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''Pharaoh'' ( by the Polish writer Bolesław Prus . Composed over a year's time in 1894-95, it was the sole Historical Novel by an author who had previously disapproved of historical novels. Prus had as a 15-year-old fought in Poland's 1863 Uprising , directed at restoring the country's independence. In ''Pharaoh'' he transmuted his experiences and his subsequent reflections on Human Societies into a unique novel on Politics . ''Pharaoh'' is a study of mechanisms of Political Power , set in the Egypt of 1087-85 BCE as the country experiences internal upheavals and external threats that will culminate in the fall of its Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom . "Through his analysis of the dynamics of an Ancient Egypt ian Society ," writes Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz , " {Link without Title} suggests an Archetype of the struggle for Power that goes on within any state." Czesław Miłosz , ''The History of Polish Literature'', p. 299. The ancient Setting also permitted Prus to evade the depredations of the Russia n Censor , and to achieve a distance conducive to a dispassionate analysis of Man and Society . Prus immersed himself in Egyptian history, art and writings, and produced perhaps the most compelling literary depiction ever of life at every level of Ancient Egypt ian society. ''Pharaoh'''s abiding popularity is attested by Translation s into 20 languages and by a 1966 Feature Film . Publication ''Pharaoh'' comprises a compact but substantial introduction, 67 chapters and an evocative Epilog (the latter omitted at original publication). Like Prus' previous novels, ''Pharaoh'' debuted (1895-96) in Newspaper Serial ization. Unlike them, however, it had first been composed in its entirety rather than being written in chapters from issue to issue.Edward Pieścikowski, '' Bolesław Prus '', p.157. The 1897 and some subsequent Book Edition s divided the novel's text into three volumes; later editions have presented it in two volumes or in a single one. Except in wartime, the book has never been out of print in Poland. Plot ''Pharaoh'' begins with one of the more memorable openings Bolesław Prus , ''Pharaoh'', p. 12. to be found in a novel — an opening written in the style of an ancient Chronicle : , 1897.]]
''Pharaoh'' combines features of several , the Political Novel , the '' Bildungsroman '' and the Sensation Novel . It also comprises a number of interbraided strands — including the Plot line, Egypt's cycle of Season s, the country's Geography and Monument s, and Ancient Egypt ian practices (e.g. Mummification Ritual s and techniques) — each of which rises to prominence at appropriate moments. The fate of the novel's traits of the principals, the Social forces in play. Ancient Egypt at the end of its New Kingdom period is experiencing adversities. The deserts are eroding Egypt's Arable Land . The country's population has declined from eight to six million. Foreign peoples are entering Egypt in ever-growing numbers, undermining its unity. The chasm between the Peasant s and Craftsmen on one hand, and the Ruling Class es on the other, is growing, exacerbated by the ruling classes' fondness for Luxury and idleness. The country is becoming ever more deeply indebted to Phoenicia n merchants as Import ed goods destroy native Industries . The Egyptian and Persia . ("the Great") at the Battle Of Kadesh . ( Bas Relief at Abu Simbel ).]] The 22-year-old of Amon , Herhor ; obtain for the country's use the Treasure s that lie stored in the Labyrinth ; and, emulating Ramses The Great 's military exploits, wage War against Assyria . Ramses proves himself a brilliant Military Commander in a victorious lightning War against the invading Libya ns. On succeeding to the throne, he encounters the adamant opposition of the priestly Hierarchy to his planned Reforms . The broad masses of Egyptian society are instinctively drawn to him, but he must still win over or crush the priesthood and their adherents. In the course of the political intrigue, Ramses' Private Life becomes hostage to the conflicting interests of the Phoenicians and the Egyptian high priests. Ramses' ultimate downfall is caused by his underestimation of his opponents and by his impatience with priestly s and Ritual s, he has inadvertently discarded a crucial piece of Scientific Knowledge . Ramses is succeeded to the throne by his arch-enemy Herhor , who paradoxically ends up raising treasure from the Labyrinth to finance the very Social Reform s that had been planned by Ramses. Characters Prus took characters' names where he found them, sometimes '', 1994, no. 1, p. 48. The origins of the names of some prominent characters may be of interest:
