Record Number: 32272
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Grant Allen’s”[The] Woman Who Did”, c’est un livre mort. Gr.[ant]Allen is a man of inferior intelligence and his work is not art in any sense. “[The] Woman Who Did” had a kind of success, of curiosity mostly—and that only among the philistines –the sort of people who read Marie Corelli and Hall Caine. Neither of these writers belongs to literature. All three are very popular with the public—and they are also puffed in the press.[...] Grant Allen is considered a man of letters among scholars and a scholar among men of letters. He writes popular scientific manuals equally well. En somme—un imbecile. Marie Corelli is not noticed critically by the serious reviews. She is simply ignored. Her books sell largely; Hall Caine is a kind of male Marie Corelli. [...] Among the writers who deserve attention the first is Rudyard Kipling (his last book, ”The Day’s Work”,a novel). J.M. Barrie—a Scotsman. His last book “Sentimental Tommy” (last year). [...] George Moore has published the novel “Evelyn Innes”—un succès d’estime. He is supposed to belong to to the naturalistic school and Zola is his prophet. Tout ça, c’est très vieux jeu. A certain Mr. T Watts-Dunton published the novel “Aylwin”, a curiosity success, as this Watts- Dunton (who is also a barrister) is apparently a friend of different celebrities in the world of Fine Arts (especially in the pre-Raphaelite School). He has crammed them all into his book. H.G. Wells published this year “The War of the Worlds” and “The Invisible Man”. He is a very original writer, romancier du fantastique, with a very individualist judgement in all things and an astonishing imagination.’
Century:1850-1899
Date:Between 1 Jan 1895 and 31 Dec 1898
Country:probably England
Timen/a
Place:county: Essex or Kent
specific address: Ivy Walls Farm or Pent Farm
(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:Male
Date of Birth:3 Dec 1857
Socio-Economic Group:Gentry
'szlachta' or Polish landed gentry
master mariner and author
Religion:Roman Catholic
Country of Origin:Poland
Country of Experience:probably England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Woman Who Did
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsfirst published London John Lane 1895 15 editions that year
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:32272
Source:Joseph Conrad
Editor:Frederick R Karl and Laurence Davies
Title:The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2 1898-1902
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Date of Publication:1986
Vol:2
Page:137-138
Additional Comments:
Letter from Conrad to Aniela Zagorska, Pent Farm,Christmas 1898
Citation:
Joseph Conrad, Frederick R Karl and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2 1898-1902, (Cambridge, 1986), 2, p. 137-138, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32272, accessed: 18 July 2024
Additional Comments:
The time and location of this reading experience is speculative. The evidence suggests that Conrad at some stage picked up and at least browsed in this bestseller, though the actual extent of his (obviously negative) engagement with this text is unclear. It is even les clear that he had read works by Marie Corelli and Hall Caine and may simply have been sufficiently aware of their reputation to warn his correspondent. These two have therefore not been included as individual RED entries