Pharaoh (Polish: Faraon) is the fourth and last of the major novels by Bolesław Prus. (Two subsequent ones, Children [Polish: Dzieci] and the unfinished Changes [Polish: Przemiany], are largely disregarded.) Pharaoh was written over a year's time in 1894-1895 and was the sole historical novel by a writer who had earlier, as a matter of principle, disapproved of such novels. DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Bolesław Prus. ... 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... An historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, where the time the action takes place in predates the lifetime of the author -- distinguish and contrast the alternate history genre. ...

History of publication

Pharaoh, like Prus' previous novels, originally appeared in newspaper serialization (1895-1896); unlike them, however, it had first been composed in its entirety, rather than being written in chapters from issue to issue. The first book edition, in three volumes (still minus the remarkable epilog, which would be restored later), appeared in 1897. Except in wartime, the book has never been out of print. 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Subject

Pharaoh's story covers a two-year period ending in 1085 B.C.E. with the demise of the Egyptian Twentieth Dynasty and New Kingdom. History of Ancient Egypt, Twentieth Dynasty The Twentieth Dynasty was founded by Setnakhte, but its only important member was Rameses III, who modelled his career after Rameses II the Great. ... The New Kingdom is the period in Egyptian history between the 16th century BCE and the 11th century BCE, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. ...

The late Polish Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz wrote of Pharaoh: Czesław Miłosz in September 1999 Czesław Miłosz (pronounced [ʧεsȗav miȗɔʃ]; June 30, 1911–August 14, 2004) was a Polish poet and essayist. ...

"The daring conception of [Prus'] novel Pharaoh [...] is matched by its excellent artistic composition. It [may] be [described] as a novel on [...] mechanism[s] of state power and, as such, is probably unique in world literature of the nineteenth century. [...] Prus, [in] selecting the reign of "Pharaoh Ramses XIII" [the last Ramesside was actually Ramses XI] in the eleventh century [B.C.E.], sought a perspective that was detached from [...] pressures of [topicality] and censorship. Through his analysis of the dynamics of an ancient Egyptian society, he [...] suggest[s] an archetype of the struggle for power that goes on within any state. [Prus] convey[s] certain views [regarding] the health and illness of civilizations. [...] Pharaoh [...] is a work worthy of Prus' intellect and [is] one of the best Polish novels."

The protagonist, Ramses, learns that those who would oppose the priesthood are vulnerable to cooption, seduction, subornation, defamation, intimidation or assassination. Perhaps the chief lesson, belatedly absorbed by Ramses, is the importance, to power, of knowledge or science.

As a political novel, Pharaoh became a favorite of Joseph Stalin's. Its English translator, Christopher Kasparek, has recounted presciently wondering, well in advance of the event, whether President John F. Kennedy would meet with a fate like that of the book's young protagonist. The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ...   Joseph Stalin? (December 21, 1879 – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a position which had later become that of party leader. ... Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a writer and a translator from Polish into English. ... JFK redirects here. ...

Inspirations

A preliminary sketch for Pharaoh was Prus' first historical short story, "A Legend of Old Egypt" (Polish: "Z legend dawnego Egiptu," originally published on New Year's Day, 1888). This remarkable story shows clear parallels with the later novel in setting, theme and denouement. The "Legend" in its turn had taken inspiration from contemporaneous events: the fatal illnesses of Germany's warlike Kaiser Wilhelm I and of his reform-minded successor, Friedrich III who, then unbeknownst to Prus, would survive Wilhelm but only by ninety-nine days. A Legend of Old Egypt (Polish: Z legend dawnego Egiptu) is a short story by Bolesław Prus, originally published January 1, 1888. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...

In preparation for composing Pharaoh, Prus made a thorough study of Egyptological sources and actually incorporated ancient texts into his novel like tesserae into a mosaic. Drawn from one such text was a major character, Ennana.

For certain of the novel's prominent features, Prus — conscientious journalist and scholar that he was — seems to have insisted on having two sources. Thus, the historical Egyptian Labyrinth was described in the fifth century B.C.E. in The Histories of Herodotus by the Father of History, Herodotus, who visited Egypt's entirely stone-built administrative center, pronounced it more impressive than the pyramids, declared it "beyond my power to describe," then proceeded to give a striking description that Prus incorporated bodily into his novel. The Labyrinth was made palpably real for Prus, however, by an 1878 visit he made to the famous ancient labyrinthine salt mine at Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland. According to the foremost Prus scholar, Zygmunt Szweykowski, "The power of the Labyrinth scenes stems, among other things, from the fact that they echo Prus' own experiences when visiting Wieliczka." Classical labyrinth Another labyrinth Walking the famous labyrinth within the Chartres Cathedral. ... The Histories of Herodotus by Herodotus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. ... Äž Ăǘē ĒØĂŷ ĞŐąËò Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ, Herodotos) was an ancient historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: none Voivodship Lesser Poland Municipal government Rada Miejska w Wieliczce Mayor Józef Duda Area 13,4 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 18 190 - 1357/km² Founded City rights - - Latitude Longitude 49°59 N 20°03 E Area code +48 12 Car plates KWI Twin towns - Municipal Website Wieliczka... This article needs cleanup. ... Zygmunt Szweykowski (1894-1978) was a foremost historian of Polish literature. ...