Themes In a broad sense, ''Pharaoh'' belongs in a Polish literary tradition of Political Fiction whose roots reach back to the 16th Century and Jan Kochanowski 's ''The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys''. ''Pharaoh'''s story covers a two-year period ending in 1085 BCE with the demise of the Egypt ian Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom . Polish Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz has written of ''Pharaoh'': .]] "The daring conception of novel ''Pharaoh''... is matched by its excellent artistic composition. It [may be as a novel on... mechanism[s of State Power and, as such, is probably unique in World Literature of the nineteenth century.... Prus, selecting the reign of 'Pharaoh Ramses XIII' [the last Ramesside was actually Ramses XI in the eleventh century sought a perspective that was detached from... pressures of [topicality and censorship. Through his analysis of the dynamics of an Ancient Egypt ian society, he... suggest an Archetype of the struggle for Power that goes on within any state. [Prus convey certain views [regarding the health and illness of Civilization s.... ''Pharaoh''... is a work worthy of Prus' intellect and [is] one of the best Polish novels." Czesław Miłosz , ''The History of Polish Literature'', pp. 299-302. .]] The protagonist Ramses learns that those who would oppose the priesthood are vulnerable to cooption, '', 1995, no. 3, pp. 331-32. At one level, ''Pharaoh'' is an extended study of the Metaphor of Society -as- Organism that Prus had adopted from Herbert Spencer and that he memorably made explicit in the introduction to the novel. All of a society's Organ systems must work together in harmony if the society is to survive and prosper. As a 's film '' Ivan The Terrible '', produced under Stalin's tutelage. Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and Curtin 's Translation," '' The Polish Review '', 1986, nos. 2-3, p. 128. The novel's English Translator , Christopher Kasparek , has recounted presciently wondering, well in advance of the event, whether President John F. Kennedy would meet with a fate like that of the book's protagonist. Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and Curtin's Translation," p. 128. Inspirations .]] ''Pharaoh'' is unique in Prus' '' Oeuvre '' as a ''historical'' Novel . A Positivist by Philosophical persuasion, Prus had long argued that historical novels must inevitably distort historic reality. He had, however, eventually come over to the French Positivist Critic Hippolyte Taine 's view that the Art s, including Literature , may act as a second means alongside the Science s to study reality, including broad Historic Reality . Zygmunt Szweykowski , ''Twórczość Bolesława Prusa'', p. 109. Prus did in fact, in the interest of making certain points, introduce some Anachronism s and Anatopism s into the novel. ''Pharaoh'' drew from many sources for its inspiration. Depicting the demise of Egypt 's New Kingdom three thousand years earlier, the book also reflects the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 's Demise in 1795, exactly a century before ''Pharaoh'''s completion. Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'': the Creation of a Historical Novel," p. 46. .]] .]] A preliminary sketch for Prus' only Historical Novel was his first historical Short Story , " A Legend Of Old Egypt ." This remarkable story shows clear parallels with the subsequent novel in Setting , Theme and Denouement . " and of his reform-minded successor, Friedrich III . Zygmunt Szweykowski , ''"Geneza noweli 'Z legend dawnego Egiptu'"'' ("The Genesis of the Short Story, 'A Legend of Old Egypt'"), in ''Nie tylko o Prusie: szkice'', pp. 256-61, 299-300. The latter emperor ''would'', then unbeknown to Prus, survive his ninety-year-old predecessor, but only by ninety-nine days. In 1893 Prus' old