Reading Experience Database
1450-1945

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Record 28770

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Charlotte Bronte to Sydney Dobell, 3 February 1854:]


'"Balder" arrived safely. I looked at him, before cutting his leaves, with singular pleasure [...] I have read him. He impresses me thus: He teems with power; I found in him a wild wealth of life [...]


'There is power in that character of "Balder," and to me a certain horror. Did you mean it to embody, along with force, any of the special defects of the artistic character? It seems to me that those defects were never thrown out in stronger lines. I did not and could not think you meant to offer him as your cherished ideal of the true great poet; I regard him as a vividly coloured picture of inflated self-esteem, almost frantic aspiration; of a nature that has made a Moloch of intellect — offered up, in pagan fires, the natural affections — sacrificed the heart to the brain. Do we not all know that true greatness is simple, self-oblivious, prone to unambitious, unselfish attachments? I am certain you feel this truth in your heart of hearts.'

Century: 1850-1899
Date: Between 1 Jan 1853 and 3 Feb 1854
Country: England
Time: n/a
Place: city: Haworth
county: Yorkshire
   
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:Charlotte Bronte
Age Adult (18-100+)
Gender Female
Date of Birth 21 Apr 1816
Socio-economic group: Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation: Writer
Religion: n/a
Country of origin: England
Country of experience: England
Listeners present if any:
(e.g. family, servants, friends, workmates)
n/a
Additional comments: n/a

 

Text Being Read:

Author: Sydney Dobell
Title: Balder
Genre: Fiction, Poetry
Form of Text: Print: Book
Publication details: 1853
Provenance: unknown

 

Source Information:

Record ID: 28770  
Source - Print  
  Author: n/a
  Editor: Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington
  Title: The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence
  Place of Publication: Oxford
  Date of Publication: 1980
  Vol: 2:4
  Page: 102-103
  Additional comments: n/a

Citation: Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence (Oxford, 1980), 2:4, p. 102-103, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=28770, accessed: 28 March 2024

Additional comments:

 

 

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