ON THE PARATEXT IN THE PYRAMID TEXTS

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  E. Alexandrova

Abstract

Rubrics and glosses form a distinct feature of Egyptian funerary literature and have been an object of scholarly interest for a long time. In last decades this aspect of Egyptian sacred literature came to be analyzed in the frame of the paratext – a category proposed by G. Genette. However, the Pyramid Texts are not so rich in paratextual notation as the later corpora of funerary literature, Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead. The most distinct of these are pragmatic notations concerned with cultic actions and aimed at ritualists. This results in a kind of methodological paradox in H. Hays’ “The organization of the pyramid texts: typology and disposition”. Following Genette this author recognizes the crucial role of paratext in understanding of a text, but can’t find anything of the kind in the Pyramid Texts. In this issue we are going to explore evidences of the Old Kingdom in order to show that however scarce they are H. Hays underestimated their potential for contextualization of the Pyramid Texts. His use of later evidences, from the other hand, does not take into account transformation of tradition and formation of new paratextual practices, that can be traced even in Ancient Egypt. We will look at long known examples of ‘rubrics’ in the Pyramid Texts (from PT 456, 471, 525, 528, 561С) not so much in connection with later tradition as in intertextual relationships with other Pyramid Texts and tomb inscriptions. Finally the first occurrence of the formula Dd-mdw in the fragments of reliefs of Djoser from Heliopolis will be discussed as an evidence for long existence of conventions for monumental texts predating the Pyramid texts.

How to Cite

Alexandrova, E. (2019). ON THE PARATEXT IN THE PYRAMID TEXTS. The Oriental Studies, (83), 123-146. https://doi.org/10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2019.83.123
Article views: 100 | PDF Downloads: 46

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Keywords

monumental discourse, paratext, Pyramid Texts, transtextuality

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