Episode 33: A Professor’s Daughter Falls In Love with a Mummy

Il-wey! The Professor's Daughter was written originally in 1997 but was translated from French to English and published by First Second Books in 2007. Set in London, the story follows an imminent Egyptologist's daughter, Lillian, and one of his discoveries, the reanimated mummy of Imhotep IV. While out and about the city, Imhotep is involved in an altercation, which leads to trouble for the couple and lands them in jail. The Egyptologist Bowell and Imhotep III arrive unexpectedly, causing their own mayhem. Queen Victoria makes a brief appearance as part of a scheme to free Lillian and Imhotep IV. Readers familiar with the 1989 Anne Rice novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned will recognize similarities in the first few pages of this graphic novel, but Joann Sfar (The Rabbi’s Cat; The Little Prince) and Emmanuel Guibert’s story quickly diverts into a whimsical and fantastical adventure.

While the story is a light-hearted romantic comedy, there an undercurrent of serious themes that runs throughout The Professor’s Daughter, adding complementary layers to the story. Early on, the parent-child relationship is expressed from the point of view of the two adult children, Lillian and Imhotep IV. Lillian waxes to Imhotep IV that she feels as though she is a “possession” of her father’s – a feeling that Imhotep knows all too well since he is an artifact from as her father’s archaeological discovery – and that she has no freedom. She states that Imhotep is “precious” to her father, to which Imhotep reminds her that her father feels the same towards her. The subtext of this theme is that the parent-child relationships are damaged by their respective fathers’ careers, most specifically by Dr. Bowell. 

A number of mummy stories in literature and film often included the idea of lost love and the transference of that love to a living person that resembles or is the reincarnation of the person lost. This is the second theme found in this story. In a dream, Imhotep’s children appear to him. He asks where their mother is, but they answer that they cannot see her (we find out later that her body did not go through the mummification process so her soul was not transported into the Afterlife). The children comment how much Lillian looks like their mother, so they ask if their father will marry her. He seems keen on the idea, but Lillian oscillates between loving the mummy and not: she is concerned that he does not love her, but rather her image that is the likeness of his lost Queen. 

The Professor’s Daughter also provides readers vestiges of the middle-class society of Victorian England as well as its justice system. For example, after Lillian’s arrest for poisoning a policeman and a gentleman, there is a brief conversation in the court that Lillian cannot be let off due to a similar case that resulted in the accused’s death. There is recognition that the justice system was skewed to the benefit of affluent middle class. One of the telling aspects of British society was the roundup of mummies for Dr. Bowell’s inspection after wanted posters go up for Imhotep’s capture. While the warehouse full of mummies was an exaggeration, it may have not have been too far off given the popularity of unwrapping parties at the time and the myriad of private collections that possibly included a mummy or two. 

The visuals that accompany this story are beautiful. Guibert did not overthink or overwork the illustrations; they are clean and uncluttered by extraneous detail. In fact, the six-panel layout per page is the norm, with the occasional full-page single pane to emphasize specific moments in the story. The color palette Guibert selected accentuates the moods of the action unfolding across the pages. And the thin lines, thick lines, shading, and washes adorn each panel. The lettering caps off the visuals and again, Guibert has kept it simple and uncomplicated. 

Senebti! 

Banner image from Google images. 

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