Record Number: 28553
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
Charlotte Bronte (as Currer Bell) to her publisher, W. S. Williams, 3 March 1848:
'I have received the "Christian Remembrancer," and read the review. It is written with some
ability — but, to do justice was evidently not the critic's main object; therefore he excuses
himself from performing that duty.
'I daresay the reviewer imagines that [italics]Currer Bell[end italics] ought to be extremely
afflicted, very much cut up by some smart things he says: this however is not the case.
C. Bell is, on the whole, rather encouraged than dispirited by the review: the hard-wrung
praise extorted reluctantly from a foe is the most precious praise of all; you are sure that
this, at least, has no admixture of flattery. I fear he has too high an opinion of my abilities
and of what I can do; but that is his own fault. In other respects, he aims his shafts in the
dark, and the success, or rather, ill success of his hits makes me laugh rather than cry. His
shafts of sarcasm are nicely polished, keenly pointed; he should not have wasted them in
shooting at a mark he cannot see.
'I hope such reviews will not make much difference with me; and that if the spirit moves me
in future to say anything about priests &c. I shall say it with the same freedom as heretofore.'
1800-1849
Date:Between 1 Feb 1848 and 3 Mar 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:review of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Genre:Essays / Criticism
Form of Text:Print: Serial / periodical
Publication DetailsIn The Christian Remembrancer
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:28553
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:195
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2, p. 195, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28553, accessed: 29 September 2024
Additional Comments:
None