"Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth" by Naguib Mahfouz (1985)

Yes! I read another book! 

What was just a natural lifelong habit before, became a task now, because my attention has been stolen by too many online distractions - it does not mean I am reading less, but actually my brain is all over the place and I am busy studying Wikipedia, etc. But I promised to myself that I will never stop reading books and must read at least 12 books per year, comparative to months in a year. Years ago I have read "Cairo Trilogy" by Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, and although I don't remember anything about it, I know that I had enjoyed it very much so this was almost like a re-introduction to and old friend. I knew that I would like it. I just didn't know that it would take me so long to plough trough what is basically a slim volume. But I did it, chapter by chapter before sleep. 

I have been in Egyptian Museum of Berlin where famed bust of Nefertiti still amazes and impresses visitors with its timeless beauty. She is truly breathtaking. But just next door, there is a bust of her husband Akhenaten and appropriately, he is all smashed and destroyed as was good old Egyptian tradition of "Damnatio memoriae" and his successors saw him as a heretic and antagonist. Akhenaten himself is one of the most fascinating characters in Egyptian history and deserves much more than to be eclipsed by his wife, who after all, was coasting on his status - luckily not all Amarna art was destroyed and we still have some priceless pieces depicting Akhenaten and his family praying to sun God Aten. It was just one glorious chapter in a long history of Egypt but still remembered to this day, kind of like Egyptian Camelot. And just to prove that human nature never changes, there are literary hundreds of different ways people look at his reign, some see it as a beautiful religious experiment, others as a abomination and break with tradition.

The novel is very much Rashomon-like: a young scribe Meriamun is searching for the truth about supposedly heretic, recently deceased pharaoh and thanks to letters of introduction from his well respected father, he interviews many members of Akhenaten's court - each of them has a completely opposite impression of pharaoh and the contradictory picture that emerges tells more about them than about Akhenaten himself. We never know really what pharaoh is like, since each character has different motivations and ambitions - while some admired him, other despised him, many of them only tolerated his fixation with new religion as long as it suited them, etc. Mahfouz is a masterful storyteller with highly sophisticated style - not unlike "The Gospel According to the Son" by Norman Mailer, we have a specific historical moment depicted in a very delicate, almost poetic way, where atmosphere means more than story itself. Perhaps the only misstep is the last chapter - everything leads to a big finale and when it comes, it felt strangely underwhelming, the novel could just as well be without it.