Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.02.27
Colleen Manassa, Imagining the Past: Historical Fiction in New Kingdom Egypt. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xxviii, 339. ISBN 9780199982226.
Reviewed by Nikolaos Lazaridis, California State University, Sacramento
Colleen Manassa, the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Associate Professor of Egyptology at Yale University, has demonstrated in her publications over the past decade a remarkable breadth of research interests and scholarly skills. In this latest monograph she revisits four previously published New Kingdom texts, exploring their themes, form, language, and scope, and considering them as fair representatives of ancient Egyptian historical fiction. These texts are: the Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre, the Capture of Joppa, Thutmose III in Asia, and the Libyan Battle Story. Her study is thorough, well-written, and multi-layered; it may serve not only as these texts’ proper introduction for an audience not familiar with them, such as students or non-Egyptologists, but also as a well-rounded reconsideration of these texts’ reconstruction and interpretation for experts.
The four central chapters constitute her text-by-text analysis. These are preceded by an introduction to Egyptian historical fiction and its important interconnections to other Egyptian genres of writing and are followed by a short final chapter where the author summarizes the results of her analysis and treats them as defining features of this genre.
In Chapter 1 the author first discusses her definition of historical fiction as “narrative in which a process of historical events is itself an actor within the plot and whose characters are directly and repeatedly influenced by those events” (p. 3).1 Then she proceeds to introduce the four tales, relating their production and circulation to the intellectual context of Egypt’s temple and scribal cultures and stressing their dynamic intertextuality with earlier and contemporary historical narratives. Next, the author engages with Mikhail Bakhtin’s famous “chronotope”, arguing that these tales’ particular treatment of spatiotemporal aspects distinguishes them from other types of Egyptian narrative. Finally, the author briefly discusses the tales’ “paratextual elements”, pointing out, among other things, that their mixed Late Egyptian and Middle Egyptian grammar could be taken as an additional sign of their fictionality, and that possibly the tales’ transmission followed parallel oral and written paths.
Showing posts with label The Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Writing historical fiction in New Kingdom Egypt
By Colleen Manassa
The origins of Egyptian literary fiction can be found in the rollicking adventure tales and sober instructional texts of the early second millennium BCE. Tales such as the Story of Sinuhe, one of the classics of Egyptian literature, enjoyed a robust readership throughout the second millennium BCE as Egypt transitioned politically from the strongly centralized state of the Middle Kingdom and through the political changes, population movements, and strife of the Second Intermediate Period into the imperial glories of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE). During the New Kingdom, particularly the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, the “Ramesside Period,” another literary efflorescence occurred. Among the genres of this new corpus of literary productions are stories that can be most properly described as works of “historical fiction.” Set in the past with attested historical characters, these works of historical fiction are an ancient Egyptian counterpart, albeit ultimately unrelated, to the mammoth corpus of modern historical fiction from Sir Walter Scott, Patrick O’Brien, and George McDonald Frasier to Ken Follett and Philippa Gregory.
Historical fiction in New Kingdom Egypt has never been identified as its own genre, but in identifying it as such, stories that represent this period in history are brought to life. Ancient evidence used to resurrect the plots and characters range from straightforward archaeological excavation to a diverse array of historical texts to an actual royal mummy, whose violent death portends the ending of one tale.
The origins of Egyptian literary fiction can be found in the rollicking adventure tales and sober instructional texts of the early second millennium BCE. Tales such as the Story of Sinuhe, one of the classics of Egyptian literature, enjoyed a robust readership throughout the second millennium BCE as Egypt transitioned politically from the strongly centralized state of the Middle Kingdom and through the political changes, population movements, and strife of the Second Intermediate Period into the imperial glories of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE). During the New Kingdom, particularly the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, the “Ramesside Period,” another literary efflorescence occurred. Among the genres of this new corpus of literary productions are stories that can be most properly described as works of “historical fiction.” Set in the past with attested historical characters, these works of historical fiction are an ancient Egyptian counterpart, albeit ultimately unrelated, to the mammoth corpus of modern historical fiction from Sir Walter Scott, Patrick O’Brien, and George McDonald Frasier to Ken Follett and Philippa Gregory.
Historical fiction in New Kingdom Egypt has never been identified as its own genre, but in identifying it as such, stories that represent this period in history are brought to life. Ancient evidence used to resurrect the plots and characters range from straightforward archaeological excavation to a diverse array of historical texts to an actual royal mummy, whose violent death portends the ending of one tale.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)