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Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra

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Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra

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Overview

A blend of memoir, history, and travelogue exploring the ancient Egyptian city on the eve of the Arab Spring: “Fresh and original . . . quietly virtuosic.” —The Wall Street Journal

Blending aspects of memoir, history, and travel narrative into an elegant and unique tapestry, Peter Stothard uses the sights and sounds of the ancient city to reconnect with the experiences that shaped him and sparked a passionate interest in the life of Cleopatra. Melancholy, yet often humorous, Alexandria probingly deconstructs the enigma of modern Egypt—with its uneasy mix of classical touchstones and increasingly volatile Middle Eastern politics—and offers a firsthand glimpse into the fracturing state just before the Tahrir Square uprising and the start of the Arab Spring.

Includes photographs

“A thoroughly enjoyable combination of history, autobiography, travel and general musings about Alexandria . . . Don’t try to categorize this book; just read it and let it flow over you.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A chance trip to Alexandria and a lifelong love affair with Cleopatra coalesce . . . Staying in Alexandria’s Metropole Hotel and guided through the city by the at turns effusive and secretive Socratis and Mahmoud, Stothard relates not only his encounters with the remnants of Cleopatra throughout Alexandria but also the origins of his fascination with the Egyptian queen.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468310399
Publisher:	ABRAMS, Inc.
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	397
Sales rank:	122,597
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

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.

Map xii

31.12.10 1

Arrival in Alexandria

A yellow room at Le Metropole

Maurice and the Red Tents

How Cleopatra made it happen

1.1.11 9

Cleopatra the First

Mahmoud and Socratis

New Year bombing

The Dead Fountain cafe

Essex clay

I look myself up

2.1.11 35

Slightly poisoned

Muslims and Copts

Monty's bar

Jesus, the missing years

3.1.11 47

Cleopatra the Second

The rough-book

E.M. Forster and the Ptolemies

Boxes of tragedies

Death by needles and beaks

4.1.11 65

Partial eclipse

Sir Anthony Browne's foundation

Mr G and Mr W

She Who Must Be Obeyed

Blood from his nose

An arms salesman

5.1.11 87

V, the schoolgirl

Teenage years

Sodomy in Greek

Burning books

A boy called Frog

Paul Simon and Jimi Hendricks (sic)

6.1.11 107

Cleopatra the Third

Miss Taylor

Signs of a beard

Pompey's Pillar

A bomber and a carpet

7.1.11 127

Cleopatra the Fourth

In Oxford

A kiss from V

Julius Caesar's little war

A cruise down the Nile

8.1.11 143

Maurice gets Marowitzed

Lighthouse island

Mahmoud and the church bomb

Ides of March

9.1.11 163

A lesson from Holladay

Continuators

Watch the office men

Classicists do

A night at The Frogs

10.1.11 177

Cleopatra the Fifth

An actress at St Mark's

Sex with Crissie

Maurice's Nubian night

Socratis on Caesar

Aulus Hirtius, V and me

11.1.11 195

The Metropole red-and-green Ball

Tied down in the tents

Frog and the Mermaids

12.1.11 209

Secret seventies

The Latin for hangover

Alexandrian rules

Southern Bug

Somewhere on Love's Island

Alphabets in the sky

13.1.11 225

The middle of the story

Mark Antony waits at Tarsus

Perfumed sails

Successors to Caesar

A queen cannot choose her pimp

14.1.11 233

Cleopatra the Sixth

Grey days at Big Oil

Bureaucracy student

A different Antony Brown

15.1.11 225

Cleopatra the Seventh

Space barons

V in the Red Tents

Calthorpe Arms

The Thatcher who must be obeyed

F for Farouk

Duke's rout

16.1.11 289

The purpose of parties

Mark Antony s wars

Generous happenings for a general

The new Caesars

17.1.11 297

Queens by night and day

Dreams of dogs

Romans and Alexandrians in the newsroom

Leading articles

The Scargill gaffe

18.1.11 315

Last nights of an editor

Farewell to Calthorpe and other Arms

Lost notes

What happened at Actium

19.1.11 329

Mahmoud and the troops

Death of Antony

Socratis's mother sings

Coincident cancers

20.1.11 347

Maurice and Cleopatra reunited

How to die without pain

E.M Forster on the North Sea

21.1.11 357

V comes to Cheltenham

How to read a Latin poem

The afterlife of Romans

Drink and move on

22.1.11

Last night, last words

Farewell to Le Metropole

Noises from the border

the right choice of driver

Epilogue: Elizabeth Taylor and the Arab Spring 379

Acknowledgements 383

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Spartacus Road:

