This is a fairly obscure question, but I'd like some information if anyone has any to offer.
I've been told by many (non-historians) that ancient Egypt did not keep records of embarrassing events, such as major military defeats. This is specifically in the context of biblical literalism, where, when taken at face value, the Torah seems to say that Egypt suffered massive catastrophes and military defeats, like the "Ten Plagues" and the Israelite Exodus, which are not recorded in Egyptian texts.
My question is this: Are there in fact Egyptian texts that detail embarrassing historical events, perhaps related to military defeats, economic collapse, or perceived judgment of the gods? It doesn't matter if it's related to anything in the Jewish Bible. Something that describes events contemporaneous to the author(s) or that occurred near to the time of the author(s) is ideal, and something in the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age is ideal as well.
Sorry for the very obscure question, but I'd appreciate any information anyone here can provide. Thanks!
There is a papyrus in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, called the Ipuwer Papyrus. It speaks of a time of great violence and disorder, when servants ran away from or killed their masters, the gods were ignored, and the Nile ran red with blood.
Needless to say, some biblical literalists have interpreted this text as confirmation of the Ten Plagues found in Exodus. However, the papyrus really only refers to a few things that could be regarded as parallels, and includes much that has nothing to do with the biblical story. In addition, the text predates the reign of Rameses II by at least five centuries.
When I worked a tour guide at the NMA, I was told that the text actually describes the events of the First Intermediate Period, when Egypt was in turmoil and central authority had collapsed. This would mean that it would fit your description exactly - it is a native Egyptian text describing in some detail how the country suffered terribly from the power vaccuum of the time.
However, the Wikipedia article above suggests that this interpretation is outdated; the text actually dates to some time after the First Intermediary Period (probably originating in the 19th century BC), and may be a theoretical text on the ethics of good government. If this is right, the description of anarchic chaos may not be a reference to any historical event at all. It could still be about the distant memory of the Intermediary Period, but there is no way to confirm this. Either way, it clearly shows a critical attitude toward the pharaoh and his role in keeping Egypt running as it should.
I don't know if it's OP's intent or not, but were there histories written to make make other Egyptians look bad? One dynasty or branch takes over, and re-writes history to make the previous rulers unappealing?
I get the impression, though that OP was looking for more along the lines of "honest, accurate documentation or re-telling of negative events."
On the surface there is the history that the Pharaoh wanted to portray about himself/herself. But underneath many of the hieroglyphs and monuments lies quite a bit of evidence that there was some historical revisionism going on, such as with the heretical religious movement of Akhenaten, who was mostly lost to history until 1907. There is quite a bit of evidence that hieroglyphs were changed to honour the current, rather than previous Pharaoh. Most of the history we have learned about Ancient Egypt comes from multiple sources, though, not just their official story of events. There seems to be no evidence of the events that are described in the Bible, while we do have discrepancies between who was Pharaoh at certain events in history.