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
Timeafternoon
daytime
city: Shibam
county: Hadhramaut
location in dwelling: Terrace
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: 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: Title:Aeneid
Genre:Poetry
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceowned
Almost certainly read in Latin
Source Information:
Record ID:33646
Source: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: 25 March 2025
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.
