Record Number: 1973

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'V.S. Pritchett had an uncle, an atheist cabinet-maker, who taught himself to read from The Anatomy of Melancholy, even acquiring a few Latin and Greek words from the notes. "Look it up in Burton, lad", became his inevitable response to any question. "Burton was Uncle Arthur's emancipation", wrote Pritchett, "it set him free from the tyranny of the Bible in chapel-going circles". Whenever his pious relatives quoted Scripture at each other, he could trump them with something from The Anatomy of Melancholy.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

unknown

Country:

n/a

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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Arthur

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

n/a

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

cabinetmaker

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

V.S. Pritchett's Uncle

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Robert Burton

Title:

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Genre:

Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

1973

Source:

Print

Author:

Jonathan Rose

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Place of Publication:

New Haven

Date of Publication:

2001

Vol:

n/a

Page:

97

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, (New Haven, 2001), p. 97, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=1973, accessed: 22 November 2024

---

Additional Comments:

See V.S. Pritchett, 'A Cab at the Door' (London, 1968), pp.47-8