Reading Experience Database
1450-1945

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Record 13108

Reading Experience:

Evidence:
A friend of mine, a Welsh blacksmith, was twenty-five years old and could neither read nor write, when he heard a chapter of 'Robinson' read aloud in a farm kitchen. Up to that moment he had sat content, huddled in his ignorance, but he left that farm another man. There were day-dreams, it appeared, divine day-dreams, written and printed and bound, and to be bought for money and enjoyed at pleasure. Down he sat that day, painfully learning to read Welsh, and returned to borrow the book. It had been lost, nor could he find another copy but one that was in English. Down he sat once more, learned English, and at length, and with entire delight, read 'Robinson'.
Century: 1850-1899
Date: Between 1 Jan 1850 and 31 Oct 1882
Country: Wales
Time: n/a
Place: location in dwelling: farm kitchen
   
Type of Experience (Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Type of Experience (Listener):
solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown

Reader/Listener/Reading Group:

Listener:anon
Age Adult (18-100+)
Gender Male
Date of Birth n/a
Socio-economic group: Labourer (non-agricultural)
Occupation: Blacksmith
Religion: n/a
Country of origin: Wales
Country of experience: Wales
Listeners present if any:
(e.g. family, servants, friends, workmates)
n/a
Additional comments: n/a

 

Text Being Read:

Author: Daniel Defoe
Title: Robinson Crusoe
Genre: Fiction, Geography / Travel
Form of Text: Print: Book
Publication details: Welsh translation
Provenance: unknown

 

Source Information:

Record ID: 13108  
Source - Print  
  Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
  Editor: n/a
  Title: 'A Gossip on Romance' in Longman's Magazine
  Place of Publication: n/a
  Date of Publication: November 1882
  Vol: 1:1
  Page: 273-4
  Additional comments: n/a

Citation: Robert Louis Stevenson, 'A Gossip on Romance' in Longman's Magazine (November 1882), 1:1, p. 273-4, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=13108, accessed: 18 April 2024

Additional comments:

Stevenson's 'A Gossip on Romance' was first published in Longman's Magazine, 1:1 (November 1882), 69-79.

 

 

Reading Experience Database version 2.0.  Page updated: 27th Apr 2016  3:15pm (GMT)