Some Talk of Alexander

by Frederic Raphael

A personal journey through Greek history, juxtaposed with remarkable images that vividly depict, trace, and reinforce the art and life of the times.

Do "the classics" still have relevance at the start of the twenty-first century? Or are they just an outdated repository of class vanity, racial prejudice, and pedantic obscurantism, rooted in abstruse texts and concerned almost entirely with the activities of dead white males in strange costumes? In this wise and witty work, Frederic Raphael springs to the defense of a much-maligned but bracingly elitist world.

An erudite, wide-ranging, fluent, and original piece of writing, Some Talk of Alexander leads us from the personal experiences of the author in modern Greece into the rich store of Greek its art, politics, philosophy, mores, warfare, ethics, personal relationships, government, and literature. 106 illustrations.

Genres: History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

Writer, critic and broadcaster, Frederic Raphael was educated at Charterhouse School and at St John's College, Cambridge. He has written several screenplays and fifteen novels. His The Glittering Prizes was one of the major British and American television successes of the 1970s.

Reviews

[Charles Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tour de force - really a quite outstanding work from a uniquely creative individual, writer , traveller, television producer, and lover of all things Greek, Raphael has the kind of all encompassing knowledge and dexterity that one would seek to build in a particular field...this book is not for beginners, I found myself thinking all the time how glad I was that I had more than a passing knowledge and understanding of Ancient Greek history, politics, culture and literature...however for those with at least a baseline of experience with his topic, this book is a revelation, full of out of the blue assertions, connections and observations drawn from Raphael's long connection with Greece. The book has no chapters, no footnotes (a remarkable "partial bibliography" follows the text), it is almost a free association travelogue of the author's experience of Greece and the Greeks. A wonderful, challenging and entertaining combination for those of us who can never get enough of the Greeks....