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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 34197


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Except Shakespeare, who grew from childhood as part of myself, nearly every classic has come with this same shock of almost intolerable enthusiasm: Virgil, Sophocles, Aeschylus and Dante, Chaucer and Milton and Goethe, Leopardi and Racine, Plato and Pascal and St Augustine, they have appeared, widely scattered through the years, every one like a 'rock in a thirsty land', that makes the world look different in its shadow.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1900 and 1 Oct 1928

Country:

Unknown

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:

Freya Stark

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

31 Jan 1893

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Explorer and travel writer

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Unknown

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Jean Racine

Title:

[unknown]

Genre:

Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

34197

Source:

Print

Author:

Freya Stark

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Beyond Euphrates: Autobiography 1928-1933

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1951

Vol:

n/a

Page:

25

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Freya Stark, Beyond Euphrates: Autobiography 1928-1933, (London, 1951), p. 25, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=34197, accessed: 22 November 2024


Additional Comments:

Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. This recollection of reading dates from October 1928. It is not clear whether she first read Racine as a child (highly likely) or later as an adult, or whether she read him first in French (highly likely) or in translation.

   
   
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