This study of C. P. Cavafy's life portrays the man as a flawed genius who changed the fate of world poetry. Seeking to capture the contradictions and perplexities of Cavafy's life and poetry, Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys move through the poet's life thematically

The book begins in Cavafy's hospital room, where he lies dying among his friends, before turning to his family, chronicling the lives of his parents and siblings and detailing the vicissitudes of the family after his father's death with moves to London, Liverpool, and Istanbul. Next, the biography zooms in on his beloved city, Alexandria, which nourished his imagination and which he converted into a metaphor both of his own poetry and of modern life. Cavafy's circle is examined, too: his childhood companions, the friends of middle age, and finally those individuals with whom he associated at the end of his life.

Constantine Cavafy: A New Biography also centers on the poetry itself, from Cavafy's first attempts to write verse to how, in middle age, he abandoned most of what he had previously written and developed the style that the world now knows as Cavafian. Further, his contradictions become apparent, as well as his crucial choice to sacrifice love for fame and a global reputation. .