Sublime translation
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This translation of Gilgamesh is one of the best things I have read in a while. It takes a quite academic route to giving the reader the many goods of the epic in that the narrative is slightly broken up by sorting the information by tablet, and by not neglecting any relevant Sumerian or Akkadian version of the epic. That is to say, the reader should be aware that this is not like simply reading a book of prose; the text is verse (verse with repeating lines and ideas, as in much epic poetry, a style I find readable and enjoyable, but others can find less so) and is frequently broken by lacunae coming from the source material; and the text is divided into three major parts. Part one is the Standard Version, or He Who Saw the Deep, in 11 tablets; part two is Surpassing All Other Kings, beginning with the Pennsylvania tablet; and part three is a selection of Sumerian poems of Bilgames (the Sumerian version of the Akkadian name Gilgamesh). All parts are well translated - beautifully so, so that even the fairly frequent lacunae (it is, after all, several thousand years old) do not interrupt the understanding or enjoyment.
The introduction to the book is excellent - a brilliant summary of some general ideas about life in the time it was written in ancient Mesopotamia. The introductions to each part, tablet and poem are also lucid, helpful and personable. Even the few illustrations - copies of original pictures from Mesopotamia describing the epic - are lively and expressive. If it had been the first translation of the epic that I had read, and it assuredly is not, then it would have been a perfect introduction. There is even an appendix on how a translator works with the 3,000 year old source material to produce something readable, which was a nice little finisher for the wonderful text. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. If you have even the scantiest interest in the ancient near east, you should purchase this text - not only the epic, but this translation of it. It really provides the thrill of the past in an elegant way.
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Incomplete but strangely compelling
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It's incomplete, but it's raw and powerful; it is reminiscent of the Book of Job, but it has a flood in too; it has monsters, harlots, wise men and gods.
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Excellent purchase
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Penguin Classics have produced here a wonderful new edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh. A lucid translation brings the epic to life, and it is backed up by a wealth of extra material that add depth and understanding to a reading of the text. There is an extensive introduction to the historical, literary and archaeological background: the Babylonian, Akkadian and Sumerian contexts are explored clearly and succinctly, and there is also a fascinating history of how the text itself has been pieced together. In addition, and making this new edition even more worthy, the translator collects together fragments from variant traditions - some of them for the first time in English - which expand or give slightly different perspectives upon the core text. This rounds out the picture perfectly, giving an intriguing glimpse into how the story and image of Gilgamesh evolved over time and in different contexts. Finally, the text is peppered with line drawings of contemporary tablet illustrations. All this, and pictures too! Highly recommended.
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TRACES
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If the Epic of Gilgamesh, in this great new translation, is not the eldest known text in humanity, it certainly is a universal story, a story of which you can imagine that the animals told each other in times we were still enough alive to hear their voices. Gilgamesj is king and he reigns as a tiran. Everyone belongs to him and all that belongs to them is his property. Wanting to open his eyes, the gods gave him a friend, Enkidu, a creature brought up by Mother Nature, that only in bits and pieces discovers that he is human. Sjamhat, the harlot, learns him wat it is to feel to be a man. Fighting Gilgamesj Enkidu learns to appreciate him as someone being equal, as a friend. Together they succeed in winning, with the help of their friends, the gods, the giant Chumbaba. In a fever of victory, they get the head of the giant back in their base-camp Uruk. The prettiest of all, the godess Isjtar, tries to seduce Gilgamesj, but he refuses her. This makes her mad, and when his friends kill her favorite bull, the one that makes the earth shiver, she really gets angry and decides to kill Enkidu, the favorite friend of Gilgamesj. Gilgamesj can't find consolation. He searches his friend, he searches immortality. But he doesn't succeed. He falls asleep, as most men do. Gilgamesj returns home and sees his city, that will remain when he will be dead. Maybe that's it ? Building a city, leaving traces ... How do you live as a human being ? As the only human being on your earthly ground, because after all, we must admit we're all alone. No one has really any idea about how the other is feeling. You don't wonder, you are there, and that's enough - and before you were there, there was nothing. But suddenly he comes in front of you, someone like you, someone where you have to fight against, someone whose body and soul demands of you to love him. A friend. With who you can fight the world. And the giant. Or isn't it like that ? Giant's, they don't really exist anymore, they say. I've seen them, I see them every day I walk. Giant buildings with elevators that take you up and down. At their feet, the sea of cars and people and other buildings asks you to take a jump from them. And there are evil weeds that you see growing if you stand up there. When you have a friend, you are vulnerable. Because : in no time he is gone. He doesn't speak to you anymore. He is so quiet, so white. He must be sleeping, or is he dead ? What is dying ? Crossing a bord, borders, through the desert, the sea. You search him. You see him, but he's not there. He seems to be someone, here and there. He won't take long before you are in the same position. Or won't you ? You leave something. You're still there. There are traces. You were here.
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Brilliant!
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Like, the author, my first exposure to the Epic was to the earlier Penguin version in the classroom. I loved it then, but Andrew's translation, with it's gaps, guidance and line drawings, in some way provides a much clearer picture. We can now understand what we know and don't know and what we must assume. The picture it paints seems more vivid and real than the earlier version. Close your eyes and you can see it all! Uruk. The Cedar Forest. Everything! This book is an absolute pleasure to read.
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