The Pyramid [Paperback]

Ismail Kadare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1998

From the Albanian writer who has been short-listed for the Nobel Prize comes a hypnotic narrative of ancient Egypt, a work that is at once a historical novel and an exploration of the horror of untrammeled state power. It is 2600 BC. The Pharaoh Cheops is inclined to forgo the construction of a pyramid in his honor, but his court sages hasten to persuade him otherwise. The pyramid, they tell him, is not a tomb but a paradox: it keeps the Egyptian people content by oppressing them utterly. The pyramid is the pillar that holds power aloft. If it wavers, everything collapses.

And so the greatest pyramid ever begins to rise. It is a monument that crushes dozens of men with the placing of each of its tens of thousands of stones. It is the subject of real and imaginary conspiracies that necessitate ruthless purges and fantastic tortures. It is a monster that will consume all Egypt before it swallows the body of Cheops himself. As told by Ismail Kadare, The Pyramid is a tour de force of Kafkaesque paranoia and Orwellian political prophecy.

"A haunting meditation on the matter-of-fact brutality of political despotism." - The New York Times Book Review
"Kadare's prose glimmers with the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez." - Los Angeles Times Book Review
"One of the most compelling novelists now writing in any language." - Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Albanian novelist Kadare (The Concert), living in political exile in France since 1991, spins cogent tales about the temptations and evils of totalitarian bureaucracy. His latest carries a universal message. Set in ancient Egypt-where Pharaoh Cheops oversees the construction of his tomb, the highest, most majestic pyramid ever, to be built by tens of thousands of his brainwashed subjects-the novel's hypnotically Kafkaesque narrative exposes the alienating, destructive effects of investing unquestioned power in a ruler, a state or a religion. The massive pyramid devours Egypt's resources and energies. Thousands die as it rises ever higher, and Cheops, depicted as a power-mad lunatic who craves adulation, periodically unleashes waves of arrests and torture of those falsely accused of sabotaging the project. Analogies to Stalin's paranoia, bloody purges and other terrors spring to mind, but the story takes on a broader meaning, demonstrating how a state or a ruling elite can mold public opinion so that its citizens willingly act against their own best interests. As the narrative closes, it leaps ahead centuries to display Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) erecting in central Asia a pyramid made of 70,000 skulls. Through this closing image, and the horrors that precede it, Kadare again proves himself a master of the political parable.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Cheops declares that he does not want a pyramid built to house him after death, but when the terrified priests argue that building the pyramids is an important task that has always kept the populace occupied and hence compliant, he relents. Soon the construction of the grandest pyramid of them all obssesses the people, who are at first elated but soon crushed by the reign of terror that results, as suspected saboteurs are tortured and men die daily while putting in place the huge stones. In a refreshingly clear, bold style, Kadare (The Concert, LJ 10/1/94) ably depicts the misuse of power and the hollow results for all involved. An effective political fable from one of Albania's few novelists, now living in France; for most collections.?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage international ed edition (May 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700951
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700958
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #631,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Eastern European

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Frightening, May 12, 2002

By 

Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pyramid (Paperback)

I have four Ismail Kadare books, and since the semester just ended, ...[I'm] going to try and read all four of them this summer. Kadare is an Albanian expatriate living in France, and from what I've heard about his books, the overarching theme is either the elevation of Albanian culture or criticism of the Albanian Communist Party. In this book, Kadare takes us back to ancient Egypt during the reign of Cheops, the pharaoh who built one of the Seven Wonders of the World. What we take for granted today as an impressive monument to ...[man's] ability to create, Kadare sees as a different sort of monument. Kadare uses the pyramid of Cheops as an allegory for the dehumanization of political power.

The upper echelons of Egypt become concerned when Cheops decides he does not want to build a pyramid. His advisors tell him that a pyramid is necessary in order to head off potential unrest amongst the populace. When Egypt is prosperous, the advisors explain, the people are not occupied and may start to have dangerous thoughts. A pyramid is a long, involved process that will keep all noses to the grindstone. What follows is a nightmarish vision of power run amok. All of Egypt becomes devoted to the pyramid, with every resource available poured into its construction. Workers die by the thousands cutting the rocks, transporting the stones, and building the pyramid. Thousands more are tortured and murdered for poor workmanship or because of conspiracies that arise during construction. Even the pharaoh starts to go nuts, as the pyramid becomes a reality.

Kadare masterfully details the dangers of power without limits. Arguably, the finest chapter is the one where time itself is reduced to numbered building stones. Workmen no longer think in terms of minutes, hours, or days; they think in terms of the 10,000th stone, and then stone 10,001, followed by stone 10,002. You get the idea. In short, the pyramid turns society and the very idea of nature upside down.

...

This is probably the best book you've never heard of. Of course, if you're reading this review, you have heard of Kadare and you're thinking about reading his work. I'm certainly looking forward to his other efforts, and the guy is still pumping them out so there won't be a shortage of his books anytime soon. Albania tends to get short shrift in the world; they should be very proud of Mr. Kadare. Although this book is quite short, it has a lot of depth. Recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eery Novel: Haunting & Suspenseful, June 16, 2003

By 

Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Pyramid (Paperback)

Ismail Kadare takes a historical event of 2,600 years ago, the building of the Pyrmaid of Cheops, and creates an eery and suspense filled novel. There are intrigues and plots, and political purifications. Clearly, the monument is a testament to the human beings who built it, their spirit, creativity, their blood, sweat, and tears. However, is there some grand design, some master plan, something more, might it not represent the infinite, something eternal? Read the book and decide ... It all starts out innocently enough, the High Priest recommends a project, building a pyramid to the Pharoah who at first is opposed to the idea. Then, like any good monarch or president, he appoints a committee to study the matter. The research falls short of expectations. To the disappointment of all, or perhaps, just to this reader, it is discovered, the past pharoahs did not build the pyramids for any grand and glorious reason. They did it just because they were rich, had an overabundance of wealth, which they used up, that's all. At first the public is appalled, another pyramid is to be built, everyone ... everywhere is a buzz with, how much time, effort, and resources will it take? The plans, the building materials, the workmen, the supervisors, even diplomats of foreign countries, all are intrigued with this grand scheme. Eventually the psyche of the country is totally obsessed with nothing but this project. Many years go by, decades go by, as the project continues, and nears completion ... Kadare weaves his plot masterfully, capturing how this huge event affects the people of Egypt from all walks of life, from the peasant, to the merchant, to the highly educated scribes and aristocracy ... the parallels to modern life are astonishing. The building of the pyramid becomes the ruling force in the lives of the people. The novel is highly complex and has great depth. It becomes a psychological thriller that the reader can not put down. Although a short novel, it is packed with unsettling moments that remain with the reader, long after one finishes reading the book. Based on this novel alone, any reader can understand why Ismail Kadare is recommended for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The pyramid as a character, May 29, 2004

By 

"mythologue" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pyramid (Hardcover)

The passages which evoke the actual building of Cheops' pyramid are extraordinarily powerful and impossible to forget; still, it is less the 'physical pyramid' than all it represents that Kadare seeks to illustrate - the shape it takes in the minds of many men, from the builders to the pharaoh, from the pillagers to the dignitaries. Among the pyramid's various symbolic connotations, he is especially fascinated by the power linked to it, by the hubristic ambition emanating from each of its individual pieces as well as from its finished form. Despite his deeply non-obscurantist approach, Kadare does not desacralize the pyramid: its religious/esoteric dimension is included in, rather than evacuated from, its overall significations. As the title indicates, the pyramid is indeed the book's central character - all the humans are affected by its mysterious, ineffable and frightening presence. So is the reader of this book...