'Frances Stevenson, born in 1888, recollected [in The years that Are Past, 1967] that she "read greedily [pre-1914] ... Even before my teens my reading entered upon the romantic stage. I read Quo Vadis ... Rider Haggard's She ... Robert Ellesmere ..."'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Frances Stevenson Print: Book
"'More even than with the contemptible inexpressiveness of the whole thing,' Henry James wrote after reading She ... 'I am struck with the beastly bloodiness of it ...'"
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Henry James Print: Book
'Thomas Hardy, to whom [Rider] Haggard sent his Norse adventure "Eric Brighteyes" (1891), was roused by "a wild illustration" to start reading a chapter nearer the end than the beginning ...'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Hardy Print: Book
'Percy Wall described his [colliery] institute as a "blatantly utilitarian" building with a "square cemented front" and a "drab, poorly lit" reading room, but it offered a wonderful escape from a dull Welsh village: "I could view the future through the words of H.G. Wells, participate in the elucidation of mysteries with Sherlock Holmes,... or penetrate darkest Africa with Rider Haggard as my guide. I could laugh at the comic frustrations of coaster seaman or bargee at the call of W.A. Jacobs. What a gloriously rich age it was for the storyteller!... When the stories palled there was always the illustrated weeklies with their pictures of people and conditions remote from my personal experience... I could laugh with Punch or Truth, although some of the humour was much too subtle for my limited education. Above all I could study the Review of Reviews and learn therein the complexities of foreign affairs.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Wall Print: Book
'It is equally possible for the same reader to adopt different frames for the same story, relishing it on one level while seeing through the claptrap on another. In his youth Aneurin Bevan enjoyed the Magnet and Gem surreptitiously (his father forbade them) and devoured H. Rider Haggard at the Tredegar Workmen's Institute Library. But during the 'Phoney War' he lambasted the government's stupidly optimistic predictions in precisely the same terms: "Immediately on the outbreak of war, England was given over to the mental level of the Boys' Own Paper and the Magnet..." In 1944 Bevan freely admitted that "William le Queux, John Buchan and Phillips Oppenheim have always been favourites of ours in our off-moments. Part of their charm lies in their juvenile attitude".'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Aneurin Bevan Print: Book
'Growing up in Lyndhurst after the First World War, R.L. Wild regularly read aloud to his marginally literate grandmother and his completely illiterate grandfather - and it was his grandparents who selected the books... "I shall never understand how this choice was made. Until I started reading to them they had no more knowledge of English literature than a Malay Aborigine... I suppose it was their very lack of knowledge that made the choice, from "Quo Vadis" at eight, Rider Haggard's "She" at nine. By the time I was twelve they had come to know, intimately, a list of authors ranging from Shakespeare to D.H. Lawrence. All was grist to the mill (including Elinor Glyn). The classics, poetry, essays, belles lettres. We took them all in MY stride. At times we stumbled on gems that guided us to further riches. I well remember the Saturday night they brought home "The Essays of Elia". For months afterwards we used it as our roadmap...".'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: R.L. Wild Print: Book
'W.J. Brown was introduced to literature by "Robinson Crusoe", "She", "The Last of the Mohicans", and "Around the World in Eighty Days", and he never moved far beyond that level. He tried "The Idiot" and "The Brothers Karamazov", but found them too depressing, perhaps because his life was anything but Dostoevskian'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: William John Brown Print: Book
Henry James to Robert Louis Stevenson, 2 August 1886: "Since I saw you [on Sunday 1 August] I have finished Solomon and read half of 'She' ... It isn't nice that anything so vulgarly brutal should be the thing that succeeds most with the English of today [goes on to complain further of violence and racism in this novel]."
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Henry James Print: Book
Henry James to Robert Louis Stevenson, 2 August 1886: "Since I saw you [on Sunday 1 August] I have finished Solomon and read half of 'She' ... It isn't nice that anything so vulgarly brutal should be the thing that succeeds most with the English of today [goes on to complain further of violence and racism in this novel]."
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Henry James Print: Book
'Kipling had now been supplemented with Henty, Ballantyne, Rider Haggard and John Buchan, all with their own tales of imperial derring-do to tell theimpressionable young colonial'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Lawrence Durrell Print: Book
'In a BBC talk of 1947 about the book that had most influenced her early years, she chose to talk about Rider Haggard's "She"; she came upon it at the age of twelve, "when I was finding the world too small". The descriptions of Kor, the great derelict city, caught her imagination. She "saw" Kor before she ever saw London: "Inevitably, the Thames Embankment was a disappointment".'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Bowen Print: Book
'Friday. Lovely day. Walked about[.] No letters. Shown sketches by Russian ... Read Aysha [sic] by Rider Haggard. Ev Bridge. Did not play well. Gym gets on well.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: William Thomas Print: Book
'Thurs. Nil by mail. Read Red Eve by Ryder Haggard.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: William Thomas Print: Book
'Read Pearl Maiden.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Vera Pennefather Print: Book
'Babs better kept him quiet in bed all day & read
King Solomon's Mines to him & Dick.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Kept Dick in bed all day. Read "King Solomon's
Mines" to him & worked with Tub at the Dutch garden.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Read "She" to Roley after tea.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Roley back from school about 4. Told him to come
early, as I was afraid of his being out late with
his chill. Read "She" to him.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Roley back for lunch, first swimming lesson this
term. Read him Eric Brighteyes after lunch, then he
went up to swimming.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Went through the books, sat on deckchairs and worked
at Evie's undie set. Indications of baby coming
after lunch. Nurse went for a walk. I sat on lawn &
worked. Tea in garden, wrote to Tottie & postcard to
Harrods, then read Eric Brighteyes to Babs till Tub
came home, while nurses prepared room.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Kept Babs at home as I was afraid he'd be too tired
in the morning for the early start. He watched Baby
have her bath, then had his hair cut & bought cakes
while Nurses washed me. Read "Eric Brighteyes" to
him till D.R came.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Very hot day. Tub played tennis with the Malonys in
the afternoon. I read Eric Brighteyes to Babs. Mrs
Salter came to see me about 7 oclock.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
'Very hot again, but more breeze. Washed my hair
after my bath and dried it in the garden. Roley home
for lunch. Finished "Eric Brighteyes" to him in the
garden after lunch.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Verena Pennefather Print: Book
