Alexandria: The Last Night of Cleopatra - Hardcover

Stothard, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468303708 ISBN 13: 9781468303704

Publisher: Abrams Press, 2013

Synopsis

Guided by two native Egyptians, Stothard traces his own life-long interest in the history of Cleopatra, and his repeated failure to write the book about her that he had always wanted to. In Alexandria, part memoir and part travel literature, Stothard was the sights and sounds of the ancient city to reconnect with the formative experiences of his childhood education, and his literary career. Melancholy and sometimes humorous, Alexandria offers a first-hand glimpse into the fracturing police state of Hosni Mubarak, before the uprising in Tahir Square changed everything.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Stothard is the editor of the Times Literary Supplement and author of Alexandria and The Spartacus Road. From 1992 to 2002 he was the Editor of The Times. In 2012 he was chairman of the judges for the Man Booker Prize.

From Booklist

Authors tend to lose themselves in their subject. After dedicating so much mental time and space, who can blame them for getting too close to the thing they write about? In the tradition of Geoff Dyer, Stothard immerses himself in his love of Cleopatra and the Middle East. After being stranded in Egypt during the Arab Spring, Stothard becomes enmeshed in a country oozing with history. It is the fountainhead of Western civilization, after all. But what does this mean during a time of revolution, when the old is cast aside in search of a brighter future? These are the questions this book tries to address. What remains and endures over time? Apparently those things that can be made into a Cecil B. DeMille or Joseph F. Mankiewicz feature. Regardless, the author is drunk with his surroundings. His personal lust for Cleopatra is obvious while his historical research bubbles over into the present. While Alexander the Great or Ptolemy X (or is that IX, in Stothard’s ambling narrative) may dominate, the focus remains constant on a land in transition. --James Orbesen

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1468303708
• ISBN 13: 9781468303704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400