Letter/Journal 10 - 19 Summary

Saturday, 14 October, 1922 (pp. 87-93)

Ralph gives examples of the bad translations that had been done in the 19th century of Atum-hadu's poetry. F. Wright Harriman dilutes the erotica that is central to the themes and adds his own brand of Christianity as a framework to explain a pre-Christian religion and king. Jean-Michel Vassal also translates to please the French government rather than staying true to the original poetry. Only Ralph, as he self-proclaims, dares to bring out the true pornographic nature of Atum-hadu's verses.

One of the problems all translators have with written Egyptian is determining pronunciation. Vowels are left out of the writing, and so rhyme and meter are, at best, guesswork. Ralph feels his translation effort is far superior to the others.

Since he believes he will soon receive money from the investors by wire and because...