ABSTRACT
The historical period covered by this chapter is the New Kingdom, that is, the centuries from around 1550–1100 BC or the eighteenth to twentieth Dynasties. The term ‘literature’ is here taken in a rather narrow sense to include texts of educational purport, narrative and lyrical fiction, and entertainment. Also, it is assumed that these texts possessed aesthetic value for their ancient Egyptian recipients, who could evaluate and appreciate their content and style. Members of the literate elite, ‘scribes’ (zh https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315423494/c3020880-6c9d-4117-8979-ecc23365271c/content/3_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>/sš) or ‘wise men; savants’ (rhttps://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315423494/c3020880-6c9d-4117-8979-ecc23365271c/content/hb_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>.w(-jhttps://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315423494/c3020880-6c9d-4117-8979-ecc23365271c/content/hb_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>.t)), constitute the social stratum responsible for the reproduction of the so-called classical works of literature, as well as for the creation of new compositions. Furthermore, there does not seem to be the slightest evidence for freelance and economically independent intellectuals; on the contrary, some of the ‘authors’ are known to have been predominantly involved in their everyday life with administration, on either a small or larger scale.
