Novel: The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned

Overview
Anne Rice's 1989 novel "The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned" revives the grand, sensual sweep of her earlier gothic storytelling and transposes it into a richly imagined Edwardian world. The story centers on the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, who is brought back to life in the early 20th century by a mysterious preservative elixir. As Ramses awakens with the memories and passions of millennia, his presence ignites obsession, rivalries, and longing among scholars, collectors, and the wealthy who covet both him and the secret of eternal life.
Rice melds historical detail, speculative romance, and baroque horror into a narrative that alternates between the archaeological thrill of rediscovery and the intimate turmoil of love and desire. The novel balances the spectacle of a godlike figure confronted by modernity with close, often erotic, examinations of human vulnerability and ambition.

Plot summary
The novel begins with the unearthing and acquisition of Egyptian artifacts that include a sealed jar containing an astonishing fluid. When the contents are mishandled, the ancient pharaoh Ramses II is resurrected, stepping into a world that has long since forgotten his reign. Ramses must grapple with displacement and the shock of civilization changed while trying to reclaim a sense of identity and power.
His reappearance quickly draws the attention of European and American elites, museums, collectors, and scientists, all fascinated by the possibility of harnessing the elixir that brought him back. Rivalries and moral conflicts erupt as characters debate whether immortality is a blessing or a curse, and as profiteers seek to commodify what should be sacred. At the same time, Ramses forms intense emotional and erotic bonds with contemporary women, igniting jealousies that drive much of the personal drama.
As secrets surface about the origins and true nature of the life-giving substance, the book moves toward a tense confrontation where desire, violence, and the hubris of those who would play god collide. Rice keeps the pace taut by shifting between intimate interpersonal scenes and broader cultural clashes, leading to a finale that questions the cost of eternal youth and the human hunger to possess what cannot rightly belong to any one person or era.

Main characters
Ramses II stands at the heart of the book as both conqueror and fish-out-of-water, a commanding, sensual presence who alternately fascinates and terrifies the modern characters who encounter him. His ancient memories and regal bearing contrast sharply with the hypocrisies and appetites of early 20th-century society.
Surrounding him are scholars, wealthy collectors, and socialites whose ambitions and desires reveal the novel's human stakes. Scholars provide the intellectual framing and ethical debate over resurrection, while wealthy patrons embody commodification and the attempt to own immortality. The novel's women serve as emotional anchors and catalysts, engaging Ramses with affection and passion that complicate every power equation.

Themes and motifs
At its core, the novel interrogates the allure and peril of immortality: whether eternal life would elevate the soul or merely magnify human folly. Rice explores how obsession, religious, romantic, or acquisitive, distorts judgment and fuels violence. Colonial and cultural tensions thread through the narrative as Western collectors harvest artifacts and histories for prestige, raising questions about stewardship, exploitation, and historical continuity.
Another recurring motif is the collision of ancient mythic identity with modern selfhood. Ramses's presence forces contemporary characters to confront their assumptions about progress, power, and what it means to live fully. Rice also uses eroticism as a form of power exchange, portraying desire as both a source of transcendence and a trigger for ruin.

Style and reception
Rice's prose is lush, sensory, and unapologetically dramatic, combining meticulous period detail with scenes of visceral intimacy. The novel won praise from readers who relished its romantic intensity and imaginative premise, though some critics found its tone extravagant or its plotting uneven. Fans of gothic romance and historical fantasy will appreciate Rice's skill at melding passion, philosophy, and spectacle.
The book subsequently inspired renewed interest in its characters, leading to a later sequel that revisits Ramses and expands on Rice's exploration of immortality and fate. Overall, "The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned" remains a vivid, provocative entry in Rice's oeuvre, notable for its atmospheric worldbuilding and its bold interrogation of timeless human desires.