AKHENATEN

A first US publication of a 1985 novel, by the 1988 Nobel laureate, examines the life of the "heretic" pharaoh of Egypt's 18th dynasty (of, roughly, the 14th century b.c.), whose stubborn embrace of monotheism challenged his culture's most cherished traditions and may have precipitated his early death. The recollections of Akhenaten's supporters and enemies—including various counselors and subordinates, the military leaders who deplored his "madness," and his alluring queen Nefertiti (said to resemble "a mysterious carving with no inscription to explain it")—solicited by a scholarly young nobleman who seeks to separate the (ever elusive) truth from legend, comprise a fascinating indirect picture of a uniquely tormented, perhaps genuinely visionary soul. Mahfouz is a marvel: a fabulist of real genius whose expressive power and mastery of narrative economy haven't diminished an iota in more than a halfcentury of inspired literary achievement.