The Minaret of Djam: An Excursion in Afghanistan

by Freya Stark

The author recalls the people and scenery of her journey from Kabul, through Afghanistan to Herat and Kandahar.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Middle East, Islam, Memoir

99 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Freya 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.

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd read two books by Freya Stark previously, and those led me to jump at the chance to buy yet another of her books. She's something of a hero to me, which is why I think I'm able to put up with her writing, which can at times be dense and dull. However, every now and again, she strikes on a truism about travel and/or cultural interaction that is profound. This book was written in the 60s, much later than the other books of Stark's that I've read, but it's a fairly good look at what the country was like then. I do wish it had spared some landscape description and talk of other Westerners in favor of more about the Afghan people Stark met.

[Tim Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very old timey British and told in a colonial manner. This book is enjoyable and also tedious as the author guides us along on a grand adventure through Afghanistan in a 4x4 full of embassy personnel and their fineries. The history and culture of the topic is present, but you have to wade through all sorts of other information which is also interesting.

[A Jamal · Rating 2 out of 5]

More affect than effect. My first Stark book; I was hoping for some insights on Afghanistan, a bit of adventure or at least a good description of the titular minaret. Instead I found desultory conversations and platitudinous observations. Archness that bears no relation to genuine wit.

I have no idea why she drove around Afghanistan, staring dreamily at nomads and camels, and recalling long ago walks with Greek shepherds.

The edition - Tauris Parke Paperbacks- is ugly as sin.

[Katharine Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have previously read Freya Stark's earlier books about travelling in the Yemen, and was gripped. This book is a bit of a lighter read and doesn't go into as much detail. However, it was fascinating to read a sympathetic and beautiful portrayal of places that nowadays one only hears about from war reports in the news - Helmand, Kabul, Kandahar. She visits the Bamian Buddhas, and there are photos, which are of great historic interest now that the philistine Taliban have blown them up. Idiots. Actually all the photos are very interesting.

[Ayla-Monic]

Once you get past the exotifying language (Stark is definer a product of her time and place), this book becomes a really interesting little glimpse into rural Afghanistan in the mid twentieth century. Stark is vividly descriptive, but not overly flowery. The Minaret of Djam is a quick read, if a little dry at times. Overall I am glad I read it and have another of Stark's books in the pile right now.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with lots of descriptive wonders of a Land Rover expedition to the the Minaret of Djam. I found it incredibly interesting to read about what Afghanistan was like during the late 60's, 70's, before the destruction of monuments, the Taliban, etc.

[Velvetink]

Freya Stark was mentioned in To War with Whitaker
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.

[Muhammad Ahmad · Rating 2 out of 5]

If only Stark could write as well as she could travel, this would be a much more interesting book. The photos were good though.

[Jo Stafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully descriptive, it makes me wish I could visit all the wonderful sites the author visited.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written as she was approaching 80, Freya Stark's The Minaret of Djam: An Excursion in Afghanistan tells of a journey through Afghanistan around 1969-1970, a decade before the Russian-Afghan War. Her travels occurred during one of those rare peaceful periods in that war-torn countries history.

The book is titled after an 800-year-old minaret that stands by itself in a sparsely populated valley between Kabul and Herat.

I have enjoyed all the Freya Stark books I have read. One can be fascinated by details of the trip, when all of a sudden she comes up with some fascinating observations, such as when one of her party shows up in a tiny miniskirt in a Muslim country:

How hard it must be to have to appear tougher than you are, and to go round the stray corners of the world with people whose hearts are shallow as far as you are concerned; and to have nothing you wish to be or do that you will risk your life for the reaching of; and to have a face that is pretty only for a time.

Unlike many of her earlier books written at a time she travelled alone, this time she traveled with two land rovers full of assorted people. That guarantees there will be at least one dipshit in the lot.

I am convinced that all of Freya Stark's books are well worth reading.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

written in the sixties, she describes how many citizens are reluctant to change. As if time has stood still.