Another dually-determined feature of the novel is the "Suez Canal" that the Phoenician Prince Hiram proposes digging. The modern Suez Canal had been completed by Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1869, a quarter-century before Prus commenced writing Pharaoh. But, as Prus was aware in chapter one, it had had a predecessor in a canal connecting the Nile River with the Red Sea (during Egypt's Middle Kingdom, centuries before the period of the novel). 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163-km maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said (BÅ«r SaÄ«d) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. ... Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand de Lesseps (November 19, 1805–December 7, 1894) was a French diplomatist and maker of the Suez Canal; he was born at Versailles. ... 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... There is also Nile, a death metal band from South Carolina, USA. The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The... Conshelf II in the Red Sea (Sudan) Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea (Arabic البحر الأحمر Baḥr al-Aḥmar, al-Baḥru l-’Aḥmar; Hebrew ים סוף Yam Suf; Tigrigna ቀይሕ ባሕሪ QeyH baHri) is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ... The Middle Kingdom is: a old name for China a period in the History of Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom of Egypt This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

A third dually-determined feature was inspired by a solar eclipse that Prus had witnessed at Mława, a hundred kilometers north-northwest of Warsaw, on August 19, 1887, the day before his fortieth birthday. Prus likely was also aware of Christopher Columbus' manipulative use of a lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504 — while marooned for a year on Jamaica — in an incident which strikingly resembles the exploitation of a solar eclipse by Ramses' chief antagonist, Herhor, high priest of Amon. Photo taken by John Walker during the Zambia 2001 eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun and obscures it totally or partially. ... Mława is a town in north-central Poland with 29,800 inhabitants (1995). ... Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa, see also other names, in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ... August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... Christopher Columbus (conjectural image) For information about the film director, see the article on Chris Columbus. ... An eclipse occurs whenever the Sun, Earth and Moon line up exactly. ... February 29 is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining. ... // Events January 1 - French troops surrender Gaeta to the Spanish under Cordoba. ...

Finally, a fourth dually-determined feature relates to Egyptian beliefs about an afterlife. In 1893, the year before beginning his novel, Prus had started taking an intense interest in Spiritualist mediumism, attending many Warsaw seances. Modern Spiritualism had been initiated in 1848 in Hydeville, New York, by the Fox sisters, Katie and Margaret, aged 11 and 15, and had survived even their 1888 confession that forty years earlier they had caused the "spirits'" telegraph-like tapping sounds by snapping their toe joints. Spiritualist "mediums" in America and Europe claimed to communicate through tapping sounds with spirits of the dead, eliciting their secrets and conjuring up voices, music, noises and other antics, and occasionally working "miracles" such as levitation. Contemporary Spiritualism inspired several of Pharaoh's most striking scenes, especially the secret meeting at the Temple of Seth in Memphis between three Egyptian priests — Herhor, Mefres, Pentuer — and the Chaldean magus-priest Berossus. Afterlife (also known as life after death) is a generic term referring to a continuation of existence, typically spiritual and experiential, beyond this world, or after death. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Spiritualism may refer to a variety of modern religious ideologies , primarily active in the United States and Europe. ... Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa, see also other names, in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ... A séance (SAY-ahnce) is, on its most basic level, an attempt to communicate with the dead. ... 1848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Fox Sisters Sisters Catherine (1838–1892), Leah (1814–1890) and Margaretta (1836–1893) Fox are generally seen as the creators of Spiritualism. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... In religion and spirituality, the term spirit has two core meanings: The nature and essential substance of human souls, through which each is connected to all others, and by the experience of such connection is a primary basis for spiritual belief. ... Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended against gravity, in a stable position, by a force without physical contact. ... Chaldea was a nation in the southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used to refer to the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. ... The Three Wise Men are given the names Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar in this Romanesque mosaic from the Basilica of St Apollinarius in Ravenna, Italy. ...

