Record Number: 28549
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
Charlotte Bronte to George Henry Lewes, 12 January 1848:
'Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to
say that you would have rather written "Pride and Prejudice" or "Tom Jones," than any of the
Waverley Novels?
'I had not seen "Pride and Prejudice" till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book.
And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully
fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a
bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should
hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These
observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk.
'Now I can understand admiration of George Sand; for though I never saw any of her works
which I admired throughout (even "Consuelo," which is the best, or the best that I have read,
appears to me to couple strange extravagance with wondrous excellence), yet she has a grasp
of mind which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect: she is sagacious and
profound; Miss Austen is only shrewd and observant.'
1800-1849
Date:Between 1 Oct 1847 and 12 Jan 1848
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(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:Female
Date of Birth:21 Mar 1816
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Writer
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
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Pride and Prejudice
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:28549
Source:n/a
Editor:James Wise and John Alexander Symington
Title:The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence
Place of Publication:Oxford
Date of Publication:1980
Vol:2
Page:179-180
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2, p. 179-180, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28549, accessed: 22 November 2024
Additional Comments:
None