Modern Egypt: What There Is to See and Hear Between Cairo and Fashoda

Guerville, A. B. de (Amédée Baillot de), 1869-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5

Word count: 205K words
Chapters: 21

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Het moderne Egypte: Wat er te zien en te hooren valt tusschen Kaïro en FaschodaAuthor: Guerville, A. B. de (Amédée Baillot de), 1869-,Language: Dutch, Class: DT: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Release Date: Jun 28, 2007

Editor's review

This is a travelogue of Egypt written in Dutch. With the eye of a turn-of-the-century traveler, the author, de Gerlache, records what he saw and heard along the route from Cairo to Fashoda. Its value lies not in systematic historical research but in presenting a vanished way of observing: how a European traveler used his ears and eyes to capture the markets, crowds, sounds, and customs along the Nile. Readers can sense the texture of Egyptian social life in the early twentieth century and can also examine it as a specimen of colonial-era travel writing. The text consists mainly of observations, loosely narrated, suitable as peripheral material for cultural history and travel literature rather than as a general history of Egypt or a guidebook. For readers studying Dutch travel texts, Nile shipping, and the history of transportation in the African interior, this book offers primary material that can be read alongside other travelogues; ordinary readers should savor its language and atmosphere with an awareness of its historical limitations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Travel-literature readers interested in early twentieth-century Egyptian social life
Cultural historians studying colonial-era European travel writing
Readers with Dutch reading ability looking for obscure primary texts
General readers who enjoy geographical observations of the Nile and the African interior

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic general history of Egypt or archaeological knowledge
Tourists hoping for practical information on traveling in contemporary Egypt
Ordinary readers who do not read Dutch and only read Chinese

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and the opening, grasp the author's route south from Cairo, then read in sections by location.
Read alongside a map or place names along the Nile to reduce the disorientation caused by old place names and loose narration.
Read it together with other Egyptian travelogues of the same period, noting how different authors select and omit details of the same scenes.
When encountering expressions tinged with period prejudice, jot them down as clues for understanding colonial travel writing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book written in Dutch? Can I read it without knowing Dutch?

The original is in Dutch and is included in the Project Gutenberg e-book library. Readers who do not know Dutch need translation tools or a parallel translation; reading only Chinese makes for a less smooth experience, and the book is better suited as research material than as casual reading.

Is the book about a journey from Cairo to Fashoda?

From the title and summary, the content revolves around observations of what can be "seen and heard" between Cairo and Fashoda; it is a travel-observation narrative, not a geography or political history. Specific itinerary details must be based on the original text; one cannot infer complete transportation and route information from it.

How much background in Egyptian history is needed to read this book?

The book does not aim to present history systematically; readers need only a rough understanding of the basic situation in Egypt and the Nile Valley from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century to follow the narrative. If entirely unfamiliar, it is advisable to read a concise modern history of Egypt first, which makes it easier to distinguish period prejudice from on-site observation.

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About the author

Guerville, A. B. de (Amédée Baillot de), 1869- Author

A. B. de Guerville (full name Amédée Baillot de, born 1869) is an author about whom very little is publicly known: his nationality, education and professional career cannot be verified, and only one of his works is currently held in the collection. His known representative work is Het moderne Egypte: Wat er te zien en te hooren valt tusschen Kaïro en Faschoda (Modern Egypt: What Is to Be Seen and Heard between Cairo and Fashoda), a travel account of Egypt whose title indicates a route from Cairo along the Nile to Fashoda, focusing on observations and local customs along the way. Published in Dutch, the book suggests that his writing reached a Dutch-speaking readership. Given the scarcity of sources, a full assessment of his style and historical influence remains difficult.