Novel
The Egyptian
Sinuhe egyptiläinen
Mika Waltari · 1945
Synopsis
In fourteenth-century BCE Egypt, the old physician Sinuhe, exiled by the pharaoh Horemheb, his former friend, writes the account of his life. A foundling found in a reed boat on the Nile and adopted by a physician, he treats the poor of Thebes, witnesses the trepanation of the dying pharaoh Amenhotep III, then travels the known world with his slave Kaptah, as far as the land of the Hittites, before returning to the court of Akhenaten, the pharaoh of the one god.
Context
It appeared with Werner Söderström in 1945. The character borrows certain traits from the hero of an ancient Egyptian tale, much earlier than the reign of Akhenaten, and the historical scholarship of the book is that of 1945. France translated it as early as 1947-1948, in two volumes, by Jean-Louis Perret; English produced in 1949 an abridged version by Naomi Walford, made from the Swedish. Michael Curtiz made it into The Egyptian in 1954, with Edmund Purdom, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney and Peter Ustinov.
Who it is for
A very long novel, more than seven hundred pages, in Finnish, available in French since 1947; a first-person narrative, rich in details of ancient life.
Prizes and reception
Its author's most famous book, the one that brought him international recognition and a worldwide bestseller.