Pharaoh

First published in 1896, "Pharaoh" is considered one of the great novels of Polish literature. The account of Ramses XIII (who never existed) set in Egypt of eleven centuries before Christ, "Pharaoh" is the timeless and universal story of the struggle for power. Composed over a year's time, it was the sole historical novel by an author who had earlier disapproved of historical novels on the ground that they inevitably distort history. It has been described by Czeslaw Milosz as a "novel on... mechanism[s] of state power and, as such, ... probably unique in world literature of the 19th century.... Prus, [in] selecting the reign of 'Pharaoh Ramses XIII' in the eleventh century BCE, sought a perspective that was detached from... pressures of [topicality] and censorship. Through his analysis of the dynamics of an ancient Egyptian society, he... suggest[s] an archetype of the struggle for power that goes on within any state." Preparatory to writing "Pharaoh", Prus immersed himself in ancient Egyptian history, geography, customs, religion, art and writings. In the course of telling his story of power, personality, and the fates of nations, he produced a compelling literary depiction of life at every level of ancient Egyptian society. Further, he offers a vision of mankind as rich as Shakespeare's, ranging from the sublime to the quotidian, from the tragic to the comic. The book is written in limpid prose and is imbued with poetry, leavened with humor, graced with moments of transcendent beauty. --- "Pharaoh" has been translated into twenty languages and adapted as a 1966 Polish feature film. It is also known to have been Joseph Stalin's favourite book.