friend Julian Ochorowicz , having returned to Warsaw from Paris , delivered several public lectures on Ancient Egypt ian knowledge. Ochorowicz (whom Prus had portrayed in '' The Doll '' as the scientist "Julian Ochocki") may have inspired Prus to write his Historical Novel about Ancient Egypt , and made available to Prus books on the subject that he had brought from Paris.Jan Wantuła, "''Prus i Ochorowicz w Wiśle''" ("Prus and Ochorowicz in Wisła "), in Stanisław Fita, ed., ''Wspomnienia o Bolesławie Prusie'', p. 215. .]] In preparation for composing ''Pharaoh'', Prus made a painstaking study of e into a Mosaic ; drawn from one such textThis text may be found in Adolf Erman , ed., ''The Ancient Egyptians: a Sourcebook of Their Writings'', pp. 194-95. was a major character, Ennana. There are as well, throughout the book, numberless echoes of the '' Bible '' (e.g., A Miniature Turning-of-water-to-blood ) and of Ancient History generally, including Troy and its recent excavation by Heinrich Schliemann . .]] For certain of the novel's prominent features Prus, conscientious journalist and scholar that he was, seems to have insisted on having two sources, one of them being based on personal or at least contemporary experience. Thus the historical Egyptian Labyrinth had been described in the fifth century BCE in Book II of '' The Histories Of Herodotus '' by the Father Of History , who visited Egypt's entirely stone-built administrative center, pronounced it more impressive than the pyramids, declared it "beyond my power to describe," then proceeded to give a striking description Herodotus , '' The Histories '', translated by Aubrey De Selincourt , Book II, pp. 160-61. that Prus Incorporated Into His Novel . Bolesław Prus , ''Pharaoh'', pp. 493–95. The Labyrinth had been made palpably real for Prus, however, by an 1878 visit he paid to the famous ancient labyrinthine Salt Mine At Wieliczka , near Kraków in southern Poland. Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and the Wieliczka Salt Mine," '' The Polish Review '', 1997, no. 3, pp. 349-55. According to the foremost Prus scholar, Zygmunt Szweykowski , "The power of the Labyrinth scenes stems, among other things, from the fact that they echo Prus' own experiences when visiting Wieliczka ." Zygmunt Szweykowski , ''Twórczość Bolesława Prusa'', p. 451. Writing over four decades before the construction of the United States ' Fort Knox Depository , Prus pictures Egypt's Labyrinth as a perhaps flood-able Egyptian Fort Knox, a repository of Gold Bullion and of artistic and historic treasures. It was, he writes (chapter 56), "the greatest treasury in Egypt. {Link without Title} ere... was preserved the treasure of the Egyptian kingdom, accumulated over centuries, of which it is difficult today to have any conception." Bolesław Prus , ''Pharaoh'', p. 493. .]] Another dually-determined feature of the novel is the "Suez Canal" that the Phoenician Prince Hiram proposes digging. The modern Suez Canal had been completed by Ferdinand De Lesseps in 1869, a quarter-century before Prus commenced writing ''Pharaoh''. But, as Prus was aware in chapter one, it had had a predecessor in a canal connecting the Nile River with the Red Sea (during Egypt's Middle Kingdom , centuries before the period of the novel). Bolesław Prus , ''Pharaoh'', p. 13. .]] A third dually-determined feature was inspired by a Solar Eclipse that Prus had witnessed at Mława , a hundred kilometers north-northwest of Warsaw , on August 19 , 1887 , the day before his fortieth birthday. Prus likely was also aware of Christopher Columbus' Manipulative Use of a ''lunar'' Eclipse on February 29 , 1504 , while marooned for a year on Jamaica , in an incident which strikingly resembles the exploitation of a ''solar'' Eclipse by Ramses' chief antagonist, Herhor, high priest of Amon. Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and the Solar Eclipse," '' The Polish Review '', 1997, no. 4, pp. 471-78. Samuel Eliot Morison , ''Christopher Columbus, Mariner'', pp. 184-92. .]] Finally, a fourth dually-determined feature relates to Egyptian beliefs about an Afterlife . In 1893, the year before beginning his novel, Prus the Skeptic had started taking an intense interest in Spiritualism , attending Warsaw Séance s which featured the Italian Medium , Eusapia Palladino . Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'': Primer on Power," pp. 332-33. Modern Spiritualism had been initiated in 1848 in Hydeville, New York, by the Fox Sisters , Katie and Margaret, aged 11 and 15, and had survived even their 1888 confession that forty years earlier they had caused the " Spirit s'" telegraph-like tapping sounds by snapping their toe joints. Spiritualist "mediums" in America and Europe claimed to communicate through tapping sounds with spirits of the dead, eliciting their secrets and conjuring up voices, music, noises and other antics, and occasionally working "miracles" such as Levitation . Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'': Primer on Power," p. 333. .]] Spiritualism inspired several of ''Pharaoh'''s most striking scenes, especially (chapter 20) the secret meeting at the Temple of Seth in Memphis between three Egyptian priests—Herhor, Mefres, Pentuer—and the Chaldea n Magus -priest Berossus. Bolesław Prus , ''Pharaoh'', pp. 147-57. Prus, a disciple of Positivist Philosophy , took a strong interest in the History Of Science . He was aware of Eratosthenes ' remarkably accurate calculation of the Earth's Circumference , and the invention of a Steam Engine by Heron Of Alexandria , centuries after the period of his novel, in Alexandria n Egypt. In chapter 60, he fictitiously credits these achievements to the priest Menes, one of three individuals of the identical name who are mentioned or depicted in ''Pharaoh'' Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and Curtin 's Translation," p. 129.: Prus was not always fastidious about characters' names. Accuracy Examples of Anachronism and Anatopism mentioned above make it clear that punctilious historic accuracy was never an overriding object with Prus in writing ''Pharaoh.'' "That's not the point," Joseph Conrad told a relative regarding putative inaccuracies in ''Pharaoh''. Zdzisław Najder , ''Conrad under Familial Eyes'', p. 215. Prus had long emphasized in his "Weekly Chronicles" that Historical Novel s cannot help but distort historic reality; he used Ancient Egypt as a great canvas on which to draw his deeply-considered perspectives of Man , Civilization and Politics . 's Step Pyramid at Saqqara — Metaphor , in stone, for Egypt's Social Stratification (discussed in ''Pharaoh'', chapter 18).]] That said, in many regards ''Pharaoh'' ''is'' remarkably accurate, even from the standpoint of present-day Egyptology ; and the novel does a unique job of recreating a primal ancient civilization, complete with the country's geography, climate, plants, animals, ethnicities, countryside, cities, Social Stratification , politics, religion and warfare. Prus succeeds incomparably in transporting readers back to the Egypt of thirty-one centuries ago.Edward Pieścikowski, '' Bolesław Prus '', pp. 135–38. The Embalming and Funeral scenes, the Court Protocol , the waking and feeding of the God s, the Religious beliefs, ceremonies and processions, the concept behind the design of Pharaoh Zoser 's Step Pyramid at Saqqara , the descriptions of travels and locales visited on the Nile and in the Desert — could hardly be bettered. The personalities and behaviors of the characters are keenly observed and deftly drawn, often incorporating appropriate Ancient Egypt ian texts. Popularity As a " Political Novel ," ''Pharaoh'' has since 1895 gained fresh relevance with each decade. The book's undiminished popularity, however, is as much due to a critical yet sympathetic view of Human Nature and the Human Condition . Prus offers a vision of humankind as rich as Shakespeare 's, ranging from the Sublime to the Quotidian , from the Tragic to the Comic . Zygmunt Szweykowski , ''Twórczość Bolesława Prusa'', pp. 345–47. The book is written in Limpid Prose , suffused with Poetry , leavened with Humor , graced with moments of transcendent Beauty . Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'': the Creation of a Historical Novel," p. 49. ''Pharaoh'' has been Feature Film , ''Faraon'' ( Polish for "Pharaoh"). Christopher Kasparek , "Prus' ''Pharaoh'' and Curtin 's Translation," p. 129. Notes References
See also '' (described in ''Pharaoh'', chapter 53). Illustration from '' Papyrus Of Ani '' at British Museum .]]
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