Alexandria: A History and Guide

by E. M. Forster

Overview

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". With a novelist's pen, he 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. Threading 3,000 years of history with vibrant strands of literature and punctuating the narrative with his own experiences, Forster immortalised Alexandria, painting an incomparable portrait of the great city and, inadvertently, himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781838605896
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	717,414
Product dimensions:	5.21(w) x 7.89(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

E.M. Forster (1879-1970) was perhaps the most quintessential of English novelists. From the stifling drawing rooms of Howard's End to the dust and dark undercurrents of Passage to India, he captured the spirit of his time in a way that has made his six novels unforgettable and much-loved classics.

Date of Birth:

January 1, 1879

Date of Death:

June 7, 1970

Place of Birth:

London

Place of Death:

Coventry, England

Education:

B. A. in classics, King's College, Cambridge, 1900; B. A. in history, 1901; M.A., 1910

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Plans ix

Introduction Lawrence Durrell xi

Preface xix

Authorities xxiii

Part I History

I Greco-Egyptian Period 5

II Christian Period 55

III The Spiritual City 73

IV Arab Period 97

V Modern Period 105

Part II Guide

I From the Square to the Rue Rosette 127

II From the Square to Ras-el-Tin 159

III From the Square to the Southern Quarters 185

IV From the Square to Nouzha 203

V From the Square to Ramleh 209

VI From the Square to Mex 219

VII Aboukir and Rosetta 223

VIII The Libyan Desert 245

Appendices

I The Modern Religious Communities 271

II The Death of Cleopatra 277

III The Uncanonical Gospels of Egypt 283

IV The Nicene Creed 285

Notes 287

Editorial Reviews

"This 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

From the Publisher