Writing the Sphinx: Literature, Culture and Egyptology (Edinburgh Critical Studies in Victorian Culture)

Unearths a rich tradition of creative flexibility, collaboration and mutual influence between literary culture and Egyptology The first monograph study to bring literature into conversation with Egyptological culture Incorporates a number of archival primary sources which have, until now, escaped critical attention Analyses canonical literature alongside works by lesser-known authors Combines literary criticism with book history, the history of science, and reception studies This book explores literary and Egyptological cultures from the closing decades of the nineteenth century to the opening decades of the twentieth, culminating in the aftermath of the high-profile discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. Analysing the works of Egyptologists including Howard Carter, Arthur Weigall and E. A. Wallis Budge alongside those of their literary contemporaries such as H. Rider Haggard, Marie Corelli and Oscar Wilde, it investigates the textual, cultural and material exchanges between literature, Egyptology and visual and material culture across this period. List of Illustrations Series Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements List of Hieroglyphs Introduction 1. ‘Wonderful things’: Howard Carter, Literary Genre and Material Intertextuality 2. ‘Fairy tales’ and ‘bunkum’: Marie Corelli, Artefacts and Fabrications 3. ‘The master-key that opens every door’: Hieroglyphs, Translations and Palimpsests 4. ‘Drunk on the dead’: Intoxication, Perfume and Mummy Dust 5. ‘The sphinx will speak at last’: Visions, Communications and Spiritual Experience Coda Appendix: ‘Story of an Egyptian Necklace’ Bibliography Index This text explores literary and Egyptological cultures from the closing decades of the nineteenth century to the opening decades of the twentieth, culminating in the aftermath of the high-profile discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922