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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 33646


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

I thought I was better yesterday and that a little walk would improve matters and went and sketched by the old wall - came back for lunch, lay on my terrace reading the Aeneid and rather melancholy over the slowness of it all - and suddenly a buzzing came from far away: it crept into my ears so gradually I hardly noticed its strangeness in the desert valley - and four Bomber planes came skimming from the direction of Tarim.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

15 Mar 1935

Country:

Yemen

Time

afternoon
daytime

Place:

city: Shibam
county: Hadhramaut
location in dwelling: Terrace

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:

Travel writer

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Yemen

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

Virgil

Title:

Aeneid

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
Almost certainly read in Latin


Source Information:

Record ID:

33646

Source:

Print

Author:

Freya Stark

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Coast of Incense: Autobiography 1933-1939

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1953

Vol:

n/a

Page:

90

Additional Comments:

Letter to Venetia Buddicom

Citation:

Freya Stark, The Coast of Incense: Autobiography 1933-1939, (London, 1953), p. 90, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33646, accessed: 19 April 2024


Additional Comments:

Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. This reading experience is from a letter to Venetia Buddicom, and Stark was almost certainly reading Virgil in Latin rather than in translation. Stark was seriously ill in Shibam and was evacuated by aeroplane to Aden a day after writing this letter.

   
   
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