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(Dustjacket)
Ages 12 up
$3.00
EGYPTIAN ADVENTURES
by Olivia E. Coolidge
Illustrated by Joseph Low
This is a remarkable collection
of short stories -- vivid, haunting, detailed, based on life in Egypt more
than 3000 years ago, during what we now call the New Kingdom, a period
which lasted from about 1600 to 1100 B.C. It was a time when Egyptian life
was at its most colorful and varied, when Egypt virtually dominated the
entire Mediterranean Sea, and its Pharaohs and merchants had acquired unbelievable
wealth and power, while the masses of poor people and slaves conquered
from other lands had nothing whatever to call their own.
All of these stories seem to have been
told by someone who was alive at the time, so sharp are the impressions
and so vivid the descriptions down to the smallest details of clothing,
cooking, or the furnishings of a house. But more than just accurate recording,
these stories reflect the spirit of the times, a peculiar restlessness,
the sinister superstitions in the practice of magic, and occasionally the
cruelty of those who for too long had enjoyed being masters.
Olivia E. Coolidge, author of GREEK
MYTHS, LEGENDS OF THE NORTH, and THE TROJAN WAR, has combined an extraordinary
ability to project herself into another time with an extremely rich background
in the history of this period. Joseph Low has perfectly caught the intensity
and vitality of the stories in his striking and sensitive black and white
drawings.
Olivia E. Coolidge was born in England
and there received a classical education, majoring in Greek, Latin, and
philosophy. She has taught Latin and Greek and English Literature, and
after retiring from the teaching profession, in addition to her activities
as a housewife found the long-awaited opportunity to strike out and do
some of her own writing.
In describing the origin of these stories
she writes: "EGYPTIAN ADVENTURES springs, not from my classical education,
but from the enrichment of it by casual reading over a period of twenty-five
years. Archaeology, unlike many specialized subjects, is one on which the
experts tend to write extremely well...... As I thought about Egypt, I
realized that its best stories were expressed not in words, but in its
countless paintings, because the best of these were really about life.
Presently I found that I wanted to write the stories which went with hunting
scenes, processions, harvests, workshops, and even funerals. I thought
that these ought to be like the paintings themselves, a little strange
to us now and again, but always vivid. People who read them should feel
that they had seen a great many things in Egypt which had actually been
there, and that they had met in their imaginations the kind of people who
really had lived. Egyptian adventures were just as exciting as modern ones,
and if we could but bridge the gap in tastes and manners, they should appeal
to us as much."
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