الإسكندرية: تاريخ ودليل

by E.M. Forster, Lawrence Durrell (مقدمة), حسن بيومي (ترجمة)

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.

Genres: History, Travel, Egypt, Nonfiction, Classics, Literature

328 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Edward Morgan Forster, generally published as E.M. Forster, was an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect".

He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.

Forster's views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.

Reviews

[Victor Sonkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forster says that Alexandria is not a great place unless you steep yourself in its history, which is what his guidebook is trying to do; what can be said about the century that passed since he had written it? Quite interesting, though technically not a guidebook at all, at least not these days.

[Mohamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب رائع فى وصف الإسكندرية تاريخياً و جغرافياً، مع شرح لمالم المدينة
الوصف فى الكتاب يثير الحزن عند مقارنته بالواقع الآن .... أين ذهب كل هذا الجمال و التاريخ ؟؟!!!!

[Eddie B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب غريب لكاتب غريب عن مدينة غريبة. تاريخ ودليل، جغرافيا وأدب، حقائق وآراء، انبهار واحتقار، تأملات وتحسرات.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really needs to be read in the context of the time in which it was written - and the concomitant condescending views that were prevalent of Forster's ilk.

I know this book is said to be a "classic", and it is to some extent interesting to read to compare just how much Alexandria has changed (I visit Alexandria very regularly, myself, so from that aspect it is interesting to try and 'envisage' what was once where or what has now changed), but I find very little to see this book as 'charming'.

So I get that Forester seems to be very much into his ancient Greek history, but it struck me as a little patronising (perhaps I was just amused, more than anything, that Forster did so) to just dismiss 1,000 years of Arab history as unimportant (seriously, we're talking about 1,000 years, something must have gone on in this time...this is Egypt we're talking about after all people were always travelling through in some form or another). Anything that doesn't have Greek influence is just knocked as somehow 'unpleasant' or not really worth viewing.

Would recommend to read this book to at least get an idea of how people of different time periods viewed a city such as Alexandria, but really wouldn't use this as anything more than that! Alexandria really is a lovely city, but you only get a very light sense of this through the book (if at all).

[Mohamed Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

الحقيقة استمتعت جدا بجزء التاريخ
ومليت من جزء الدليل
كمان الكتاب للاسف قديم جدا
وحاجات كتير اتغيرت
حتى بعض المعلومات التاريخية
يعني من ايام ما كانوا فاكرين كيلوباترا انطونيو هي كليوباترا السادسة مش السابعة

ولكن المميز في فورستر انه يكتب باسلوب ادبي
ومتحرر من النزعة الدينية
وده خلى الكتاب لطيف جدا ومسلي خاصة في جزء التاريخ

كمان الملاحق اللي اضافها فورستر عظيمة
مفهمتش اوي اهمية الملاحق اللي اتضافت عليها
ولكن كان فيها اقتباسات جميلة من رباعية الاسكندرية

علاقة فورستر بداريل وكفافيس علاقة شيقة جدا
ويبدو ان رسائله لهنري ميلر كانت ممتعة

الاسكندرية مدينة ممتع الحديث عنها

[Jordi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una verdadera joya.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novelist E. M. Forster's 1922 guidebook to Alexandria. It is divided into two parts: a History of the city and a Guide to the city of 1922.

The History is fairly brief, but comprehensive, beginning with Homer's description of the geographic area and the city's founding by Alexander the Great, and continuing through its many transformations up until Forster's time. Forster is opinionated and often drily funny -- and there is much in Alexandria's history to smile at. His emphasis -- properly so, for a book about Egypt -- is on the many confusing varieties of religious belief over the centuries: Pharaonic, Greek, Jewish, Christian and all its heresies, and Muslim, and on the architecture developed during each era.

I have no idea how accurate today's specialists would consider Forster's history, but I found it useful and enjoyable to read.

The second part of the book -- the Guide -- is clearly dated. Forster has written what is essentially a Lonely Planet guide of the city and its environs. He finds occasional viewpoints and buildings worthy of praise, but his general reaction seems to be one of disappointment at the current state of the city and its failure to preserve remnants of its history. Much that he describes he evaluates as mediocre.

Forster takes us down a road or street, and describes what there is to see, block by block, good and bad, boring and interesting. Furthermore, it's probable that much of what he describes is no longer there today, or has been changed dramatically in appearance. I skimmed much of the Guide, allowing my attention to fall on passages that added historical context to the sights he was describing, or that were simply enjoyable as good writing.

Describing the Greco-Roman Museum -- an important "sight" in Alexandria -- he laments that its contents are

not of the first order and little within has outstanding beauty. Used rightly, it is of great value, but the visitor who "goes through" it will find afterwards that it has gone through him, and that he is left with noting but a vague memory of fatigue.

Quite true for all museums, including the Louvre!

Forster can be very brief and bluntly dismissive.

CAMP DE CESAR STA. -- Caesar never camped here. An unattractive suburb, anciently Eleusis by the Sea.

I've never been to Alexandria, and what I know of it is primarily Lawrence Durrell's city of fantasy and André Aciman's memories of childhood. Forster's guide might be more enjoyable if one were to visit the city and compare his descriptions with present reality -- it would give some idea of how the life and shape of the city have changed over the last century.

Worth reading for the History in the first half.

