The Lycian Shore: A Turkish Odyssey (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) Paperback – September 30, 2011

Freya Stark lived for an entire century (1893-1993). One senses that it was her indomitable spirit and relentless curiosity that simply drove her to live that long, in order to "fit it all in." Peripatetic and immensely erudite, she learned both Persian and Arabic, handy linguistic skills when traveling in the remoter regions of Southwest Asia. Often she travelled alone, visiting areas where virtually no Western male had seen. I've read, reviewed and highly recommend two other works of hers: The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut (Modern Library Paperbacks) which is an account of her 1934 trip to the Hadhramaut, famous in the days of the Roman Empire for its frankincense, and, much more recently, for being the ancestor homeland of Osama bin Laden. The other book is The Minaret of Djam: An Excursion in Afghanistan (Freya Stark Collection), an account of a 1968 trip through the heart of Afghanistan. She relates, among other anecdotes, to taking a bath in a cold mountain spring, at the age of 75. Hard-core, as we once said. "The Lycian Shore" is an account of her 1952 trip, in the autumn, along the Turkish coast, by small boat. She was "one of a kind," and I suspect they just don't make them like that anymore.The turmoil and displacement of the Second World War had largely subsided. Stark's travels in the Hadhramaut she had done solo. With the success of her earlier depictions of her travels, she obviously developed contacts in the British diplomatic corps, which she used both on this trip, as well as the one in Afghanistan. And it was a different era for the diplomats too. Instead of being barricaded against the population, their duties involved learning about, and traveling in the country. David Balfour was the Consular official stationed in Smyrna (modern day Izmir). For a couple of months they travelled, along with Balfour's wife, and the "native help," in a 30 ft. sloop, "the Elfin," along the coast. The title is a tad misleading, since Lycia itself is only the main protuberance on the southwestern shore, located between the island of Rhodes, and Antalya. Approximately three-fourths of the book concerns their coastal travels before they reach Lycia.The true strength of this work is Stark's phenomenal knowledge of the ancient world. Though she will make references to other periods, for example, the Roman empire, as well as World War II, the vast majority of the historical references date from the 5th and 4th Century, B.C., from the Battle of Marathon to the partitioning of Alexander the Great's empire (there is an excellent, succinct appendix that covers key events during those two centuries.) She had read Xenophon, Thucydides, Plutarch, Livy, and numerous others, and had internalized the knowledge and can related it to a given place as though it had happened only yesterday. I disliked Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana since he seemed oblivious to the present, and focused exclusively on the ancient world, going from "one pile of stones to another." Stark has that tendency too, but she clearly announces that this is her intention. On the other hand, she does relate interesting anecdotes concerning the present, including her visit to a monastery on Padmos, the school teacher who had never seen the ancient ruins in his village, and the Bedouin who still traveled along the coast (the latter was a big surprise to me.)Speaking of the nomads, Stark says: "for the nomad dies in prison, and so does a man, in a world that he feels too small...Happiness, as I rode down towards the beach in the evening, seemed to me to belong to those three ages, ever with a growing awareness: to the nomad, whose infinity lies about him unquestioned; to the Aegean sailing without fear toward a yet undiscovered horizon; and to those, in the religions of our time, `whose service is perfect freedom' since they have seen their bars melted and infinity renewed." Stark continued to renew her infinity, all the way to 100.As a final note, we had a dinner party last night, and one of the topics was the turmoil in the publishing industry, with the "harm" being done by, er...ah... the present site I'm reviewing on. Not surprisingly perhaps, I leaned in favor of the present site, for renewing and expanding the number of possibilities for a writer to reach a reading audience. Furthermore, like many other "elites," from Wall Street, to the leadership at various governmental agencies, I espoused the position that the big publishing houses have abdicated in their duties, particular by publishing numerous frauds, on which Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival is but one example. I'm happy to say that a wonderful counterpoint to my thesis is Tauris Parke, who deserves kudos to the second power, at least, for keeping Stark in print, and I look forward to the new editions being released over the next year or so. 5-stars for this one.

