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'Not all lost cities are real, but this one was.' The extraordinary
story of Alexander the Great's lost city, and a quest to unravel
one of the most captivating mysteries in ancient history. 'Superb
... impeccably researched, but with the pace and deftly woven plot
complexity of a John le Carre novel ... utterly brilliant' William
Dalrymple, Guardian '[An] exceptional biography ... This is a jewel
of a book' Sunday Times 'A brilliant and evocative biography,
written with consummate scholarship, great style and wit' Daily
Telegraph ______ For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the
Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished.
In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person
imaginable: Charles Masson, an ordinary working-class boy from
London turned deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist and highly
respected scholar. On the way into one of history's most
extraordinary stories, Masson would take tea with kings, travel
with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he
would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have
glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be
suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the
era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other
in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of
thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old
Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of
the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change
the world, and the world would destroy him. This is a wild journey
through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably
researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and
dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both
personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire,
amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession
passed down the centuries. **Chosen as a Book of the Year by the
Spectator, Listener and Sydney Morning Herald**
Classics in Extremis reimagines classical reception. Its
contributors explore some of the most remarkable, hard-fought and
unsettling claims ever made on the ancient world: from the
coal-mines of England to the paradoxes of Borges, from Victorian
sexuality to the trenches of the First World War, from American
public-school classrooms to contemporary right-wing politics. How
does the reception of the ancient world change under impossible
strain? Its protagonists are 'marginal' figures who resisted that
definition in the strongest terms. Contributors argue for a
decentered model of classical reception: where the 'marginal'
shapes the 'central' as much as vice versa - and where the most
unlikely appropriations of antiquity often have the greatest
impact. What kind of distortions does the model of 'centre' and
'margins' produce? How can 'marginal' receptions be recovered most
effectively? Bringing together some of the leading scholars in the
field, Classics in Extremis moves beyond individual case studies to
develop fresh methodologies and perspectives on the study of
classical reception.
Classics in Extremis reimagines classical reception. Its
contributors explore some of the most remarkable, hard-fought and
unsettling claims ever made on the ancient world: from the
coal-mines of England to the paradoxes of Borges, from Victorian
sexuality to the trenches of the First World War, from American
public-school classrooms to contemporary right-wing politics. How
does the reception of the ancient world change under impossible
strain? Its protagonists are 'marginal' figures who resisted that
definition in the strongest terms. Contributors argue for a
decentered model of classical reception: where the 'marginal'
shapes the 'central' as much as vice versa - and where the most
unlikely appropriations of antiquity often have the greatest
impact. What kind of distortions does the model of 'centre' and
'margins' produce? How can 'marginal' receptions be recovered most
effectively? Bringing together some of the leading scholars in the
field, Classics in Extremis moves beyond individual case studies to
develop fresh methodologies and perspectives on the study of
classical reception.
Victorian Britain set out to make the ancient world its own. This
is the story of how it failed. It is the story of the headmaster
who bludgeoned his wife to death, then calmly sat down to his
Latin. It is the story of the embittered classical prodigy who
turned to gin and opium - and the virtuoso forger who fooled the
greatest scholars of the age. It is a history of hope: a general
who longed to be an Homeric hero, a bankrupt poet who longed to
start a revolution. Victorian classicism was defined by hope - but
shaped by uncertainty. Packed with forgotten characters and texts,
with the roar of the burlesque-stage and the mud of the
battlefield, this book offers a rich insight into
nineteenth-century culture and society. It explores just how
difficult it is to stake a claim on the past.
Victorian Britain set out to make the ancient world its own. This
is the story of how it failed. It is the story of the headmaster
who bludgeoned his wife to death, then calmly sat down to his
Latin. It is the story of the embittered classical prodigy who
turned to gin and opium - and the virtuoso forger who fooled the
greatest scholars of the age. It is a history of hope: a general
who longed to be an Homeric hero, a bankrupt poet who longed to
start a revolution. Victorian classicism was defined by hope - but
shaped by uncertainty. Packed with forgotten characters and texts,
with the roar of the burlesque-stage and the mud of the
battlefield, this book offers a rich insight into
nineteenth-century culture and society. It explores just how
difficult it is to stake a claim on the past.
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