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Starke Mariana [ 1762 ]

It was during her first stay in Italy that Mariana Starke commenced her career as a travel writer. The first account she published was the Letters from Italy, between the years 1792 and 1798 containing a view of the Revolutions in that country (London 1800), a work that combined practical suggestions on travel in Italy with details of the author's own life. In 1815, given their great success with the public, the Letters were brought out in a second, expanded edition and translated into German. The writer had gone to live at Exmouth, in England, but in 1811, still immersed in things Italian, she published The Beauties of Carlo Maria Maggi Paraphrased, a work in which she included several of her sonnets. In 1789 she had published The Poor Soldier; an American Tale: founded on a recent fact, an account of the tribulations of Charles Short.

A new journey in Europe, made between 1817 and 1819, prompted her to try her hand at the genre of travel writing again, publishing Travels on the Continent. The volume was very favorably received by the critics and even more so by travelers, who ensured its success: it was, in fact, the bestselling guidebook in English before the appearance of the Murray and Baedeker guides. The work was reprinted several times and translated into French before being enlarged and issued in a new edition. Starke was also a playwright of considerable talent. She focused her attention on India, where she had spent her childhood (her father had served as governor of Fort St. George in Madras before moving with his family to Epsom, Surrey ); in The Sword of Peace or a Voyage of Love (1788) and The Widow of Malabar (1791) Starke presented a satire of Anglo-Indian life.

Among her other works were a tragedy called The Tournament, published in 1800 but never staged, and the play The British Orphan, performed in 1790-91.

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