E.M. Forster's guide book

From the Preface

“This book consists of two parts: a History and a Guide. The ‘History’ attempts (after the fashion of a pageant) to marshal the activities of Alexandria during the two thousand two hundred and fifty years of her existence. Starting with the heroic figure of Alexander the Great, it inspects the dynasty of the Ptolemies, and in particular the career of the last of them, Cleopatra; an account of Ptolemaic literature and science follows, and closes this splendid period, to which I have given the title ‘Greco-Egyptian.’ The second period, called ‘Christian,’ begins with the rule of Rome, and traces the fortunes of Christianity, first as a persecuted and then as a persecuting power: all is lost in 641, when the Patriarch Cyrus betrays Alexandria to the Arabs. An interlude comes next –‘The Spiritual City’- which meditates upon Alexandrian philosophy and religion, both Pagan and Christian: it seemed better to segregate these subjects, partly because they interrupt the main historical procession, partly because many readers are not interested in them. History is resumed in the ‘Arab Period,’ which is of no importance though it lasts over 1,000 years –from Amr to Napoleon. With Napoleon begins the ‘Modern Period,’ the main feature of which is the building of the city we now see under the auspices of Mohammed Ali: and the pageant concludes, as well as it may, with an account of events of 1882, and with surmises as to future municipal developments” (XIX)

“The sights of Alexandria are in themselves not interesting, but they fascinate when we approach them from the past, and this is what I have tried to do by the double arrangement of History and Guide.” (XX)

(Forster, E.M. Alexandria: A History and Guide. London: The Anchor Press, 1982.)

Like others before him, Forster dismisses the Arab period of history and dreams of the Hellenistic Alexandria as he offers a guide to the modern city. His guide is comprehensive; he goes through every room of the Greco-Roman Museum.  He also includes an Appendix of Cleopatra’s death dramatized by Plutarch, Shakespeare and Dryden.

In the 1982 edition of Forster’s book, Michael Haag includes his essay ‘City of Words’, which begins with a story of reading Durrell’s Justine on his first visit to Alexandria in 1973. The following quotes illustrate both the assumption of the West being a revitalizing force, and the notion of Alexandria as a ghostly site. The lack of monuments leaves much to the imagination and allows the modern traveler ample space for projection.

“This is what haunts you in Alexandria. If more of the ancient city survived it would haunt you less. Unlike Rome or Athens with their monuments extant, Alexandria is all intimation: here (some spot) is where Alexander lay entombed; here Cleopatra committed suicide; here the Library, the Serapeum etc… and there is nothing physical there.” (240)

“As Alexandria suffered after the Suez invasion, so rapprochement with the West and liberalisation at home have slowly revived something of the city’s former sparkle.” (241)