Staroegipatska priča o Hotepu i Ankhnazi

The Ancient Egyptian Story of Hotep and Ankhnazi is a rare booklet published in 1930 in Osijek by the Croatian Writers and Artists Club. The work was brought, translated and introduced by Avelin Stahuljak, a Croatian writer, translator and local cultural activist.

The work belongs to the popular genre of historical-romantic prose that flourished in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, especially after the discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb in 1922, when a real Egyptomania broke out.

In the introduction, Stahuljak explains Egyptian customs, religion, social life along the Nile, temples and beliefs in the afterlife, and then tells the love and fateful story of the young protagonists, Hotep and Ankhnazi. The story is a beautiful literary creation inspired by ancient Egypt, which reflects the spirit of its time and the desire to bring exotic themes closer to the domestic reader.

The book is intended for a wider audience — entertaining, emotional, with emphasized romantic elements, adventure, and didactic descriptions of ancient civilization. The style is typical of interwar Croatian literature: narrative, picturesque, with rich descriptions of landscapes, clothing, rituals, and the emotions of the characters.

Today, this work is a bibliographic rarity. It is difficult to find in second-hand bookstores and is kept mainly in national and university libraries. It represents an interesting example of how Croatian authors of the interwar period popularized ancient cultures and used them as a backdrop for their own literary imagination.