Abstract
Instructions constituted a surprisingly stable and long-lived genre of writing in ancient Egypt. Such texts, whose earliest representatives date to the early Middle Kingdom (i.e., 2200s BCE), were usually characterized by loosely organized didactic sayings and proverbs that conveyed a mix of ever-applicable moral lessons with occasion-specific practical tips, by claims for celebrated authorship, and by simulations of affectionate teaching directed from a father to a son.
In this essay, I discuss ancient Egyptian Instructions’ humour effect, arguing on the basis primarily of stylistic evidence that the authors of some of these Instructions included in their framing sections and/or in their wise admonitions verbal cues that prompted their audiences to ‘read’ some of their serious-sounding didactic materials as efforts to generate humour and its kindred cultural expressions, such as irony or wittiness. Such cued double-reading significantly contributed to the process of communicating, and reflecting on, Egyptian Instructions’ didactic messages.