Prus was clearly aware of Eratosthenes' remarkably accurate calculation of the earth's circumference, and the invention of a steam engine by Heron of Alexandria, centuries later in Alexandrian Egypt. In chapter 60 of Pharaoh, he fictitiously credits these to the priest Menes (one of three individuals of the identical name who are mentioned or depicted in the novel: Prus was not always fastidious about characters' names). Eratosthenes (Ερατοσθένης) Eratosthenes (Ερατοσθένης) (276 BC - 194 BC) was a Greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer. ... A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the thermal energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ... Heros aeolipile Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria (c. ... Antiquity and modernity stand cheek-by-jowl in Egypts chief Mediterranean seaport (This template has been listed for deletion) Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, الإسكندرية, transliterated al-ʼIskandariyyah) is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that countrys second largest city, and the capital of the...

Prus indeed took characters' names where he found them, sometimes anachronistically or anatopistically; at other times he apparently invented them. The origins of the names of some prominent characters may be of interest:

• Herhor, high priest of Amon: historic high priest Herihor.
• Pentuer, scribe to Herhor: historic scribe, Pentaur.
• Thutmose, Ramses' loyal friend and retainer: Thutmose, the name of several pharaohs.`
• Sarah, Ramses' Jewish mistress; Taphath, Sarah's relative and servant; Gideon, Sarah's father: names drawn from those of Biblical personalities.
• Patrokles, a Greek mercenary general: Patroklos, in Homer's Iliad.
• Ennana, a junior military officer: Egyptian scribe-pupil's name, attached to an ancient text (Ennana's "plaint on the sore lot of a junior officer").
• Queen Nikotris, Ramses' mother: historic Queen Nitocris.
• Menes (three distinct individuals: the first pharaoh; Sarah's physician; a savant and Pentuer's mentor): Menes, the first Egyptian pharaoh.
• Asarhadon, a Phoenician innkeeper: a variant of "Esarhaddon," an Assyrian king.
• Berossus, a Chaldean priest: Berossus, a Babylonian historian and astrologer who flourished about 300 B.C.E.
• Phut (another name used by Berossus): Phut, a descendant of Noah named in Genesis.
• Cush, a guest at Asarhadon's inn: Cush, a descendant of Noah named in Genesis.
• Hiram, a Phoenician prince: Hiram I, king of Tyre, in Phoenicia.
• Lykon, a young Greek, Ramses' assassin: Lycon, in the Iliad.
• Sargon, an Assyrian envoy: name of two Assyrian kings, the first being the founder of history's first recorded empire.
• Seti, Ramses' infant son by Sarah: Seti I, historic pharaoh, father of Ramses II ("the Great").
• Musavasa, a Libyan prince: the Meshwesh, a Libyan tribe.
• Tehenna, Musavasa's son: "Tehenu," a generic Egyptian term for "Libyan."
• Dion, a Greek architect: Dion, a historic name that appears in a number of contexts.
• Hebron, Ramses' last mistress: Hebron, a city in Palestine.

