The Egyptian Sinuhe is a phenomenon of Czech readership

Abstract

In 2009-2015, field studies in the field of reading were conducted in the Czech Republic, in which 138 readers’ biographies of representatives of the entire cross-section of society were collected. The interview scenario included a complete readership biography - family and home, school, adult life and attitude to books and reading in general, to specific authors, titles, types of writing, as well as customs and rituals related to reading, as well as attitude to other media. Based on the collected CVs, several dozen phenomena of Czech readership have been defined, which include several groups: writers, specific works, types of literature, institutions and various phenomena related to reading. A historical novel from the history of ancient Egypt, titled Egyptian Sinuhe, Finnish author Miki Waltari, released in 1949. Her Czech translation appeared in 1965, and from that moment remains one of Czech’s favourite readings.