Akhenaten: Dweller In Truth (1985)
The facts of the story, at least according to the novel: The Pharaoh Akhenaten the Heretic (1353 BCE – 1336 BCE), son of Amenhotep III, husband of Nefertiti, had some pretty wild ideas. Rather than stick to the usual menagerie of Egyptian gods on whose worship the entire country depended, he claimed to believe in one single creator god, who asked for love rather than sacrifice, peace rather than conquest, music rather than blood, and whose son and prophet he was. Consequently, he demanded that all of Egypt change their beliefs accordingly, moved the capitol from Thebes to Akhetaten, refused to defend the country's borders with force, and generally made an embarrassment of himself until he was deposed and replaced with his brother Tutankhamen. Akhenaten and his queen were held prisoners in their new capitol, where he later died somehow, after which things returned to normal, Akhenaten's reign was expunged from the records, and this monotheism business was never heard of again.
Years later, a young scribe with an interest in history decides to find out exactly what happened, and visits all the important players who are still alive; the priests, the generals, the concubines, the policemen, the doctors, and the queen herself, writing down their version of the story and collecting it. Everyone pretty much agrees on
what happened, but they all have different opinions of
why and what it all meant. Some consider Akhenaten a madman, some a ruthless dictator, some a puppet to his scheming wife, some a great prophet, some simply a wayward friend. It's a Rashomon story; the same story told from lots of different angles, until it becomes obvious that when it comes to ideas and religion, there can never be
one truth of what happened and what will happen from now on - everyone has their reasons for believing and acting the way they do, everyone's motivations are complex; after all, Mahfouz wrote the novel in 1980s Egypt, struggling with modernisation, religious fundamentalism and border questions, and it shows. Perhaps a little too much at times, as if he took for granted that the reader was as familiar with the backdrop as he is - which isn't necessarily bad, but when the narrators are supposed to be living 3,500 years ago, it gets a bit awkward at times. The appeal of Akhenaten's brand new faith, especially, remains a bit of a mystery. Still, it's a fascinating little novel at only 150-odd pages, constantly adding new layers of questions without giving any clear-cut answers or pointers. If the Swedish translation hadn't been horribly botched, I would probably have given it
, now I'll have to settle for
.
