Egypt in London, A Cultural History 1821-1924

埃及在伦敦探讨了重新发现古埃及对维多利亚和爱德华伦敦的影响。起点是1821年由贝尔佐尼在皮卡迪利大街组织的展览，该展览重现了一座来自帝王谷的坟墓。终点是1924年在温布利举行的大英帝国展览会上用伪造的文物重建图坦卡蒙的坟墓。在这两个时期之间，埃及对英国思想、文学、戏剧、娱乐和建筑的影响是巨大的。本书将追踪这种影响的五个要素。关键的研究问题是，为什么英国人的态度从把古埃及遗迹视为崇高或地方，到表达“sic transition格洛丽亚mundi”（“让世界的荣耀过去”）的情绪，到一种恐惧的态度。1880年以后，占主导地位的是关于被诅咒的手工艺品和悲惨的阿拉伯人的故事。我从五个方面进行了探讨：首先，我考虑了“东方化的伦敦”，即在伦敦建造的具有异国情调的空间。这始于皮卡迪利大街的埃及大厅，但扩展到早期百货公司的开罗集市。埃及风景的立体模型在19世纪20年代和30年代很受欢迎，预计在整个世纪的戏剧表演中会出现。为水晶宫设计的埃及宫廷是围绕一座寺庙的重建而建造的。这种结构在世界博览会场地很常见。1878年在泰晤士河畔竖立的“克利奥帕特拉之针”带来了真实性，而移动方尖碑的工程任务标志着帝国权力的转移。埃及的吸引力在伦敦的结构中创造了混合空间。第二，我通过伦敦博物馆里的木乃伊被诅咒的谣言来探索对埃及的黑暗态度。这通常与卡纳冯的死亡有关，在打开图坦卡蒙墓六周后。后来死亡的谣言是许多流行小说和历史的主题。我的研究遵循了两个早期的诅咒故事，包括道格拉斯默里于1889年赠送给大英博物馆的“不幸的木乃伊”，人们认为这会给看到它的人带来不幸。没有人对这个故事进行过充分的研究，但它是人们对埃及态度变化的一个关键指标。第三，我考察了这一时期的文学是如何从早期将埃及作为浪漫的另一个世界（戈蒂埃和福楼拜）或作为对抗现代堕落的杠杆（玛丽劳登或埃德加艾伦坡）发生变化的。转折点是在维多利亚时代晚期，埃及与哥特式联系在一起。令人惊讶的是，复仇木乃伊的故事出现在世纪后期，而且往往集中在伦敦。这些故事出现在19世纪80年代和90年代，尽管与殖民地文物有关的诅咒的叙事结构是由拜伦勋爵对掠夺帕特农神庙大理石的攻击开始的。第四，埃及是古文物学家和东方学家的地方深奥的智慧。赫尔墨斯的传统认为，这一知识的持有者，爱马仕特里斯墨吉斯都，是一位埃及祭司。在维多利亚时代的伦敦，“埃及魔法”大复兴。各种各样的神秘主义者团体建立了寺庙，研究小组和魔法圈来追求这种失落的智慧，我对此进行了详细的探讨。最后一个背景将是迷信的研究，维多利亚时代的人类学学科给予科学地位，集中在北非作为一个特殊的原始信仰地区。通过研究19世纪90年代出现的“邪恶之眼”的人类学，我的研究结论是调查这种迷信是如何成为表达殖民者和被殖民者之间日益增长的怀疑的一种手段。伦敦，充斥着“闹鬼”的文物和眼睛闪闪发光的木乃伊，展示了现代化的大都会如何通过超自然的故事和令人不寒而栗的谣言来计算其殖民债务。

Egypt in London explores the impact the re-discovery of Ancient Egypt on Victorian and Edwardian London. The starting point is the 1821 exhibition organised by Belzoni in Piccadilly, which recreated a tomb from the Valley of the Kings. The end point is the recreation of the tomb of Tutankhamen, with faked artefacts, for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. In between these dates, the impact of Egypt on English thought and on its literature, theatre, entertainment and architecture was immense. This book will track five elements of that influence. The key research question is why British attitudes shift from treating Ancient Egyptian remains as sublime or places to express the sentiments of 'sic transit gloria mundi' ('so pass the glories of the world') towards an attitude of dread. What dominates after 1880 are stories of cursed artefacts and vengeful Arabs. This is explored in five areas.First, I consider 'Egyptianised London', exotic spaces constructed in London. This began with the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly but extended to the recreation of Cairo bazaars in early department stores. Dioramas of Egyptian landscapes were popular in the 1820s and 1830s, anticipating the sets in theatrical extravaganzas throughout the century. The Egyptian Court designed for the Crystal Palace was constructed around a recreation of a temple. Such structures were common in world fair sites. The erection of 'Cleopatra's Needle' on the bank of the Thames (1878) brought authenticity, and the engineering task of moving the obelisk marked shifting imperial power. The appeal of Egypt created hybrid spaces within the fabric of London.Second, I explore the darkening attitude to Egypt through rumours of curses attached to mummies in London museums. This is often associated with the death of Carnarvon, six weeks after opening the tomb of Tutankhamen. The rumours of subsequent deaths are the subject of many popular fictions and histories. My research has followed two earlier stories of curses, including the 'Unlucky Mummy' that was gifted to the British Museum in 1889 by Douglas Murray, considered to bring misfortune on those who saw it. No one has fully researched this story, yet it is a key indicator of changing attitudes to Egypt. I also examine the curse story attached to Walter Ingram.Third, I examine how literature of the period also changed from an early use of Egypt as a romantic other-world (Gautier and Flaubert) or as a lever against modern depravity (Mary Loudon or Edgar Allen Poe). The turning point is in the late Victorian period, when Egypt is associated with the Gothic. Vengeful mummy stories appear surprisingly late in the century and often focus on London. These stories appear in the 1880s and 1890s, although the narrative structure of curses related to colonial artefacts is set in train by Lord Byron's attack on the plunder of the Parthenon Marbles. Fourth, Egypt was to antiquarians and Orientalists a place of esoteric wisdom. The Hermetic tradition suggested that the bearer of this knowledge, Hermes Trismegistus, was an Egyptian priest. There was a great revival of 'Egyptian Magic' in Victorian London. Various groups of occultists set up temples, study groups and magic circles to pursue this lost wisdom, which I explore in detail. The final context will be how the study of superstition, given scientific status by the Victorian discipline of anthropology, focused on North Africa as a particular area of primitive belief. By examing the anthropology of the 'evil eye' that emerged in the 1890s, my study concludes by investigating how this superstition was a means for articulating the growing suspicion between coloniser and colonised. London, awash with 'haunted' artefacts and mummies with blazing eyes, demonstrates how the metropolis of modernity figures its colonial debts through supernatural tales and chilling rumours.