The term High Priest may refer to particular individuals who hold the office of ruler-priest in local regional or ethnic contexts. ... Amon can refer to: Amun, Egyptian god, also known sometimes as Amon In the Bible, the governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chr. ... Herihor was an Egyptian army officer and high priest of Amun at Thebes (1080 BC to 1074 BC) in the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses XI. Herihor advanced through the ranks of the military during the reign of Ramesses XI and was integral to restoring order by ousting Pinhasy, viceroy of... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ... Thutmose (also rendered Thutmosis, Tutmose, Tutmosis, Thothmes, Tuthmosis, etc. ... Sarah (שָׂרָה Princess, Standard Hebrew Sara, Tiberian Hebrew Śārāh, Arabic: سارة) is a biblical matriarch and the wife of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... Mistress is the feminine form of the word master. ... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew Gidʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Giḏʿôn) is a character who appears in the Bibles Book of Judges. ... Parts of this article contradict each other. ... A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. ... In Greek mythology, Patroclus, or Pátroklos (gr. ... The Iliad (Greek Ἰλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Nitocris, also known as Nitiqret, was the last Pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. ... Pharaoh (פַּרְעֹה, Standard Hebrew Parʿo, Tiberian Hebrew Parʿōh) is a title used to refer to the kings (of godly status) in ancient Egypt. ... A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... In Greek mythology, Mentor (sometimes Mentes) was the son of Alcumus and, in his old age, a friend of Odysseus. ... This article is under dispute for accuracy. ... Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the city of Ashur. ... Chaldea was a nation in the southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used to refer to the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. ... Berossus (also spelled Berosus), Greek: Βεροσσος, at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, was a priest of Baal in Babylonia. ... Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (Location: 32° 32′ 11″ N 44° 25′ 15″ E, modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... An astrological chart (or horoscope) - Y2K Chart — This particular chart is calculated for January 1, 2000 at 12:01:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time in New York City, New York, USA. (Longitude: 074W0023 - Latitude: 40N4251), using the tropical zodiac Astrology (from Greek: αστρολογία = άστρον, astron, star + λόγος, logos, word) is... phut has more than one meaning:- The historian Josephuss name for a country on the shore of the Mediterranean: see Poenit. ... Noah or Nóach (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew × Ö¹×—Ö· Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, built an ark to save his family and a selection of the worlds animals from the Deluge, the global flood. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ... Cush (כּוּשׁ Black, Standard Hebrew Kuš, Tiberian Hebrew Kûš) was the eldest son of Ham, brother of Canaan and the father of Nimrod, mentioned in the table of nations in the Book of Genesis (x. ... Noah or Nóach (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew × Ö¹×—Ö· Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, built an ark to save his family and a selection of the worlds animals from the Deluge, the global flood. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ... Hiram I was king of Tyre from 969 BC to 936 BC.During his reign, Tyre grew out from a satellite to the more important city of Sidon to the most important of the Phoenician cities and the holder of a large trading empire. ... Tyre (Arabic الصور aṣ-Ṣūr native Phoenician Ṣur, ) is an ancient Phoenician city in Lebanon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about 23 miles, in a direct line, north of Acre, and 20 south of Sidon. ... Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. ... In Greek mythology, Lycon was a son of King Hippocoon of Sparta. ... The Iliad (Greek Ἰλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... There have been two monarchs, a cat, and a comic book fictional character named Sargon: Sargon of Akkad Sargon II of Assyria Sargon the Sorceror Sargon the Cat Sargon is also the name of a series of chess-playing software programs for personal computers. ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the city of Ashur. ... Until the early 19th Century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank. ... Shabti of Seti, from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings Seti I was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt), the son of Rameses I and Queen Sitre and later the father of Rameses II. According to some historians, he reigned between 1291 BC and 1278... Ramesses II, Abu Simbel Ramesses II (also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses) was an Egyptian pharaoh. ... The Meshwesh were an ancient tribe, who formed part of the confederation known as the Sea Peoples. ... There are several Dions: Céline Dion Dion (tyrant of Syracuse) Dion DiMucci, singer Dion, Macedonia Dion, a city in the Decapolis of the Roman Empire This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A recent view of the old city of Hebron Hebron (Arabic الخليل al-ḪalÄ«l; Hebrew חֶבְרוֹן, Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the southern West Bank (in an area known in Israel as Judea) of around 100,000 Palestinians and... ...

Popularity

As a "political novel," Pharaoh since 1895 has gained fresh relevance with each decade. The book's undiminished popularity with readers, however, is as much due to more universal qualities: to a critical but sympathetic view of human nature and the human condition, and to an implicit advocacy for the cultivation of knowledge as a means to mankind's spiritual and material betterment. The book is written in limpid prose, suffused with poetry, leavened with humor. Human nature is the fundamental nature and substance of humans, as well as the range of human behavior that is believed to be invariant over long periods of time and across very different cultural contexts. ... The human condition is a term which encompasses the totality of the experience of being human and living human lives. ... Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning (a posteriori), or through deductive reasoning (a priori). ... Clarity refers to ones ability to visualize an object or concept. ... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. ... Bust of Homer, one of the earliest European poets, in the British Museum Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... This article discusses humour in terms of comedy and laughter. ...

Pharaoh has been translated into a score of languages: Armenian, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, French, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Ukrainian. In 1966 it was produced as a Polish feature film. Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text — and the production of a new, equivalent text in another language — called the target text, or the translation. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... A reel of film, which predates digital cinematography. ...

References:

• Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, New York, Macmillan, 1969.

• Zygmunt Szweykowski, Nie tylko o Prusie: szkice (Not Only about Prus: Sketches), Poznań, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1967.

• Zygmunt Szweykowski, Twórczość Bolesława Prusa (The Art of Bolesław Prus), 2nd edition, Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1972.

• Herodotus, The Histories, Newly translated and with an Introduction by Aubrey de Selincourt, Harmondsworth, England, Penguin Books, 1965, pp. 160-61.

• Samuel Eliot Morison, Christopher Columbus, Mariner, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1955, pp. 184-92.

• Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh and Curtin's Translation," The Polish Review, 1986, nos. 2-3, pp. 127-35.

• Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh: the Creation of a Historical Novel," The Polish Review, 1994, no. 1, pp. 45-50.

• Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh: Primer on Power," The Polish Review, 1995, no. 3, pp. 331-34.

• Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh and the Wieliczka Salt Mine," The Polish Review, 1997, no. 3, pp. 349-55.

• Christopher Kasparek, "Prus' Pharaoh and the Solar Eclipse," The Polish Review, 1997, no. 4, pp. 471-78.

• Bolesław Prus, Pharaoh, translated from the Polish by Christopher Kasparek (2nd, revised ed.), Warsaw, Polestar Publications, and New York, Hippocrene Books, 2001.