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Journey's Echo
In an age where the tourist has replaced the traveler, these essays, culled from over half a century of travel writing, transport us back to a time gone by.
These selections have been made without any particular objective, except to illustrate Freya Stark's talent. Whether she's discussing the Middle East or following Alexander's path, her stories are rich not with people but with individuals -- men and women living their lives in patterns that reflect traditions and ceremonies now largely gone or forgotten.
"The language is as beautiful as ever, the descriptions are sharp, the insights into men and places suddenly revealing." (The New York Times)
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
4 people are currently reading
662 people want to read
About the author
Freya Stark
132 books176 followersFreya Stark was born in Paris, where her parents were studying art. Her mother, Flora, was an Italian of Polish/German descent; her father, Robert, an English painter from Devon.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 5, 2012
This woman is amazing. To travel solo in the Middle East and Asia back in the 1930s-1950s! Beautiful insights. A few of my faves just in the last 50 pages:
"It is better to be passionate than to be tolerant at the expense of one's soul."
"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
"Fear, the oldest and perhaps only enemy of man."
"Though it may be unessential to the imagination, travel is necessary to the understanding of men. Only with long experience and the opening of his wares on many a beach where his language is not spoken, will the merchant come to know the worth of what he carries..."
Just fabulous!
P.S. Her adventures totally inspired me to add "ride a camel" to my bucket list!
"It is better to be passionate than to be tolerant at the expense of one's soul."
"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
"Fear, the oldest and perhaps only enemy of man."
"Though it may be unessential to the imagination, travel is necessary to the understanding of men. Only with long experience and the opening of his wares on many a beach where his language is not spoken, will the merchant come to know the worth of what he carries..."
Just fabulous!
P.S. Her adventures totally inspired me to add "ride a camel" to my bucket list!
October 19, 2011
A compendium of vignettes culled from Stark's two dozen or so books of travel writing and autobiographical work. Stark was a particularly awesome lady, traveling in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and farther afield at a time (the late 1920s and 1930s/1940s) when few outsiders (and even fewer women) dared to explore. One short piece on the Mesopotamian Marshes has made me long to see them as she saw them; another essay on her grandmother's death is quietly devastating and nonetheless lovely.
February 4, 2009
eileen was right. freya stark is my soul mate. although i must say, she was far braver, if not wilder, than i am.
July 11, 2010
Enjoyed the writing, and the stories. A real treat to read.
Want to read
April 23, 2013Freya Stark was mentioned in To War with Whitaker
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
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June 20, 2019Great introduction to Freya Stark's engaging writing and thoughts, with excerpts across many of her books. The short passages jumped around among different topics, which made it less of a cohesive read, but also gives the reader a sense of the themes, thoughts and geographic areas she covers in different books. It made me want to read the full books, which I'm doing now, starting with The Southern Gates of Arabia, after which I'll turn to Ionia.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews