Record Number: 19403

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'You have promised me to read these stories and I would recommend you to begin with "The Last of the Mohicans"-- then go on with "Deerslayer" and end with the "Prairie". I read them at your age in that order;[..] Thirty four years ago is a long long time to look back upon.' Hence follows further comments about the language and content.

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1867 and 31 Dec 1868

Country:

Poland or Ukraine

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

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:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Child

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

Poland or Ukraine

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

James Fenimore Cooper

Title:

The Deerslayer

Genre:

Fiction, Children's Lit

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1841. Appeared in French in 1853 as part of the series "Romans populaires illustrés" ed. Bertall, Paris:Gustave Barba.

Provenance

owned
presumably acquired by Conrad's father (or late his guardian) for him to read

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Source Information:

Record ID:

19403

Source:

Print

Author:

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:

467

Additional Comments:

Letter from Joseph Conrad to David Garnett (b.1892) son of Edward and Constance Garnett, dated 22 December, 1902, 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. 467, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=19403, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

The works of Fenimore Cooper were available in this popular French series when Conrad was a small child. They were not at that stage translated into Polish and it is most likely therefore that Conrad as a child read them in French, though he later read them in English to his son Boris. (see also record IDs 29006,29007,29008)