Pharaoh
Published on 12. December 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-0-7818-1450-8 (ISBN)
Description
A groundbreaking new translation of the only historical novel
by noted Polish writer Boleslaw Prus.
" . . . unique in world literature of the nineteenth century"--Czeslaw
Milosz
Imbued with poetry, leavened with humor, and
graced with moments of transcendent beauty, Pharaoh offers a compelling
picture of life at every level of ancient Egyptian society. As the story unfolds, Egypt is experiencing
internal stresses and external threats that will culminate in the fall of its
Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom. The young Pharaoh Ramses learns that
challenging power leaves him vulnerable to seduction, defamation, intimidation
and even assassination. The ultimate lesson learned by Ramses is the power of
knowledge.
Prus is
a distinctive voice in world literature and was Joseph Conrad's favorite Polish
writer. This new edition of Christopher Kasparek's translation of Pharaoh vividly
brings this extraordinary novel to life. It includes a detailed foreword and annotations,
based on extensive research and textual refinements, that will enhance the
reader's appreciation not only for ancient Egypt, but also for Prus'
composition process.
Pharaoh has been translated into
twenty-three languages and was adapted as a 1966 Polish feature film.
by noted Polish writer Boleslaw Prus.
" . . . unique in world literature of the nineteenth century"--Czeslaw
Milosz
Imbued with poetry, leavened with humor, and
graced with moments of transcendent beauty, Pharaoh offers a compelling
picture of life at every level of ancient Egyptian society. As the story unfolds, Egypt is experiencing
internal stresses and external threats that will culminate in the fall of its
Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom. The young Pharaoh Ramses learns that
challenging power leaves him vulnerable to seduction, defamation, intimidation
and even assassination. The ultimate lesson learned by Ramses is the power of
knowledge.
Prus is
a distinctive voice in world literature and was Joseph Conrad's favorite Polish
writer. This new edition of Christopher Kasparek's translation of Pharaoh vividly
brings this extraordinary novel to life. It includes a detailed foreword and annotations,
based on extensive research and textual refinements, that will enhance the
reader's appreciation not only for ancient Egypt, but also for Prus'
composition process.
Pharaoh has been translated into
twenty-three languages and was adapted as a 1966 Polish feature film.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
739 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7818-1450-8 (9780781814508)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Boleslaw Prus (1847-1912), who took the pen surname Prus
from the appellation of his family's coat of arms, at age 15 joined the 1863 Polish Uprising
against Imperial Russia, where he suffered severe battle injuries. He was spared resettlement on Russian imperial
lands and was able to complete secondary school. He studied mathematics and
physics at Warsaw University, until his studies there were cut short by penury. At age 25 in 1872, Prus embarked on a forty-year
career as a newspaper columnist, urging Poles to study science and technology
and to develop industry and commerce. After
achieving great acclaim with his short stories, between 1886 and 1893 he wrote
three novels on the "great questions of our age": The Outpost, The
Doll, and The New Woman. In 1894-95, he completed his only
historical novel, Pharaoh.
Christopher Kasparek, son of World War II Polish
Armed Forces veterans, was born in Scotland. He produced an initial draft
translation of Pharaoh while in secondary school. After pre-medical studies at Monterey
Peninsula College, from 1965-66 he studied Polish literature at the University
of California, Berkeley with 1980 Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, including
participation in Milosz's seminars translating Polish poetry.
In 1972-78 Kasparek studied medicine at Warsaw Medical
School, in Poland. During that time, he
translated papers and two books, A History of Six Ideas and On
Perfection, by the doyen of Polish philosophers, Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz.
After receiving his medical degree, Kasparek translated the
standard history of Polish breaking of German Enigma-machine ciphers (a
cryptological achievement which, a month before the outbreak of World War II, Poland
shared with France and Britain, enabling Britain to break Enigma ciphers at
Bletchley Park): Wladyslaw Kozaczuk, Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was
Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two, edited and
translated by Christopher Kasparek, Frederick, Maryland, University
Publications of America, 1984.
Kasparek subsequently practiced psychiatry for 33 years in
California, where he resides.
He has also published translations of sections of several
other books; as well as articles and translations on a wide range of subjects
in publications including The Monterey Herald; The Daily Californian
(the U.C. Berkeley student newspaper); Zagadnienia Naukoznawstwa
(Logology [or] Science of Science; Warsaw-a quarterly of the Polish Academy of
Sciences); Dialectics and Humanism: The Polish Philosophical Quarterly; Cryptologia;
The Polish Review; Psychiatric News; The Psychiatric Times;
Clinical Psychiatry News; and many articles and translations in the
online Wikipedia and Wikisource.
He resides in Carmel, California.
from the appellation of his family's coat of arms, at age 15 joined the 1863 Polish Uprising
against Imperial Russia, where he suffered severe battle injuries. He was spared resettlement on Russian imperial
lands and was able to complete secondary school. He studied mathematics and
physics at Warsaw University, until his studies there were cut short by penury. At age 25 in 1872, Prus embarked on a forty-year
career as a newspaper columnist, urging Poles to study science and technology
and to develop industry and commerce. After
achieving great acclaim with his short stories, between 1886 and 1893 he wrote
three novels on the "great questions of our age": The Outpost, The
Doll, and The New Woman. In 1894-95, he completed his only
historical novel, Pharaoh.
Christopher Kasparek, son of World War II Polish
Armed Forces veterans, was born in Scotland. He produced an initial draft
translation of Pharaoh while in secondary school. After pre-medical studies at Monterey
Peninsula College, from 1965-66 he studied Polish literature at the University
of California, Berkeley with 1980 Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, including
participation in Milosz's seminars translating Polish poetry.
In 1972-78 Kasparek studied medicine at Warsaw Medical
School, in Poland. During that time, he
translated papers and two books, A History of Six Ideas and On
Perfection, by the doyen of Polish philosophers, Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz.
After receiving his medical degree, Kasparek translated the
standard history of Polish breaking of German Enigma-machine ciphers (a
cryptological achievement which, a month before the outbreak of World War II, Poland
shared with France and Britain, enabling Britain to break Enigma ciphers at
Bletchley Park): Wladyslaw Kozaczuk, Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was
Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two, edited and
translated by Christopher Kasparek, Frederick, Maryland, University
Publications of America, 1984.
Kasparek subsequently practiced psychiatry for 33 years in
California, where he resides.
He has also published translations of sections of several
other books; as well as articles and translations on a wide range of subjects
in publications including The Monterey Herald; The Daily Californian
(the U.C. Berkeley student newspaper); Zagadnienia Naukoznawstwa
(Logology [or] Science of Science; Warsaw-a quarterly of the Polish Academy of
Sciences); Dialectics and Humanism: The Polish Philosophical Quarterly; Cryptologia;
The Polish Review; Psychiatric News; The Psychiatric Times;
Clinical Psychiatry News; and many articles and translations in the
online Wikipedia and Wikisource.
He resides in Carmel, California.