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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 33626


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Nothing approaching it [Cunninghame Graham's book "Mogreb-el-Acksa"] has appeared since Burton's "Mecca" [...] and Burton's "Mecca" is nowhere near it.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Joseph Conrad

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1857

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry
'Szlachta', or Polish landed gentry/nobility

Occupation:

Master mariner and author

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Country of Origin:

Poland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Richard Burton

Title:

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah

Genre:

Geography / Travel

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1855

Provenance

owned


Source Information:

Record ID:

33626

Source:

Print

Author:

Joseph Conrad

Editor:

Frederick 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:

125

Additional Comments:

Letter to the Hon. Mrs A. E. Bontine, 4 December 1898.

Citation:

Joseph Conrad, Frederick Karl and Laurence Davies (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad Volume 2, 1898-1902, (Cambridge, 1986), 2, p. 125, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33626, accessed: 22 November 2024


Additional Comments:

Range of reading expereince unknown but probably between 1894 and 1898. There is textual evidence in Conrad's early Malay-based fiction that he derived his knowledge of Islamic customs directly from Burton's text. See for example John Lester, 'Conrad and Islam', Conradiana 13 (1981), 166-68 and John Lester, Conrad and Religion (London: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 44-47.

   
   
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