Alexandria: A History and a Guide

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 symbolized by the Pharaohs, 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 immortalized Alexandria, painting an incomparable portrait of the great city and, inadvertently, himself.

Edward Morgan Forster was one of the most respected literary figures of his age. Among the novels he wrote were A Room with a View, A Passage to India and Maurice. Alexandria 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. Professor Miriam Allott is one of the country's most respected authorities in the field of English Literature, including, of course, the work of E.M. Forster. She is Professor of English at Liverpool University, the city in which she lives.