Description
Book Synopsis(Auto-)biography is a genre of ancient Egyptian written discourse that was central to high culture from its earliest periods. Belonging to the nonroyal elites, these texts present aspects of individual lives and experience, sometimes as narratives of key events, sometimes as characterizations of personal qualities. Egyptian (auto-) biographies offer a unique opportunity to examine the ways in which individuals fashioned distinctive selves for display and the significance of the physical, religious, and social contexts they selected. The present volume brings together specialists from a range of relevant periods, approaches, and interests. The studies collected here examine Egyptian (auto-)biographies from a variety of complementary perspectives: anthropological and contrastive perspectives; the original Old Kingdom settings; text format and language; social dimensions; and religious experience.
Trade ReviewOne particular highlight [of the collection] for English readers is that all the contributions are in English, but include significant new works (and reflections on previously published pieces) from scholars who usually write in French or German.
Biography is perhaps the quintessential form of ancient Egyptian nonroyal written texts; these are widely discussed but discussion is rarely collected between the covers of a single volume, which makes the present work of great value. The papers here will collectively be of interest to scholars, but also fill a ‘gap in the market’ for students studying individual examples and looking for wider contextualisation.
I certainly know this would have been useful when I was a student! Especially valuable are the initial cross-cultural comparisons, which draw parallels with Mesopotamian examples and with linguistic theory, emphasising that Egyptian texts are not a total anomaly and can be studied from a variety of perspectives. The whole volume is set into context in term of the physical manifestation of (monumental) biographical texts by John Baines, one of the grand masters of the study of the genre.
Chapters are then grouped in a roughly chronological order in terms of the material they discuss, beginning with the Old Kingdom and moving through into the Late Period. Close attention is paid throughout to the setting of the inscribed biography, the social context of its content and the identity of the speaker: are biographies written about people, or are the autobiographies voiced by the person themselves? Individual chapters address the claims to veracity in some biographical texts, the role of the town(speople), the themes of promotion, religious piety and participation in rituals.
The larger, A4 format of the book allows for decent-sized, clear illustrations, which are welcome. An index of all the biographies cited in the book is included at the end, making this an accessible and very useful work that will be of considerable importance in future for both scholars and students – but also to anyone who has wondered what so many monumental texts contain.
Campbell Price, Ancient Egypt No. 129 (Vol 22.3) January/February 2022
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Julie Stauder-Porchet, Elizabeth Frood, Andréas Stauder
Part 1. Anthropological and Contrastive Perspectives
Narrating Biography versus Biographical Indexicality
Michael Silverstein
Self-Representation in Mesopotamia: The Literary Evidence
Christopher Woods
From Living a Life to Creating a Fit Memorial
John Baines
Part 2. The Original Old Kingdom Settings
Genres and Textual Prehistories of the Egyptian Autobiography in the Old Kingdom
Julie Stauder-Porchet
(Auto-)Bioconographies versus (Auto-)Biographies in Old Kingdom Elite Tombs: Complexity Expansion of Image and Word Reflecting Personality Traits by Competitive Individuality
René van Walsem
Part 3. Text Format and Language
Autobiography versus Biography in the Second Person and Biography in the Third Person: Textual Formats, Authorship, and Apocryphal/Pseudepigraphic Works
Pascal Vernus
Clichés in Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies
Laurent Coulon
Expressions of Royal Agency: Forms of the Verb in the Old Kingdom Event Autobiography
Andréas Stauder
Part 4. Social Dimensions
The Social Context of Biographies (Old and Middle Kingdom)
Juan Carlos Moreno García
Images of Social Ascent in Biographical Self-Presentations from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom
Katalin Anna Kóthay
jnk wr m njw.t=f : References to njw.t, Town, City in Biographies of the Second Intermediate Period
Sabine Kubisch
Part 5. Religious Experience
Living a Religious Life: The Display of Religious Experience in Egyptian Autobiographies
Maria Michela Luiselli
Participation in Religious Ceremonies, as Related in Egyptian Biographies
David Klotz
