Book Meme, Day 14

[selenak]

14. An old favorite.

Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. This was the novel which introduced me to Hatshepsut, female Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The internet tells me it was originally published ca. 40 years ago (gulp! Because while it took probably some years to get translated into German, I did read the hardcover German edition), and it's been a while since my last reread, but this was and remains one of my favourite historical novels.

Hatshepsut is an engaging heroine, unapologetically brilliant but not above compromise if she has to. Rare for a historical novel featuring a queen, her main love interest, the architect Senmut - who builds the famous temple of Deir-el-Bahri for her and also becomes her high steward , is not given modern issues re: their power differential. Gedge also manages to make it believable she can't bring herself to kill her stepson/nephew, even though she's aware he'll eventually destroy her. The last part of the novel always managed to reduce me to tears whenever I read it, and I don't cry easily.

Subsequently, I read a lot of Pauline Gedge's other novels - she returned to ancient Egypt frequently in her fiction - and wihle I like a lot of them, this one remains my firm favourite. What's true for all of them, though, is that she manages to conjure up an Egypt which feels (to this interested laywoman who has read a lot but has not studied the subject) genuine and plausible, not a contemporary story in nice costumes. (For example, no one blinks at the incestous marriages which are the norm for Egyptian royalty. There is no "as you know, Bob" scene explaining this; it's part of their world.) I also read other fictional takes on Hatshepsut, by good authors, by mediocre authors, but again: this remains my favorite.




1. Favorite book from childhood
2. Best Bargain
3. One with a blue cover.
4. Least favorite book by favorite author
5. Doesn't belong to me.
6. The one I always give as a gift.
7. Forgot I owned it.
8. Have more than one copy.
9. Film or tv tie-in.
10. Reminds me of someone I love.
11. Second hand bookshop gem.
12. I pretend to have read it.
13. Makes me laugh.


15. Favorite fictional father.
16. Can't believe more people haven't read.
17. Future classic.
18. Bought on a recommendation.
19. Still can't stop talking about it.
20. Favorite cover.
21. Summer read.
22. Out of print.
23. Made to read at school.
24. Hooked me into reading.
25. Never finished it.
26. Should have sold more copies.
27. Want to be one of the characters.
28. Bought at my fave independent bookshop.
29. The one I have reread most often.
30. Would save if my house burned down.

Comments

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

I read this a decade or so ago, as part of a spree reading historical fiction set in ancient Egypt, though now I realize that consuming so much in quantity has blurred my memory of what book was what. I came out loving Naguib Mahfouz's books (which are generally sneered at by both Mahfouz and historical fiction fans, as he was simply using the setting to avoid the Egyptian publishing censors rather than truly exploring it, but I think they're fantastic) and appalled by just how badly written and racist some of the others were (cough*Michelle Moran*cough). I also learned that those who take ancient Egypt as a subject face a more extreme version of the perennial historical fiction dilemma, in that a new dig can completely upend the historical "facts" on which your story is based.

But I do concur with the sense that Gedge was directly channeling ancient Egyptian norms without any of the self-consciousness that usually accompanies such things. My strongest memory from the book was the battle scene with the Nubians, in which Hatshepsut's ability to slaughter her opponents was unabashedly celebrated, in a way that feels very much of a piece with ancient view of war. It was uncomfortable to read, and I'm still not sure what I think of it, but you had a sense that yes, this is how her Egyptian contemporaries saw her.

[selenak]

Mahfouz' Akhenaten novella is the sole one of his I've read dealing with ancient Egypt, and I liked it a lot.

I also learned that those who take ancient Egypt as a subject face a more extreme version of the perennial historical fiction dilemma, in that a new dig can completely upend the historical "facts" on which your story is based.

No kidding. Though then again, it can also liberate you from the expectation of writing The One True Story, because you know it never can be, which in turn can mean creative freedom.