The Story Archive

The Pyramid

Ismail Kadare · 1992 CE · Novel · Albanian · Contemporary

Cheops lets it be known that he may not build a pyramid at all, and his ministers convene in alarm to remind him what the thing is actually for: not a tomb but an instrument for grinding a population down to obedience. The quarries open, the ramps climb, a block falls and the investigations begin. Kadare took the frame from Herodotus on the Fourth Dynasty and published it two years after leaving Albania for France.

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Attributes

Genre
AllegoryHistoricalPolitical
Theme
Power & CorruptionAmbition & HubrisSuffering & EnduranceDeath & Mortality
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Villain / TyrantRuler / King
Plot structure
ChronicleAllegoryRise and Fall
Symbol / motif
The StoneThe TombThe Tower
Conflict
vs Societyvs Fate / Gods
Mode / tone
AllegoricalIronic
Culture / tradition
Albanian

Closest analogues