Record Number: 33588

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'In the evenings, if I have no one else below, I climb upstairs to sit in comfort except for mosquitoes - enormous creatures with white rings round their legs - that infest this region. Alinur, now recovered, is by the table with a book, in a comfortable domestic atmosphere; the Archaeologist is on a terrace in the distance, with 'Time and Tide' and the 'Spectator' (very old) strewn about her. A lantern on her right hand and the moon on her left illuminate the neat blouse, and grey hair whose brushed waves still keep a faint rebellious grace of girlhood.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

2 Dec 1937

Country:

Yemen

Time

evening

Place:

city: Huraidha
county: Shibam, Hadhramaut
location in dwelling: upstairs 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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Gertrude Caton-Thompson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

1 Feb 1888

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Archaeologist

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[n/a] [n/a]

Title:

Spectator

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, Politics, Miscellany / Anthology, political magazine

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical, weekly magazine

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33588

Source:

Print

Author:

Freya Stark

Editor:

n/a

Title:

A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1972

Vol:

n/a

Page:

49

Additional Comments:

Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.

Citation:

Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 49, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33588, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

'the Archaeologist' was Gertrude Caton-Thompson (1 Feb 1888 - 18 April 1985) fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. Caton-Thompson travelled with Freya Stark and Elinor Wight Gardner ('Alinur') in Yemen in 1937-38. Reading took place in Huraidha (near Shibam) in the Qu'aiti State of Hadhramaut, which was a British protectorate at the time.