Mahfouzs Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth Essay -- Historical Novels Histo

Mahfouzs Akhenaten, Dweller in TruthIn the history of literature, possibly the most explored genre is the historic novel. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to the present day, authors have interpreted historical facts and interpreted them novelistically. When no facts are available, the author may extrapolate missing parts of the story from two sources -- all through the explanation of the existing scholarly data or through the authors imagination. These two approaches to filling in the gaps of a historical novel can either appease the historian and displease the literary tyro or please the literary critic and upset the historian. Very hardly a(prenominal) novelists can produce a historically accurate novel that is also pleasing to a literary critic to do so would be very difficult because the novelistic plot structure hardly ever follows the structure of truthful historic events. A novelistic committal to writing active a battle in World War deuce would be bound to either an acc urate portrayal of the events around the of import role or a convincing depiction of the people involved. If the author chose to put out about turrets, casualty statistics, and troop movements, he would surely throw much of the artistic content of the novel. If the author chose to focus on character and plot, then the writer couldnt portray the event with the specificity it requires. However, the exception to these guidelines appears when a novelist chooses to write a historical novel about a time or a person when large portions of the historical picture is still either unknown or up for scholarly debate. This condition presents itself infrequently to the historical novelist, in circumstances where few people witnessed or spoke about the event, or through an event so ancient tha... ... with a few authorly embelishments. Despite his lack of glaring inaccuracies, the author does not seem to set about the anthropological, sociological, and political climate of the Amarna period. Having examined Mahfouzs portrayal of the pre-Amarna and Amarna periods, in the context of popular vox populi and scholarly interpretation, the novel appears as an interesting yet general sop up of Akhenaten and his times. Despite his writing geared towards a general audience, Mahfouz does not allow in advantage of his audience by engaging in heresay and confabulation. The novel appears to be thought out on the basis of scholarship, both Egyptian and otherwise, prominent the reader a surface glance of the complications of the Amarna period.Works CitedBrier, R., The Murder of Tutankhamen, 1998.Robbins, Gay. The craft of Ancient Egypt. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1985.