''The Land of Foam'' also known as ''At the Edge of Oikoumene'' (russian: На краю Ойкумены, Na krayu Oikumeny) and ''Great Arc'' (russian: Великая Дуга, Velikaya Duga) is a novel written by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

writer

Ivan Yefremov Ivan Antonovich (real patronymic Antipovich) Yefremov ( ru , Ива́н Анто́нович (Анти́пович) Ефре́мов; April 23, 1908 – October 5, 1972; last name sometimes transliterated as Efremov) was a Soviet paleonto ...

in 1946.

Plot summary

The novel is divided in two parts, separated by more than 1000 years. The first part takes place during the rule of the pharaoh

Djedefra Djedefre (also known as Djedefra and Radjedef – Modern Greek: ) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. D ...

(26th century BC), who decides to send an expedition to the South, in order to seek the famous and fabled

Land of Punt The Land of Punt ( Egyptian: '' pwnt''; alternate Egyptological readings ''Pwene''(''t'') /pu:nt/) was an ancient kingdom known from Ancient Egyptian trade records. It produced and exported gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory an ...

and to seek the limits of the land and the start of the ''Great Arc'', the circular ocean encompassing the entire world in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

. The second part starts in Ancient Greece during its Aegean Period (no precise dates are provided, but one can assume a date c. 1000–900 BC).The book mentions the abandoned capital of Akhetaten, constructed by the pharaoh of same name c. 1350 BC and abandoned shortly afterward. Those facts are placed as 400 years away at the time the novel takes place. A young

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

named Pandion sets off on a journey to Crete, but he ends up on Phoenician Trading Ship ( while trying to escape captivity from some local wild Crete people), and after 4 days, he jumps the ship in the middle of the storm ( while escaping sacrifice from frightened sailors), and a storm finally lands him in Egypt, where he is enslaved. He manages to win his freedom and after a long and perilous journey comes back home. On the way, he carves a cameo which portrays his friends and some details of their adventures. In a short

framing narrative Framing may refer to: * Framing (construction), common carpentry work * Framing (law), providing false evidence or testimony to prove someone guilty of a crime * Framing (social sciences) * Framing (visual arts), a technique used to bring the foc ...

, modern researchers examine the cameo and contemplate its possible origins.

Notes

External links

* Ivan Yefremov
The Land of Foam
(in the Udmurt mirror of the

Maksim Moshkow's Library Lib.ru, also known as Maksim Moshkow's Library (russian: link=no, библиотека Максима Мошкова, started to operate in November 1994) is the oldest electronic library in the Russian Internet segment. Founded and supported ...

) 1946 novels Novels by Ivan Yefremov Historical novels Novels set in ancient Egypt Fiction set in the 26th century BC Novels set in the 10th century BC Djedefre {{1940s-hist-novel-stub