"Elegant, erudite…this engaging book reminds us that, for all the secrets the story of Spartacus refuses to give up, it still leads us back to the heart of things." —The Wall Street Journal

"One of those rare books in which there is something of unexpected interest on every page, and which makes the reader wish he or she could pack a small bag and accompany the author on his travels."—Daily Beast

"A thoroughly enjoyable combination of history, autobiography, travel and general musings about Alexandria….It is these writings of poets and historians from 2,000 years ago that bring together the Greek and Roman influences that made Alexandria great. It is a joy to watch the classically trained mind assemble the story. Don’t try to categorize this book; just read it and let it flow over you." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

A chance trip to Alexandria and a lifelong love affair with Cleopatra coalesce in Times Literary Supplement editor Stothard’s intriguing amalgam of travel memoir and history lesson. What began as a trip to South Africa in 2011 became, due to weather, a journey to an Alexandria on the cusp of the Arab Spring, a place Stothard (Spartacus Road) had long associated with the most famous of ancient Egyptian women. Throughout the years, beginning in his Essex childhood and continuing through his time at Oxford, Stothard attempted seven times to complete his book on Cleopatra, failing each time to capture the essence of the woman who’d stolen his classicist’s heart. Staying in Alexandria’s Metropole Hotel and guided through the city by the at turns effusive and secretive Socratis and Mahmoud, Stothard relates not only his encounters with the remnants of Cleopatra throughout Alexandria but also the origins of his fascination with the Egyptian queen, a passion he shared with his lifelong friend Maurice. He presents each failed version of his book as both a snapshot of a certain period in Cleopatra’s doomed life—from her arrival in Egypt from Greece to her affair with Julius Caesar—and as glimpses into his own history as a schoolboy, classical scholar, and journalist. That a clear picture of Cleopatra does not emerge by the end of Stothard’s Alexandrian sojourn is beside the point; it is his own journey that, intertwined with his queen’s, resonates the most. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2013
Stothard (editor, Times Literary Supplement) is no novice when it comes to fusing memoir, history, and travelog. His 2010 book, Spartacus Road: A Journey Through Ancient Italy, presented a 71 BCE Roman slave rebellion as an allegory for his fight with pancreatic cancer. Here, he performs a similar act of juxtaposition, comparing Cleopatra's dramatic life with the fading glory of the British Empire and contemporary Egypt on the eve of the collapse of Hosni Mubarak's regime. The book is spiced with colorful people such as the mother of the author's tour guide, a former diva who believes that Cleopatra is ever present; Callimachus (305–240 BCE), a poet and deputy librarian of the Library of Alexandria; and Maurice, the author's friend from childhood, who liked to dress up as Cleopatra. VERDICT Stothard's style calls to mind Proust's In Search of Lost Time, but casual readers may feel disoriented by the maze of multiple narratives. This book is more suitable for readers already familiar with the historical background in which Stothard's reminiscences are grounded.—Victor Or, Surrey Libs., BC

Library Journal

A thoroughly enjoyable combination of history, autobiography, travel and general musings about Alexandria. Times Literary Supplement editor Stothard (The Spartacus Road, 2010, etc.) started writing about Cleopatra when he was in elementary school, and this book is the eighth version of his work. A vacation interrupted by weather landed the author in Alexandria, the Egyptian city of the Ptolemys. He was somehow adopted by two very peculiar guides--or guards--who did their best to lead, or mislead, his quest to finish the story. Cleopatra was the last of her line; her oft-told story of intrigue, lust and no small amount of genius now has deeper background. There is no way to trace the steps of Caesar or Marc Antony as they wooed her. The great library burned down, and the lighthouse is at the bottom of the sea, as are most of the buildings of old Alexandria. Stothard's journey through prep school, public school, Oxford and Fleet Street is the curious history of his attempts at fully grasping Cleopatra's story. The unusual findings of his schoolmates as they combed through the classics--e.g., Antony's drunkenness, odd red tents of mermen--intrigue readers, but not as much as the players with which most are unfamiliar. Aulus Hirtius, one of Caesar's continuators (extending the legend), is but one of the characters Stothard uses effectively to provide a sharper picture. It is these writings of poets and historians from 2,000 years ago that bring together the Greek and Roman influences that made Alexandria great. It is a joy to watch the classically trained mind assemble the story. Don't try to categorize this book; just read it and let it flow over you.

Kirkus Reviews

Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra

Alexandria: The Last Nights of Cleopatra

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