Alexandria
Publisher: Atlas Contact
The story of a city living in the past
Few cities capture the imagination as much as Alexandria, the mythical city of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city experienced a new heyday and was known as the ‘Pearl of the Mediterranean’. In this book, Cousin shows how that mythical image continues to this day and how everyone continues to project their story onto the city. He does not shy away from being critical of the usually (neo)colonial and Western perspective on the city. Cousin takes you on a journey through the modern history from World War ii to the present of this city, exploring the shadow and the grandiose past. The city still feels grand and special, but the problems of modern times– migration, climate change, global inequality – intrude.
Ask a native of Alexandria about the beauty of his city, and he starts talking about the past. From Alexander the Great and the mythical library to the heyday at the beginning of the 20th century when the Egyptian city had the grandeur of a European capital. Today, however, little remains of that heroic past: the city is in serious decline, drenched in nostalgia and many Alexandrians want to leave.
Eduard Cousin takes the reader on a journalistic journey through Alexandria’s modern history. The city freed itself from the colonial yoke, but faced new problems in return. The Mediterranean, once the connecting line to the world, became a harsh European border. Skillfully, Cousin examines how history carries through into the present and how everyone continues to project their own story onto the city. Alexandria is a book that makes you think about cultural borders, identity and nostalgia. But above all, it tells of a grandiose city in the shadow of an even more grandiose history.
