“Alexandria is still alive and alters even when one tries to sum her up . . . . Only the climate, only the north wind and the sea remain as pure as when Menelaus, the first visitor, landed three thousand years ago.” 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 Greco-Roman Egypt, beacon of light and culture symbolized 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 three thousand years of history with vibrant strands of literature and punctuating the narrative with his own experiences, Forster immortalized Alexandria, painting an incomparable portrait of the great city and, inadvertently, himself.
Alexandria
A History and a Guide
"Alexandria is still alive and alters even when one tries to sum her up . . . . Only the climate, only the north wind and the sea remain as pure as wh
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Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) was one of the most respected literary figures of his age. Among his best known novels are A Room with a View, A Passage to India, Howard's End, and Maurice. Alexandria: A History and a Guide was inspired by the time he spent in Egypt during the First World War, and was first published in 1922, followed, in 1923, by Pharos and Pharillon. The editor of this volume, Miriam Allott, held professorships at London and at Liverpool, including a position as A.C. Bradley professor of modern literature.