[Gamal elneel · Rating 3 out of 5]

تتبع دقيق لتاريخ الاسكندرية منذ وصول الاسكندر الاكبر عام 331 ق.م

البطالمة الثلاثة الاوائل حتى عام 222 ق.م

البطالمة الاواخر حتى 51 ق.م

كليوباترا من 51 الى 30 ق.م

روما والعصر المسيحى من 30 الى 313 م

الفتح العربى لمصر عام 641 م

يتبعه وصف محزن لكم كبير من المعالم الاثرية فى الاسكندرية

منها ما هدم ومنها من اختفى او شوه بايدى مصرية

والقليل الباقى يعطى للمدينة نكهة مميزة وطابع حصارى فريد

[James of the Redwoods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made my favorite book shelf!
It has an excellent history of the city of Alexandria, Egypt. I was drawn to this book because the Introduction was written by one of my favorite authors, Lawrence Durrell, and also the superb observations of E.M. Forster.
Gnostic and early Christian church history scholars will find this volume a treasure.

[Bloodorange]

DNF because I didn't need it, but it's a friendly guide to the ancient history of Alexandria and helped me when reading Cavafy.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

For Forester completists and scholars only.
Written in 1922, so it is horribly outdated.
A short history of the city, which leaves out the 1,000 years of Arab rule. Since, according to him, nothing happened!
Drops off late 19th C - so nothing through WWI, when he was stationed there.
The History is mostly on religions, and he wraps up major heresies in 1-3 sentences.
Second half is an actual guide book, which you can pretty much thumb through and grab the high points from browsing. Of course, it is really really outdated! He actually walks you through one museum, telling you specifically what is, and is not, worth a look. Filled with his Edwardian British prejudices (I did have to chuckle every time he put the Germans down!).
A bit informative, but outdated and filled with his of-his-time opinions.
I will read his other Alexandria book as well, somewhere down the road.

[Jim Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really that interesting and crappy maps

You missed Giuseppe Botti who started the Greco Roman museum. Breccia worked for Botti. You could have put more effort into this especially maps that look like scratches on a napkin. More photos of Alexandria would have been good. I guess if you know nothing about Alexandria, it could teach you something but if you do this isn't really worth your time. You could update the current curator. I looked him up. I'm currently restoring Botti's first books and translating them so his hard work will be accessible to more people. I suggest you pull this title until you work a little harder. Maybe take those maps into Photoshop and clean them up.

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love E. M. Forster’s writing, so when I ran across a reference to this book, characterizing it as the best travel book, I had to read it, even though I don’t expect to visit Alexandria. Forster is one of my favorite English prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century. He never sacrifices clarity for effect; his elegance is that of simplicity; he wears his learning lightly. I admire the way he could deftly relate the history of this city of paradox: the greatest Hellenistic city (“more Greek than Greece,” page 25), planted on the coast of the venerable Egyptian empire.
The book is divided into two parts, nearly equal in length. The first contains a sketch of Alexandria’s history. Even before Alexander chose it as the site for his ideal metropolis, Homer has Menelaus pass this way on his return from Troy, and Herodotus records his impressions in Book II of his Histories. The reign of the Ptolemies culminates in the ultimate femme fatale, Cleopatra, as Rome encloses the city, gateway to Egypt, in its grasp. It was here, in the flourishing Jewish community, that the Hebrew scriptures were rendered into Greek; the confluence of Hellenism and Judaism reached its summit in the person and writings of Philo. Soon Christianity spread here as well, and the virulent doctrinal controversies over the nature of Christ originated here, where both Arius and Athanasius officiated. Where else could they have arisen than this city where Neoplatonism flourished, with its constant query over how God could interact with his creation? Some of the darkest episodes in church history took place here as well, such as the sundering of Hypatia by a mob of fanatic monks. A woman who openly taught philosophy: scandalous (at least to them)! And it was monks such as these, not—as legend has it—the conquering Arabs, who destroyed the Great Library. With the Arab conquest, nevertheless, Alexandria’s fortunes declined. It was periodically awakened from its slumber, such as by the clash of Napoleon and Nelson, where once Caesar, Antony, and Octavian strove, but in Forster’s day was less important than Cairo.
I see that Forster has infected me with the romance of this remarkable city. I’ll leave off; he describes it much better than I.
The second half of the book is the travel guide per se. It is an unusual guide book: a guide to what was, more than what is. The Great Lighthouse on Pharos, the Ptolemaic palace, the Mouseion with the most magnificent library of the ancient world, the tomb of Alexander: all gone. In some cases, it is uncertain where they once stood. This reflects the history of this place: At times, the apex of civilization, then for long periods, a neglected backwater.
Some readers may be tempted to skip over this second half, yet that would mean missing good insets that shouldn’t be overlooked, such as his reimagining of the Great Lighthouse on Pharos. Even Forster’s descriptions of what a tourist a century ago could still see (even if only the locations of what formerly stood) are written with his characteristic economy of style.
The temptation to quote liberally is great; I’ll resist, except to say to the prospective reader: be on the lookout for his bon mot about grammar, the wit of his potted biography of Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus, and his general advice on visiting museums. Just a few of the pleasures waiting between this book’s covers.

[The Contented · Rating 2 out of 5]

The part of the book comprising the history of Alexandria made this a wonderfully different sort of guide book, which was good to read.

But I can’t get over the Lawrence Durrell introduction, complaining about a later trip to Alexandria in which -gasp! - even the labels on pharmaceuticals were in Arabic.

In the cold, hard light of 2019, this appears exactly as it was - deeply bigoted.

[Nasr Hussein · Rating 3 out of 5]

الجزء الاول من الكتاب رائع لكن الجزء التانى ازمته ان اغلب المعالم اللى بيتكلم عنها ام فنيت و اما اغلقت من سنين لاسباب مختلفة

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[Hesham Khaled · Rating 4 out of 5]

"وقل وداعاً للإسكندرية التي تفقدها"