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Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity

Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity BOOK REVIEWS / 303 The great achievement of Culture and Sacrifice is documentary. Hughes seems to assume as much in his opening sentences: Human sacrifice has preoccupied writers since the beginning of Western literature. It occurs in the Iliad, and pervades the work of Euripides and Virgil. It is present in the Renaissance: for example, a human sacrifice initiates the chain of calamities in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. By contrast, the optimistic rationalism of the Enlightenment expressed itself in numerous plays and libretti in which civilization frees itself from the superstitious barbarism of human sacrifice. . . . Self-immolation, whether as an instrument of national destiny or erotic consummation, fascinated the nineteenth century, most notably in the works of Wagner. Then there is Modernist human sacrifice. (2) An ambition to be encyclopedic, a reluctance to make claims without an evidentiary basis — these virtues are everywhere evident in the book. Yet as he rings the changes on occurs, is present, there is, Hughes also forewarns us of one of his less congenial habits: he is too content with having pointed to the presence of sacrifice in a work, whether or not he has demonstrated how the text generates a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity

Wynn, Lisa
Comparative Literature , Volume 62 (3) – Jan 1, 2010
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2010 by University of Oregon
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/00104124-2010-017
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS / 303 The great achievement of Culture and Sacrifice is documentary. Hughes seems to assume as much in his opening sentences: Human sacrifice has preoccupied writers since the beginning of Western literature. It occurs in the Iliad, and pervades the work of Euripides and Virgil. It is present in the Renaissance: for example, a human sacrifice initiates the chain of calamities in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. By contrast, the optimistic rationalism of the Enlightenment expressed itself in numerous plays and libretti in which civilization frees itself from the superstitious barbarism of human sacrifice. . . . Self-immolation, whether as an instrument of national destiny or erotic consummation, fascinated the nineteenth century, most notably in the works of Wagner. Then there is Modernist human sacrifice. (2) An ambition to be encyclopedic, a reluctance to make claims without an evidentiary basis — these virtues are everywhere evident in the book. Yet as he rings the changes on occurs, is present, there is, Hughes also forewarns us of one of his less congenial habits: he is too content with having pointed to the presence of sacrifice in a work, whether or not he has demonstrated how the text generates a

Journal

Comparative Literature – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2010

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