Poetry and Culture in Middle Kingdom Egypt: A Dark Side to Perfection

by R.B. Parkinson

The Middle Kingdom (c.1940-1640 BC) was a golden age of Ancient Egyptian writing. This study radically reassesses Middle Kingdom poems' cultural role, drawing on recent studies of the individual texts, some by the author, and on general developments in literary criticism to argue that they were entertainments that voiced potentially dissident views while also being integral to elite culture. The book surveys the social and ideological context of literature and proposes readings of the main tales, discourses, and teachings. An appendix surveys the entire range of surviving texts.

Genres: History, Egypt

393 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is AWESOME so far. Brilliant analysis.

[Nicole Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for my History book report. I realized you need to have a pretty decent background in Egyptian history and literature especially poetry because this book tends to assume you already know a lot. It was kind of long and maybe some pictures would have been nice but overall for a book report it wasn't that bad