Freya Stark at times delivers lyrical prose that makes the reader salivate. At other times she smothers the reader in what seems an ostentatious display of Classical learning -- breathlessly long history lessons -- so that what is nicely discursive can become distractingly excursive. I wish there were more of her interesting firsthand travel experiences per se, and fewer, or shorter, history lectures. That notwithstanding, this peculiar literary conglomerate contains some gold nuggets of philosophy, which in fact Stark is able to formulate precisely because of her very exceptional historical perspectives. This, for example, is timeless:"...the summit of civilization is touched by the middle class. It walks along the razor's edge between the tyrant and the proletariat and is short-lived for that reason....I will hold that the middle class produces civilization because it is the only class constantly trained to come to a conclusion, poised as it is between the depth and the height. It is not rich enough to have everything, nor poor enough to have nothing, and has to choose: to choose between a succulent table and a fine library, between travel and a flat in town, between a car and a new baby, or a fur coat and a ball dress: it has enough of the superfluous to give it freedom from necessity, but only through the constant use of discrimination: its life therefore is one long training of the judgement and the will. This by itself need not manufacture greatness; but it is the soil in which it is possible to make it grow. And for this reason, when the rich become too rich and the poor too poor, and fewer and fewer people live under the constant discipline of their decisions, the age of greatness withers. To produce the lifelong stimulus of choice both in thought and action should be the aim of all education, and the statesman ought above all things to provide a government that remains in the hands of people whose life has trained them in the inestimable art of making up their minds."

After reading Ionia I expected another history lesson. This volume is different. I like it because there is more attention paid to the current (1952) customs and people of this part of Turkey. Frey Stark provides pictures with words.

I read this while on a gulet schooner visiting many locations Stark supposedly is writing about. She spends most of her time caroming randomly over 1500 years or more of history and classical mythology while rarely providing any observations of what she herself sees.This is awful travel writing. This is the only book of hers I have ever read and I doubt that I will ever read another.

A epic journey through history,

Rather dense and ‘old fashioned’ - typical fraya stark!

Freya Stark, The Lycian Shore. A Turkish Odyssey, TPP, ristampa 2011.I viaggi della Stark negli anni 1930-'50 sono stati in realtà un po' meno avventurosi di quel che sembra a prima vista. A quei tempi gran parte del medio oriente era sotto protettorato britannico, e lei si appoggiava molto ai diplomatici del suo paese. Anche in Turchia lei aveva il sostegno e l'appoggio morale e materiale del console britannico di Smirne, che le mise a disposizione il suo panfilo per navigare attorno alle coste sud-occidentali dell'Asia Minore.Resta il fatto che fu una donna di grande intraprendenza e cultura, con una vera curiosità per i paesi e le genti che incontrava e con cui si adattava volentieri a condividere gli incerti del viaggiare. In questo una vera figlia dello spirito inglese e delle migliori tradizioni dell'impero britannico.La sua scrittura vuole avere un sapore molto letterario, non raggiunge però lo stile straordinario e coinvolgente di Patrick Leigh Fermor; ma è comunque piacevole, ha una dolce leggerezza piuttosto femminile e sognante.Conosce a menadito gli autori antichi, in special modo gli storici; così in ogni luogo che tocca nel suo viaggio lungo le coste anatoliche (parte da Smirne e arriva a Phaselis) rievoca i fatti delle guerre del Peloponneso, di Alessandro o dei Persiani. Trapela un vero amore per la storia greca e per i luoghi del Mediterraneo. Da qualsiasi piccolo particolare possono scaturire osservazioni sulla saggezza e grandezza degli antichi, rimembranze storiche e considerazioni trasognate su questi luoghi che sono stati teatro di vicende a noi europei familiari, in quanto parte del nostro bagaglio culturale e delle nostre radici. Il vero motivo infatti per cui ama questi luoghi è che ognuno di essi richiama fatti, miti, nomi o storie a noi familiari, e che smuovono i nostri ricordi e interessi.La sua tendenza è ad annullare il tempo, per cui da un particolare locale (per es. l'isola di Samo) trova subito il modo di rievocare la storia antica, e spesso finisce col dire `ancor oggi il carattere degli abitanti è questo'. Cerca anche di tracciare le differenze fra lo spirito e la mentalità degli antichi e la successiva visione cristiana, che ha molto cambiato le coscienze. È interessante leggere le parti sui luoghi che conosciamo, per es. Samo, Cnido, Fethiye, Xanthos, Myra. Alcune vecchie foto dei primi anni Cinquanta (o Trenta?) corredano il libro, tra cui una in particolare ha catturato la mia attenzione, perché mostra un cammello appartenente a un gruppo di semi-nomadi. C'erano i cammelli nella Turchia sud-occidentale? Ebbene sì, e qualcuno ce n'è ancora. La continua citazione degli autori e degli storici antichi (Erodoto, Tucidide, Strabone, Pausania, ecc.) potrebbe piacere a molti. Ad altri invece la scrittura dolce e sognante. Nell'insieme però, per quanto fascinoso, il testo non regge il confronto con quelli travolgenti, acuti e trascinanti del grande Patrick L. Fermor.

Libro molto interessante, spiega molto bene gli itinerari per visitare alcune coste della turchia.

I really like the part of Turkey that was Lycia, o wanted to learn more of their history. This fascinating book is about Ancient Greek history as well and despite being written in the 1950s still relevant.