dear Mr. Forster' and in which Edith goes on to relate her experiences at a 'Poets Reading' that included Bob Nichols reading an Act of his 'Don Juan'. She also suggests that 'it would be delightful to see [Forster] again'.

Citation:

Edith Sitwell, Richard Greene (ed.), Selected Letters of Edith Sitwell (London, 1998), p. 90, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=19434, accessed: 26 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Edith's effusive praise here may be an indication of the extent to which she agreed with the ethical values ( their ' ..quality of beauty and truth..') espoused in the book and the extent to which she was able to relate to the content of some of the stories personally. Her reaction to ' The Machine Stops' for example is, perhaps, an indication that she found the story an acute metaphor for the 'emotional distancing' that she suffered in her own life. We might consider that this is what she found'...illuminating...'