Pharaoh (novel)

The forerunner of the novel was the author’s story “From the Legends of Ancient Egypt” published in 1888 (Z legend dawnego Egiptu; in Russian translation - “Grandson of the Pharaoh”).

Boleslav Prus actively used available literary sources, in particular, the books of the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero, “The Ancient History of the East” (1875) and “Historical Stories” (1889; Pol. Lane 1893). From the last book, he took the main storyline - the fall of the pharaoh of the 20th dynasty and the transfer of power to the priest Amon , as well as some names - Sargon, Izdubar, Annan, Bakur and others. Prus used the work of the American scientist J. W. Draper "History of mental development Europe ”(in the Polish lane of 1873), as well as the“ History of Ancient Egypt ”(Vilno, 1880), by the famous physician and traveler , who took the name of Ramses XIII, whose existence modern Egyptologists deny ^[1] .

Among the contemporaries of the writer was also a popular version, which, in particular, was adhered to by his biographer Ludwik Wlodek, that the prototype of the conflict between the main characters - Ramses and Herichor - to some extent, became disagreements between the young Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. P Pobedonostsevym ^[2] .

The novel reflected the problems of the contemporary author of European colonialism, in particular, the struggle for Egypt between England and France and the uprising of 1879 - 1882 , led by Ahmed Arabi Pasha ^[3] .

“Pharaoh” is the penultimate of the major novels of the writer (the novel “ Change ” was not completed). The novel takes place in Ancient Egypt in the middle of the XI century BC. e. - during the decline of the XX dynasty of the Egyptian pharaohs, who completed the New Kingdom .

The plot of the novel is the story of the struggle of a fictional historical figure - the young pharaoh Ramses XIII - with the powerful caste of priests Amon-Ra , led by the treacherous Herichor . The criticism of the clergy contained in this work was relevant for the Catholic Church ^[4] .

Representing the decline of the once powerful state, the author seeks an answer to the question about the reasons for this decline - and it becomes obvious to the reader who has an idea of ​​the Prussian era that the problems of the novel are caused by the decomposition and crisis of the modern writer of the Polish bourgeois-feudal society. It does not follow from this that Prus merely “masked” modern ideas with decor and names taken from antiquity. On the contrary, the meaning of “Pharaoh” in the development of the Polish historical novel is that in it - for the first time in the history of Polish literature - at such a high artistic level, using the scientific knowledge available to the author about the past, without obvious modernization, social problems were presented in living images distant era, which are of great importance for a better understanding of modern issues, an attempt was made to comprehend the laws of historical progress ^[5] .

In “Pharaoh,” Prus addresses the problems of the plight of the people, their role in the life of the state, and also analyzes the essence of political power, the correlation of morality and politics , the correlation of “national” interests and aspirations of the people, the reasons for the defeat of reforms, Machiavellianism and idealism in politics, the role of chance and natural in history, love and friendship in human relations, the price of an individual’s life.

Transferring the thinking of a modern person to ancient Eastern society, the writer sometimes admits explicit anachronisms and puts in the mouth of the protagonist, the fictional last pharaoh of the 20th dynasty Ramses XIII, ideas that are unthinkable for the ruler of the ancient world. Despite this, the Pharaoh novel, along with the artworks of the German Egyptologist of the second half of the 19th century, G. Ebers , is considered one of the most accurate and complete literary descriptions of the life of ancient Egyptian society.

Having been completed before the publication began, the novel was published in the Warsaw magazine “The Year-Shepherd Illustrated” (“Illustrated Weekly”) from October 1895 to the end of 1896 , and was published as a separate publication in 1897 .

It was published in Russian in separate chapters in 1897 in the journal “Peace of God”, translated by V. Manotskov, and was published as a separate book in 1898 . The translation of E. N. Tropovsky, made in 1938, was repeatedly reprinted in the USSR ^[6] .

In the United States, the novel was first published in 1902 in Boston , translated by under the title Pharaoh and Priest. A historical novel from the life of Ancient Egypt ”(The pharaoh and the priest; an historical novel of ancient Egypt), moreover, on the cover were the real name and surname of the author: Alexander Glovatsky (Alexander Glovatski) ^[7] .

Roman “Pharaoh” is translated into the following languages: English , Armenian , Bulgarian , Hungarian , Dutch , Georgian , Hebrew , Spanish , Lithuanian , German , Romanian , Russian , Serbo-Croatian , Slovak , Slovenian , Ukrainian , French , Czech , Esperanto , Estonian .

The novel was one of the favorite works of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin ^[8] .

In 1966, based on the novel, the Polish film director Jerzy Kavalerovich made the film of the same name . As a result, after the release of the book, and then the film, some historical character such as Herichor also gained some fame ^[9] .