Record Number: 34340

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Ford on recalling when at the age of seven he met Turgenev at his grandfather Ford Madox Brown's studio: 'I was conscious simply of a singular, compassionate smile that still seems to me to look up out of the pages of his books when—as I constantly do, and always with a sense of amazement—I re-read them.' Ford also also wrote that he re-read him when he was depressed—perhaps precisely because his personality still felt like an antidote to intimidation [...]'

Century:

1850-1899, 1900-1945

Date:

unknown

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Ford Madox Ford

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

17 Dec 1873

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Catholic

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Unknown

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Ivan Turgenev

Title:

[various works]

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Almost certainly all read after 1895 when Constance Garnett's translations first appeared.

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

34340

Source:

Print

Author:

Max Saunders

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Ford Madox Ford: A Dual Life: The World before the War

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1996

Vol:

1

Page:

32-33

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Max Saunders, Ford Madox Ford: A Dual Life: The World before the War, (Oxford, 1996), 1, p. 32-33, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=34340, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

Ford often referred to Turgenev's work, particularly 'A Sportsman's s Sketches', in his memoirs and letters. He believed 'Byelshin Prairie' to be the finest exemplary writing imaginable. For more on Ford and Turgenev see Max Saunders in 'Ford Madox Ford's Literary Contacts', ed. by Paul Skinner, International Ford Madox Ford Studies 6, Rodopi, 2007, pp. 63-78. Ford and Joseph Conrad and others in their circle such as John Galsworthy, in the early 1900s, were all very much under the influence of Turgenev in various ways during their writing lives. See also ID 34307 and ID 20139.