Conversation with a mummy
Conversation with a Mummy ( English original title: Some Words with a Mummy ) is a satirical short story by Edgar Allan Poe , first published in The American Review in April 1845 .
content
The nameless first-person narrator tells of a severe hangover that prompted him to go to bed early after a frugal dinner consisting of 5 pounds of Welsh rabbit and as many bottles of brown stout . But he is awakened again by a message from his friend Dr. Ponnonner (= Upon honor). He has finally received permission to examine an Egyptian mummy , the first-person narrator should join us immediately. It now turns out that it is a very special mummy: it was mummified without any prior viscera and brain removed, yes, it was embalmed alive in a state of tetanus . The mummy is experimentally electrocuted - and comes to life. She bears the name Allamistakeo (= All a mistake, o!) And is addressed as Graf (Count). The assembled scientists - except for Dr. Ponnonner it is Mr. Silk Buckingham, an archaeologist, a Mr. Gliddon as well as the first-person narrator and a few remaining unnamed - now try to emphasize the progress of their time against the one from which the mummy originates, but unsuccessfully, Allamistakeo refutes all of their theses: Even 5000 years ago it was possible to calculate celestial eclipses in advance, to make use of steam power, to build larger and more imposing buildings than the Capitol and more resilient roads than the railway , the fashion was by no means backward, yes, even the political system of the United States had already been anticipated by Egypt: there, too, 13 provinces had merged, had created a clever constitution , but everything ended in terrible despotism, and the despot's name was a mob . It wasn't until Dr. Ponnonner mentions the pastilles he has developed, the mummy turns ashamed and has to admit that there was nothing so great in ancient Egypt. The first-person narrator returns to bed and the next morning writes down what he has experienced. At the same time he decides to have himself embalmed like Allamistakeo, because he wants to know who will become President of the United States in 2045 (exactly 200 years after the story was written).
interpretation
In conversation with a mummy , Poe makes fun of the belief in progress of his time, which, based on the inventions of the steam engine and the railroad, believed to be superior to everything that came before. The fact that American democracy also succumbs to its joke can hardly be blamed for those who grew up in the aristocratic ruling class of Virginia .
James Silk Buckingham was a successful British travel writer and contemporary of Poe, as was the American Egyptologist George Gliddon .
German translations (selection)
- 1882: unknown translator: The talking mummy. Payne, Leipzig.
- 1896: unknown translator: a few words with a mummy. Hendel, Halle / S.
- 1901: Hedda Moeller and Hedwig Lachmann : Conversation with a mummy. JCC Bruns, Minden.
- 1922: Hans Kauders : A little conversation with a mummy. Rösl & Cie., Munich.
- approx. 1925: Bernhard Bernson : Conversation with a mummy. Josef Singer Verlag, Strasbourg.
- 1947: Wolf Durian : Conversation with a mummy. Ullstein, Vienna
- 1966: Arno Schmidt : dispute with a mummy. Walter Verlag, Freiburg i. Br.
media
- Conversation with a mummy is also the name of a radio play published by Lübbe Audio Verlag , which of course only has the title in common with Poe's satirical short story. Speakers of the piece are u. a. Ulrich Pleitgen , Iris Berben and Gerald Schaale .
- The audiobook publisher has published the story, read by Andreas Fröhlich , as an audio book under the title Dispute with a Mummy .