Record Number: 17768

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Virginia Stephen to Violet Dickinson, 25 December 1906: 'I am reading now a book by Renan called his Memories of Childhood [Cahiers de Jeunesse, 1906]: O my word it is beautiful -- like the chime of silver bells [...] I think it a virtue in the French language that it submits to prose, whereas English curls and knots and breaks off in short spasms of rage. Also I am reading my dear Christina Rossetti [...] the first of our English poetesses [...] Then I am reading your Keats, with the pleasure of one handling great luminous stones. I rise and shout in ecstacy, and my eyes brim with such pleasure that I must drop the book and gaze from the window. It is a beautiful edition.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Dec 1906 and 25 Dec 1906

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Lyndhurst
county: Hampshire

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:

Virginia Stephen

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Jan 1882

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Ernest Renan

Title:

Cahiers de Jeunesse

Genre:

Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1906

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

17768

Source:

Print

Author:

Virginia Woolf

Editor:

Joanne Trautmann Banks

Title:

Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters of Virginia Woolf

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1989

Vol:

n/a

Page:

34

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Virginia Woolf, Joanne Trautmann Banks (ed.), Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters of Virginia Woolf, (London, 1989), p. 34, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17768, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

Source ed. notes that edition of Keats a Christmas gift to Stephen from Dickinson; see p.34 n.4.