Record Number: 19369
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I wanted to write to you about Your book [...] you know how paralysed one is sometimes-- and then we had talked--I had tried to talk of the book so many times that it seemed to have become part of me, that part of belief amd thought so intimate that it cannot be put into speech as if it cannot live apart from one coherent self.' [See also additional comments].
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 1 Jan 1900 and 5 Sep 1900
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Stanford near Hythe
county: Kent
specific address: Pent Farm
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:3 Dec 1857
Socio-Economic Group:Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility
Master mariner and author
Religion:Roman Catholic
Country of Origin:Poland
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Villa Rubein
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Details1900 published under the name of John Sinjohn
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:19369
Source:Joseph Conrad
Editor:Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies)
Title:The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2, 1898-1902
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Date of Publication:1986
Vol:2
Page:302-303
Additional Comments:
Letter from Joseph Conrad to John Galsworthy, dated 7th November 1900, Pent Farm.
Citation:
Joseph Conrad, Frederick R. Karl (and Laurence Davies) (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2, 1898-1902, (Cambridge, 1986), 2, p. 302-303, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19369, accessed: 18 July 2024
Additional Comments:
The nature of Conrad's reaction to this book is unclear from the evidence here. In an earlier letter to Galsworthy's sister Mabel Reynolds 5th September 1900 Conrad comments that the story "The Cosmopolitan" (later to appear as "A Knight" ) is 'in the clearness of the idea superior to the "Villa"'. The overall tone of the letter to Galsworthy suggest some reluctance to comment.