Record Number: 29663

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Meeting held at Frensham:    23.5.33
    Howard R. Smith in the chair

1. Minutes of last read & approved

[...]

5. We then proceeded to the subject for the evening "The Jew in Literature", which was dealt with by eight readings and some discussion of several of them. It proved to be rather a vast subject, & there was considerable disagreement as to what really are the racial characteristics of the Jews, and there is an even greater indefiniteness in the Secretary's mind as to what the Club collectively thinks on all this. It must suffice then to give a list of the readers and their readings.

Mary E. Robson an extract from Du Maurier's Trilby describing Svengali
Howard R. Smith from Heine, in the Temple
Shakespeare, on Shylock's love for Jessica
George H. S. Burrow two XIII Century ballads, Sir Hugh & The Jew's Daughter
Mary S. Stansfield from The Children of the Ghetto
Edgar B. Castle from F. W. H. Myers's St. Paul
Victor W. Alexander from Frazer's Folklore of the Old Testament
Sylvanus A. Reynolds, the Jew's Tale in Longfellow's Wayside Inn
Howard R. Smith from Hilaire Belloc's The Jews'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

23 May 1933

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Frensham, Northcourt Avenue

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary reactive unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Howard Smith

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1860

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

Quaker or associated with the Friends

Country of Origin:

n/a

Country of Experience:

England

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

Members of the XII Book Club

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Shakespeare

Title:

The Merchant of Venice

Genre:

Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

29663

Source:

Manuscript

Author:

Victor Alexander

Title:

XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938)

Location:

private collection

Call No:

n/a

Page/Folio:

67-69

Additional Information:

Victor Alexander was secretary to the XII Book Club from 1931 to 1940. It is inferred from this that he was the author of this set of minutes.

Citation:

Victor Alexander, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 3 (1931-1938), private collection, 67-69, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29663, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).