Mariana Starke

Terry F. Robinson (University of Toronto)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

Born c. 1762
Died 1838
Activity 1788-1820

Places

Born in India
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Playwright / Dramatist
Travel writer

Resources

Starke's Works

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Born in India to Mary and Richard Starke, the governor of the British East India Company's Fort St. George in Madras (now known as Chennai), Mariana Starke spent her early years in southeast India, absorbing Anglo-Indian life and culture before relocating with her family to Epsom, Surrey. Starke's experiences in India would color her later dramatic productions, including her first play, a sentimental comedy entitled

The Sword of Peace, or a Voyage of Love

, which opened at the Haymarket Theatre, London, on 9 August 1788 and enjoyed a run of six performances. Her next production, a tragedy called

The Widow of Malabar

— an adaptation of Antoine Marin Le Mierre's

La Veuve du Malabar

(1770) — was slightly more successful. Starke saw it first performed in 1790 at Mary Champion de…

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614 words

Citation: Robinson, Terry F.. "Mariana Starke". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11984, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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