Record Number: 21856

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'In his copy of Vigny's "Chatterton" he marked the sentence, "En toi la reverie continuelle a tue l'action", and in Renan he marked a comment that the Celts knew how to plunge their hands into a man's entrails and bring out secrets of the infinite. What he always thought of as his Celtic strain would have been fascinated by "La Tentation de St Antoine", in which Flaubert meticulously describes the saint's visions of strange and dreadful beings. Owen read the book with care, underlining frequently. Tailhade had also marked it, writing "cretin!" against a criticism by the editor of the novel's "grands defauts". Evidently agreing with Tailhade, Owen went on to read at least two more of Flaubert's novels, "Madame Bovary" and "Salammbo". "Flaubert has my vote for novel-writing!", he exclaimed to Gunston in July 1915, and he told his mother that he was reading "Salammbo" "with more interest than the Communiques".'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 20 Aug 1914 and 31 Jul 1915

Country:

France

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:

Wilfred Owen

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

18 Mar 1893

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

tutor, later soldier and poet

Religion:

none

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

France

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:

Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse

Genre:

Autobiog / Diary

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
gift from Tailhade

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Source Information:

Record ID:

21856

Source:

Print

Author:

Dominic Hibberd

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Owen the Poet

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke

Date of Publication:

1986

Vol:

n/a

Page:

39-40

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Dominic Hibberd, Owen the Poet, (Basingstoke, 1986), p. 39-40, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=21856, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

None