Record Number: 10190

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'on his eighth birthday, 27 February 1920, an ox-cart drew up outside Everleas Lodge with a present for him - a huge parcel of books. His father had bought him a complete set of Dickens which had belonged to a recently expired tea-planter. Durrell claimed later that he never got beyond the Pickwick Papers (sometimes he said that he got through about ten of them), but Dickens gave him a vision of merrie England... supplemented later by reading Thackeray and R.S. Surtees. In Surtees' convivial tales of the hunting, shooting, sporting Mr Jorrocks and his pursuitful adventures, there was something ruddy, jolly and rumbustious, which appealed to the perky youngster'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 27 Feb 1920 and 31 Dec 1930

Country:

India

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Darjeeling
specific address: Jesuit College of St Joseph at North Point

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Lawrence Durrell

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

27 Feb 1912

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

later writer; engineer's son

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Britain / India (Parents English and Irish but Indian born)

Country of Experience:

India

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Charles Dickens

Title:

Pickwick Papers

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
gift from father, originally belonging to expired tea-planter

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Source Information:

Record ID:

10190

Source:

Print

Author:

Gordon Bowker

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Through the Dark Labyrinth: A Biography of Lawrence Durrell

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1996

Vol:

n/a

Page:

13

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Gordon Bowker, Through the Dark Labyrinth: A Biography of Lawrence Durrell, (London, 1996), p. 13, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=10190, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

None