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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Akhenaten was a fascinating, shadowy figure in Egyptian history – archaeologists have discovered attempts to eradicate all traces of his brief reign, but enough remains to tell a remarkable story of incest, heresy, androgyny and a massive cult of personality.
'Like Albert Camus celebrated Caligula, Dorothy Porter's Akhenaten is an attractive warped megalomaniac who attempted to construct an heretical religion around one Sun God, with himself at the centre.
'Akhenaten is a novel in verse that captures the obsessive, erotic nature of its central figure. It is a towering achievement.'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Picador ed.)
Notes
-
Novel in verse form.
-
Dedication: For my mother, Jean, / and also my grandmother, / Mary Fabian Featherstone.
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Epigraph: To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again. (Egyptian Funerary Inscription)
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Sound recording titled The Distant Present (2003).
Contents
- I Survivedi"I've always known", single work poetry (p. 3-4)
- Malkatai"Incense and myrrh!", single work poetry (p. 5-6)
- Cat-Napi"In my father's harem", single work poetry (p. 7)
- Nofreti"I wouldn't let Nofret", single work poetry (p. 8)
- My Best Friendi"It was Nefertiti", single work poetry (p. 9)
- My Motheri"My mother is a politician", single work poetry (p. 10)
- Mother's New Godi"You don't cross Mother.", single work poetry (p. 11-12)
- His Favourite Foodi"I can't move.", single work poetry (p. 13)
- Priests and Cobrasi"Even as kids", single work poetry (p. 14)
- Heliopolisi"The first time I saw", single work poetry (p. 15-16)
- The Lioni"Somewhere in the desert", single work poetry (p. 17)
- Amun's Sanctuaryi"In the only bit of light", single work poetry (p. 18)
- My Fifteenth Birthdayi"My parents gave me", single work poetry (p. 19)
- Our First Timei"I can't stop shaking", single work poetry (p. 20)
- My First Cup of Winei"Ay gave me my first cup of wine", single work poetry (p. 21)
- My Co-Regency Coronationi"My father's breath stinks", single work poetry (p. 25)
- That's Himi"Ay,", single work poetry (p. 26-27)
- Like No One Elsei"You don't look awful", single work poetry (p. 28)
- By Royal Decreei"I am a dance", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Fitsi"Suddenly", single work poetry (p. 30)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
'Singing in My Careless Hand' : Dorothy Porter's Verse Novels
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Feeding the Ghost : 1 : Criticism on Contemporary Australian Poetry 2018; (p. 112-147)'Dorothy Porter wanted to make poetry popular again, to bring r back into the mainstream and attract the readers that had abandoned it in the twentieth century, as the novel became the dominant literary form. She expressed that desire when discussing the mood and melancholia of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. She said, "I want to break away from that modernist fatigue. I want some green leaves to growl want poetry to get people intoxicated and drunk again. I want poem!' to be seen as something festive, fun and dangerous" (Digby 39). One way to capture some new ground for poetry was to challenge the relative domination of the lyric, which eventually resulted in Porter writing five verse novels. This chapter examines the successes and the limitations of these novels as narratives and as poetry.' (Introduction)
-
The Body of Work : Dorothy Porter's Akhenaten
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Gender Forum , no. 13 2006;'This article stages an 'imagendering' of Akhenaten, a contemporary collection of poems by Australian poet Dorothy Porter. Surviving sculptures of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten depict a hermaphroditic subject who is, for Porter, a muse of transgression. Her fascination is with his challenge to long-held creative conventions of Egyptian art, depicting himself with a combination of breasts, swollen belly, rounded thighs and a penis. This collection of poems is thus a site of gendered reinscription made possible by the death of Akhenaten's physical body. His bodily absence allows for Porter's textual presence. Operating in this speculative historical space, a space in which the body of work physiologically cross-dresses and engages in sexual play across the boundaries of masculine/feminine, history/poetry, symbolic/semiotic, this poetry demonstrates that language itself can never evade embodiment.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Narrative Poetry: Ancient to Modern
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 11 no. 4 2004; (p. 10-14) Sheppard considers the demise of narrative poetry among modern poets. However, he is gladdened by some outstanding proponents of the form, notably Les Murray and Dorothy Porter. -
The Pregnant Man : Gender, Identity and Sexuality in the Poetry of Dorothy Porter's 'Akhenaten'
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: LiNQ , May vol. 28 no. 1 2001; (p. 22-29) -
Interview with Dorothy Porter
Lesley Sly
(interviewer),
2000
single work
interview
— Appears in: Ulitarra , July no. 17/18 2000; (p. 65-77)
-
Sex and Death
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , December vol. 52 no. 4 1992; (p. 158-164)
— Review of Portrait of a Dog and Other Classical Bagatelles 1991 selected work poetry ; Selected Poems 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten 1992 single work novel -
[Review] The Friendly Street Poetry Reader no. 16 [et al]
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: OzMuze , April vol. 2 no. 4 1992; (p. 9-10)
— Review of Friendly Street Poetry Reader : Sixteen 1992 anthology poetry ; Black Life : Poems 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten 1992 single work novel -
Some Australians
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , October vol. 11 no. 3 1992; (p. 58-59)
— Review of Eagle and Emu : German-Australian Writing 1930-1990 1992 multi chapter work criticism ; Holding the Golden Apple : Love Poems 1985 selected work poetry ; Australian Literary Studies vol. 15 no. 2 1991 periodical issue anthology ; Black Life : Poems 1992 selected work poetry ; Dancing Table: Poems and Drawings 1986-1991 1992 selected work poetry ; Akhenaten 1992 single work novel -
Sex and Power by the Nile
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 140 1992; (p. 42-43)
— Review of Akhenaten 1992 single work novel -
Pharaoh, the Bodies, the Poison and the Butts
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 May 1992; (p. 10)
— Review of Akhenaten 1992 single work novel ; Three Days Out of Tidal Town 1992 selected work poetry ; New and Selected Poems 1992 selected work poetry ; Selected Poems 1992 selected work poetry -
Interview with Dorothy Porter
Lesley Sly
(interviewer),
2000
single work
interview
— Appears in: Ulitarra , July no. 17/18 2000; (p. 65-77) -
Narrative Poetry: Ancient to Modern
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 11 no. 4 2004; (p. 10-14) Sheppard considers the demise of narrative poetry among modern poets. However, he is gladdened by some outstanding proponents of the form, notably Les Murray and Dorothy Porter. -
Royal Scandal and Palace Intrigue - 3360 Years Old
1992
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 18 July 1992; (p. 20) -
Akhenaten / Fibonacchi and Cloacas : Dorothy Porter, Sara Dowse and Kathleen [Mary] Fallon at Round Midnight, 16 July 1992
1992
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Tasmanian Writers Union Newsletter , August vol. 12 no. 4 1992; (p. 7-8) -
The Case of the Pharaoh's Penis
i
"My amber-eyed cousin walks on the beach",
1997
single work
poetry
— Appears in: Southerly , Autumn vol. 57 no. 1 1997; (p. 104-106)