Definitely: Egyptian Literature; proceedings of the Symposium "Ancient Egyptian Literature; history and forms," los angeles, march 24-26, 1995.

• Author: Troy, Lana
• Position: Review

Definitely: Egyptian Literature. Proceedings of the Symposium "Ancient Egyptian Literature: History and Forms," Los Angeles, March 24-26, 1995. Edited by GERALD MOERS. Lingua Aegyptiaca. Studia Monographica, vol. 2. Gottingen: SEMINAR FUR AGYPTOLOGIE UND KOPTOLOGIE, 1999. Pp. x 140. DM 72.

The authors of this volume present different characterizations of the literary character of Egyptian texts. Several earlier works provide the frame for this discussion. Posener, (1) for example, was the first to define literary texts as a coherent category. There is agreement that Fecht's (2) work on metrical theory initiated an interest in formal textual properties. A seminal article by Assmann (3) put lack of functionality foremost as an attribute of literary composition. Among the authors of this volume, greatest agreement is found with regard to the self-referential character of the literary text.

Assmann, in his contribution, "Cultural and Literary Texts" (pp. 1-15), defends his characterization of literature as nonfunctional. Lacking the need for external information, literary texts are supplemented by an intertextual relationship to other genres, such as Sinuhe's allusion to the biographical form. Assmann highlights literary texts as cultural texts and bearers of traditional knowledge. By conveying this knowledge, such a text aids in integrating its audience into society, supporting a group identity as the focus for this shared knowledge.

Baines, in "Prehistories of Literature: Performance, Fiction, Myth" (pp. 17-41), seeks the background of the narrative text. "Performance" refers to the structured social interaction that may be behind the abbreviated descriptions found in the autobiographies of the Old Kingdom. Narrative grows, at least partially, out of the need to describe, and hence to confirm, the importance of this interaction (such as the presentation of funerary equipment to the tomb owner by the king). The fictional quality of literary narrative, upon which most scholars agree, emerges from the posited relationship between the king and the gods in the early texts and representations. The speeches of the gods cannot be understood as "true," but are rather part of an imagined and projected reality. Myth, although lacking early documented narrative form, would have provided the conceptual model for fiction.

Moers, in "Travel as Narrative in Egyptian Literature" (pp. 43-61), stresses the self-defining quality of the texts. Turning to the...