Produktdetaljer
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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.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,
With 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.
List 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