03408cam a22003253u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000370011324500160015026400510016630000470021733600260026433700260029033800360031650000310035250801740038352022400055753400920279765300360288970000350292585600600296085600430302099900190306377407UtSlPG20260610134807.0mcr n260607r20251928utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7afr2iso639-1 4aDT1 aMaeterlinck, Maurice,d1862-194910aEn Égypte 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-12-05  aLaurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)  a"En Égypte" by Maurice Maeterlinck is a travelogue written in the early 20th century. It contrasts postcard images of Egypt with on-the-ground reality, then turns into a reflective inquiry into Pharaonic art, religion, funerary culture, and the pull between myth and fact. The result is a meditative journey that uses modern impressions to interpret ancient temples, tombs, and beliefs for the curious traveler.

The opening of the work urges readers to travel if they value reality over comforting fantasy, then sketches present-day Egypt much as clichés promise—pyramids, palms, donkeys, chadoufs and sâkiyés, dusty villages, and disappointing big cities—before setting aside mosques and Arab art to focus on the Pharaonic world. It presents Egyptian monuments as uniquely overwhelming yet, once absorbed, profoundly formative—even prefiguring Greek architecture—arguing they must be seen in their native light and landscape. Art is shown as largely documentary and ritual in purpose, yet capable of austere grandeur and tender realism; alongside masterpieces, the Tutankhamun finds reveal astonishing kitsch. The narrative then outlines a civilization built around death—momies, tombs, and provisions for the “Double”—tempered by everyday pleasures and even texts that preach a quiet carpe diem. It scrutinizes priestly “science,” suggesting the Great Pyramid may encode striking measures while most engineering was simple and massive, and recasts famed magic as a mix of hypnosis-like practices, formulas from the Book of the Dead, and occasional stagecraft. A deeper, often hidden creed emerges: a pantheistic, almost monotheistic agnosticism expressed through Osirian mysteries as dramas of death and rebirth, later overgrown by popular magic and totemic residues. The judgment of the dead, with its negative confession and weighing of the heart, leads to deification—or, failing that, to depicted punishments—though many souls prefer to linger near their mummies. Finally, the tone shifts to the human: the vanity of rulers like Ramesses II, a practical, pleasure-accepting social life with frank sexual mores, and an ethical ideal that exalts truth. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cParis: Éditions de la chronique des lettres françaises, 1928  aEgypt -- Description and travel1 aCournault, Etienne,d1891-19484 uhttps://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.00000650674240uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77407  c118127d118127