Reading the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture (Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters)

208 Pages·2008·1.39 MB·English

by  Lynn Parramore

Reading the Sphinx
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Reading the Sphinx
Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century
Literary Culture
Lynn Parramore
reading the sphinx
Copyright © copyright holder name, 2008.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United
States - a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the
world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parramore, Lynn.
Reading the sphinx : ancient Egypt in nineteenth-century literary
culture / by Lynn Parramore.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-230-60328-9 (alk. paper)
1. Civilization, Western—Egyptian influences. 2. English literature—19th
century—History and criticism. 3. American literature—19th century—
History and criticism. 4. English literature—Egyptian influences.
5. American literature—Egyptian influences. I. Title.
CB245.P333 2008
932–dc22 2008007173
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: October 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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In loving memory of my father, Thomas Custis Parramore
In a dim corner of my room for longer than
my fancy thinks
A beautiful and silent Sphinx has watched me
through the shifting gloom.
—Oscar Wilde, “ The Sphinx”
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Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction 1
1 The Egyptomania Craze: From Wedgwood China to 17
the Washington Monument
2 Tales from the Crypt: Theories of Cultural Burial 45
3 The Exquisite Corpse: Nineteenth-Century Literary Revivals 69
4 The Empire of the Imagination: Egypt and Esoterica 91
5 Strangers in a Strange Land: Travelers in Egypt 123
6 Oedipus Aegyptiacus: Egypt and Early Psychology 147
Afterlives 171
Works Cited 179
Index 191
Author Biography 199
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Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to Farideh Koohi-Kamali at Palgrave and especially to
Dr. Marilyn Gaul, my editor, who has offered me inspiration and advice
on this project. It was she who made this book possible, and I have
been fortunate to know her as an inspired teacher, a wise mentor, and a
caring friend.
I would also like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Spear, my dissertation advisor at
New York University. His friendship, support, and encouragement helped
me to produce the work that formed the first layers of this book.
The following people have contributed to Reading the Sphinx, and I
would like to express my eternal appreciation to them: Chris Hand for
combing online auctions for nineteenth-century ephemera and offering
his generous support in so many ways; Jarred Swafford for the cover design;
Frederick Doner for reading early chapters and offering encouragement;
James Bourne for lending his air mattress in London and accompanying
me to Victorian cemeteries. Thanks also to Charles Noble and Hannah
Obee of the Chatsworth Collection and Paige Newman of the Virginia His-
torical Society. I thank all the friends whose laughter and kindness offered
me cheer while I was entombed in my apartment and in research libraries,
digging into the past.
I am particularly grateful to my mother, Dr. Barbara Parramore, for her
unwavering support and invaluable help.
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Introduction
A stranger is arrived from Greece . . .
—Herodotus, Histories
hen Herodotus traveled to Egypt in the middle of the fifth century
WBCE, he was awestruck by what he found. In his Histories, he decides
to “speak at great length” of Egypt because “there is no country that pos-
sesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works which
defy description” (2.35). The first western historian guides the reader
through a world of bizarre animal cults, magical rites, wondrous temples,
and gigantic monuments, giving detailed accounts of the Egyptians’ vast
knowledge of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and archi-
tecture. Herodotus’s insatiable curiosity is aroused. How do embalmers
prepare mummies? What giant machines were used to build the pyramids?
Why do the Egyptians consider themselves “the most ancient race in the
world?” (2.15).
The Egyptian historical figures Herodotus describes are passionate and
often violent. Cruel Cheops forces his people to labor as slaves to erect his
pyramid, prostituting his own daughter to raise the necessary funds. The
murderous Queen Nitocris lures her enemies into a chamber and turns the
Nile upon them while they feast. The Egyptians do not know moderation.
They practice religion “to excess, far beyond any other race of men” (2.37).
They are obsessed with ceremonies, rituals, and their own past. People liv-
ing in the interior devote themselves “far more than any other people . . . to
the preservation of the memory of past actions.” This attention to memory
makes them, asserts Herodotus, “the best skilled in history of any men than
I have ever known” (2.77).
Above all, Herodotus casts Egypt as the stranger. The Egyptians do not
follow the customs of Greece or any other nation. “Not only is the climate
different from that of the rest of the world, and their rivers unlike any other
rivers,” he proclaims, “but the people are also, in most of their manners and
customs, exactly reverse the common practice of mankind” (2.35).
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