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"As told by Gwyn Williams" -- title page

"In the early autumn of 1942 I was asked to go from Cairo, and my rusitc villa at Mataria, to Alexandria, and a pleasant villa near Stanley Bay, to be head of the English Department at the newly founded Faruk I University. As I walked along the Corniche on my first evenings in Alexandria I was aware of the crepitation of guns to the west. The battle of Alamein had begun. But my thoughts were soon more of the Alexandrian past than of 'war and war's alarms'... It was discovering... such poems as the 'Eclogue XV' of Theocritus, the poems of Callimachus (in Robin Furness' translation) and the epigrams of the 'Greek Anthology' that gave me the notion of a flyting or verse war between poets of Alexandria and those of Cairo. They were all friends of mine and they liked the idea. They fell naturally into tow teams, one to represent Cairo: Robin Fedden, Terence Tiller, Bernard Spencer and Bryn Davies -- Lawrence Durrell, Robert Liddell, Howard Edwards and I for Alexandria..." -- Introduction, p.5

(David) Gwyn Williams

Family: Born August 24, 1904, in Port Talbot, Wales; died December 24, 1990, in Aberystwyth, Wales; son of Evan (a builder and contractor) and Sarah Jane (Merchant) Williams; married, 1928 (marriage ended); married second wife, 1949. children: Edward David, Ijan Roderick John, Teleri (daughter), Lowri (daughter), Gwydion (son). Education: University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, B.A., 1925; Jesus College, Oxford, M.A., 1944. Memberships: Yr Academi Gymreig.

Teacher of English at schools in Egypt, 1927-35; University of Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, lecturer in English literature, 1935-42; University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt, assistant professor of English, 1942-51; free-lance writer, broadcaster, and lecturer, 1951-56; University of Libya, Benghazi, professor of English, 1956-61; University of Instanbul, Instanbul, Turkey, professor of English literature, 1961-69; free-lance writer, broadcaster, and lecturer, 1969--.
--Gale Literature Resource Center