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

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Record Number: 28966


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'At other times he would tell me about the Malay Archipelago and the Malays and show me pictures in A. R. Wallace's book about that part of the world.


[...]

He would read to me about far away places, explaining how the natives built their houses on poles driven into the river beds of eastern rivers.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1910 and 1914

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Orlestone nr. Ashford
Kent
Capel House

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
Gentry 'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

England

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

John Conrad, Joseph's Conrad's younger son


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Alfred Russel Wallace

Title:

The Malay Archipelago The Land of the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise

Genre:

Geography / Travel, Science, Natural history

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

first published Macmillan, 1869, two volumes, revised through 10 editions, last in 1890

Provenance

owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

28966

Source:

Print

Author:

John Conrad

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Joseph Conrad: Times Remembered

Place of Publication:

Cambridge

Date of Publication:

1981

Vol:

n/a

Page:

25, 101-2

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

John Conrad, Joseph Conrad: Times Remembered  (Cambridge, 1981), p. 25, 101-2, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=28966, accessed: 29 March 2024


Additional Comments:

These are two of a number of references, though there are none specifically by name in Conrad's letters, to his serial reading of Wallace's 'The Malay Archipelago. It was said to be 'a constant companion of Conrad's from the mid 1890s onward' (p.304 Knowles and Moore, 2000).

   
   
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