Stark, Freya, 1893-1993

Freya Madeline Stark was born in Paris on 31 January 1893 to Robert and Flora Stark. The elder Starks--the father of British birth, the mother born on the continent--were cousins and artists. After several years of living at Chagford, Devon and in northern Italy, Robert and Flora Stark separated, and Flora, with Freya and a younger sister Vera, remained in Italy, first at Dronero, and then at Asolo, near Venice.

Freya's fascination with exotic lands is said to have dated from her earliest reading of the British romantic poets, as well as FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat. The future travel writer and explorer developed a keen interest in the Middle East, and, aided by a remarkable skill with languages, quickly began a life-long program of self-education, mastering modern European tongues and eventually classical and Oriental languages. Her principal formal education was at Bedford College, University of London, in the years 1911 to 1914.

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