A Historical Novel: Jean-Christophe Rufin’s King of Abyssinia

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King of Abyssinia, published in 1997 and being the first historical novel of Jean-Christophe Rufin, wins the Prix Goncourt and Méditerranée. Thanks to these two big awards, the novel was translated into nineteen languages and its writer gained recognition worldwide. In King of Abyssinia, Rufin places historical events that developed around Egypt- Abyssinia-France in the seventeenth century into the novel’s fiction. Since the novel gets its theme from historical reality, it carries main characteristics of historical novel type. It becomes successful in drawing interest of readers with its solid and coherent fictional texture. Narrative starts in Egypt which was subjected to the Ottoman Empire. Louis XIV of France wants to send a diplomatic envoy to the king of Abyssinia in order to help him cure his candidiasis and he aims to establish friendly relations by means of this. However, his implicit aim is to attach this country, which lives in darkness according to him, to the Catholic Church. For this purpose, Doctor Jean-Baptiste Poncet living in Egypt in that period is entrusted with a task of going to Abyssinia so as to establish relationship with the agency of Embassy of France. Thus, a journey to the East’s magical decoration starts with a Muslim merchant’s caravan. Evets that are narrated with an extremely lively, clear and fascinating style not only calls the readers for a journey into the depths of history, but also invites them to witness matchless beauty in the lands of Egypt and Abyssinia. This study aims to analyze King of Abyssinia in the framework of narrative applications and coordinates through Georges Lukacs’s theory of historical novel.

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Jean , Christophe Rufin , King of Abyssinia , Contemporary French Literature , Historical Novel , Georges Lukacs.

Journal Of Graduate School Of Social Sciences

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Journal Of Graduate School Of Social Sciences