Record Number: 4025

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'The hero seems to me superior to the Rochester or the Louis Moore type, who are all rather lay-figures. Nor do I admire the sister?s work [Wuthering Heights] so much as you do. I see in it more violence than real strength & more rant than genuine passion. However all this is a matter of taste. I will remark, by the way, that I think there is some excuse for the charge of coarseness, as, e.g., the scene where Jane Eyre is half inclined to go to Rochester?s bedroom. I don?t mean coarseness in the sense of prurience; for I fully agree that Miss Bronte writes as a thoroughly pureminded woman; but she is more close to the physical side of passion than young ladies are expected to be?There is also some coarseness in the artistic sense in Jane Eyre. The mad wife is I fancy, unnecessarily bestial? I don?t think justice is generally done to C Bronte now & I shall be glad for that reason to insert your eloquent article.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Until: 1873

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Leslie Stephen

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

28 Nov 1832

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Literary critic, historian, journalist, biographer

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Charlotte Bronte

Title:

Jane Eyre

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

4025

Source:

Print

Author:

Leslie Stephen

Editor:

John Bicknell

Title:

The Selected Letters of Leslie Stephen Vol. 1 1864-1882

Place of Publication:

Ohio State University Press

Date of Publication:

1

Vol:

1996

Page:

123

Additional Comments:

Letter from Stephen to G. B. Smith accepting his article 'The Brontes' which appeared in the July 1873 number of the Cornhill.

Citation:

Leslie Stephen, John Bicknell (ed.), The Selected Letters of Leslie Stephen Vol. 1 1864-1882, (Ohio State University Press, 1), 1996, p. 123, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4025, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

None