Description
Book SynopsisWith a novelist's pen, Forster brings to life the fabled, romantic city of Alexander the Great, capital of Graeco-Roman Egypt, beacon of light and culture symbolised by the Pharos, where the doomed love affair of Antony and Cleopatra was played out and the greatest library the world has ever known was built. In the autumn of 1915, in a 'slightly heroic mood', E.M. Forster arrived in Alexandria, full of lofty ideals as a volunteer for the Red Cross. Yet most of his time was spent exploring 'the magic, antiquity and complexity' of the place in order to cope with living in what he saw as a 'funk-hole'. Threading 3,000 years of history with vibrant strands of literature and punctuating the narrative with his own experiences, Forster immortalised Alexandria in this book, painting an incomparable portrait of the great city and, inadvertently, himself.
Trade ReviewThis work is something more than just a work of literary piety devoted to that strange and evocative city called Alexandria... it succeeds in being a small work of art, for it contains some of Forster's best prose as well as felicities of touch only a novelist of major talent could command. Vintage Forster. -- Lawrence Durrell
Surely the best guide-book ever written. -- Bonamy Dobrée
Table of ContentsList of Maps and Plans Introduction Preface Authorities Part I: History I Greco-Egyptian Period II Christian Period III The Spiritual City IV Arab Period V Modern Period
Part II: Guide I From the Square to Rue Rosette II From the Square to Ras-el-Tin III From the Square to the Southern Quarters IV From the Square to Nouzha V From the Square to Ramleh VI From the Square to Mex VII Aboukir and Rosetta VIII The Libyan Desert
Appendices I The Modern Religious Communities II The Death of Cleopatra III The Uncanonical Gospels of Egypt IV The Nicene Creed Notes
