"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Zarafa recounts the history of a Masai giraffe captured in the Sudan in 1826 and shipped to France for presentation to the French king, Charles X. The giraffe was initially intended as a diplomatic gift offered to Charles by Muhammad Ali, the despotic Viceroy of Egypt, in an attempt to curry favour with the French as Muhammad set about his invasion of Greece. But in the midst of this potentially unremarkable event, Allin uncovers a weird and wonderful story of the tangled, momentous events which surrounded the giraffe's extraordinary journey: Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the beginnings of Egyptology; the giraffe's dramatic journey along the route of the North African slave trade; quarantine off Marseilles on the island of If, the former residence of the Count of Monte Cristo; and the giraffe's enchanting encounter with the scientific community of post-Revolutionary France. These remarkable events culminated in the giraffe's triumphant entry into Paris in 1827 in front of crowds of thousands following a walk of 550 miles from Marseilles to Paris, led by none other than Etienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, the founding professor of the National Museum of Natural History.
Allin's stories are indeed remarkable, though he often seems bewitched by the richness of his own material. At times, the book seems as though it cannot make up its mind as to whether it is a travel narrative, an account of Zarafa, or the 19th century's fascination with exotic animals. This is partly due to a loss of pace in crucial moments of the book; Allin's account is so breathless by the time the giraffe reaches Paris that the final sections of the book seem rather anticlimactic. Nevertheless, this is a great story with a remarkable cast of characters--both human and animal. --Jerry Brotton
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Book Description Condition: Muy bueno. EAN: 9788487981326 Tipo: Libros Categoría: Título: ZarafaAutor: Michael Allin| Roser Soms Tramujas Editorial: Deriva Editorial, S.L. (1 abril 2001) Idioma: CA Páginas: 240 Peso: 788 Año de publicación: 2001. Seller Inventory # Happ-2022-10-09-2de0bcdf
Book Description tapa blanda. Condition: Bien. Literatura inglesa. Novela. Siglo XX. (821.111(73)-31"19") Zarafa: la verdadera historia de la girafa que va viatjar a París des del cor de l'Africa Deriva. Sant Cugat del Vallès. 2001. 22 cm. 234 p. il. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Allin, Michael 1944-. Traducción, Roser Soms. Elogi de la paraula. volumen coleccion( 4). Traducción de: Zarafa . ISBN: 8487981321 (=3037846=) JB23. Seller Inventory # 3037846