Evidence: | 'There are books one seems to have read before, and books one doesn't want to read, books that one reads with annoyance, pleasure, exasperation or wonder; but this, your "P[oor]M[an's] H[ouse" is a book for which one seems to have waited all the time [...]. I am not a critic. [...]. I will tell you instead what has happened. I walked into my room, came up to the table you know, took up your book and opened it at the first page of the text (not of the preface). When I came to myself with a queer sense of unutterable fatigue I was still standing and I had reached page 62--not glancing through mind you, but giving each phrase, each word, each image its full value as I went.'
Hence follow 16 lines of unqualified praise.
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Century: | 1900-1945 | ||||||||||
Date: | Between 3 Oct 1908 and 31 Oct 1908 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | city: Luton Hoo Estate county: Bedfordshire specific address: Someries location in dwelling: Study/library |
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Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
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Reader: | Joseph Conrad |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | 3 Dec 1857 |
Socio-economic group: | Professional / academic / merchant / farmer |
Occupation: | Master mariner and author |
Religion: | originally Polish Catholic, by now agnostic/atheist |
Country of origin: | Poland |
Country of experience: | England |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | Stephen Reynolds |
Title: | A Poor Man's House |
Genre: | Social Science, Geography / Travel, Agriculture / horticulture / husbandry |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | 1908 London Bodley Head |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 24966 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | Joseph Conrad | |
Editor: | Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies | |
Title: | The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911 | |
Place of Publication: | Cambridge | |
Date of Publication: | 1990 | |
Vol: | 4 | |
Page: | 134-135 | |
Additional comments: | Letter from Joseph Conrad to Stephen Reynolds, tentatively dated October 1908, Someries. |
Citation: | Joseph Conrad, Karl Frederick R. and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 4 1908-1911 (Cambridge, 1990), 4, p. 134-135, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=24966, accessed: 29 March 2024 |
This experience has been recorded in some detail because of the precise description of the reading experience. For note on author see letter May 1908 p. 84 of source text, fn. 2 |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)