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From Publishers Weekly
The acclaimed translator of the Tao Te Ching and the Bhagavad Gita now takes on the oldest book in the world. Inscribed on stone tablets a thousand years before the Iliad and the Bible and found in fragments, Gilgamesh describes the journey of the king of the city of Uruk in what is now Iraq.At the start, Gilgamesh is a young giant with gigantic wealth, power and beauty—and a boundless arrogance that leads him to oppress his people. As an answer to their pleas, the gods create Enkidu to be a double for Gilgamesh, a second self. Learning of this huge, wild man who runs with the animals, Gilgamesh dispatches a priestess to find him and tame him by seducing him. Making love with the priestess awakens Enkidu's consciousness of his true identity as a human being rather than as an animal. Enkidu is taken to the city and to Gilgamesh, who falls in love with him as a soul mate. Soon, however, Gilgamesh takes his beloved friend with him to the Cedar Forest to kill the guardian, the monster Humbaba, in defiance of the gods. Enkidu dies as a result. The overwhelming grief and fear of death that Gilgamesh suffers propels him on a quest for immortality that is as fast-paced and thrilling as a contemporary action film. In the end, Gilgamesh returns to his city. He does not become immortal in the way he thinks he wants to be, but he is able to embrace what is.Relying on existing translations (and in places where there are gaps, on his own imagination), Mitchell seeks language that is as swift and strong as the story itself. He conveys the evenhanded generosity of the original poet, who is as sympathetic toward women and monsters—and the whole range of human emotions and desires—as he is toward his heroes. This wonderful new version of the story of Gilgamesh shows how the story came to achieve literary immortality—not because it is a rare ancient artifact, but because reading it can make people in the here and now feel more completely alive.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Mitchell's version of Gilgamesh should be the standard for general and classroom readers for the foreseeable future. It includes everything in the Akkadian texts, though shorn of some fragmentary passages and emended by Mitchell for clarity (extensive endnotes flag every change Mitchell makes and provide literal translations wherever Mitchell feels such would further illuminate meaning and spirit). The prologue and the closing page, both of which advert to Gilgamesh's great city of Uruk, are cast in five-beat lines, with the story per se in 11 books of four-beat lines. Mitchell manages both meters masterfully, writing verse that is musical and propulsive for all its "free" characteristics. The 66-page introduction interprets the entire poem as a philosophical fable as well as an engaging, episodic story, and not without describing some of the prosodic devices of the ancient Babylonian poem. Mitchell understands the poem to be overarchingly concerned with self-discovery and acceptance, with appreciating that humans are mortal, hence less than the gods, but also capable of love, and thus greater than mere gods. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
People Haven't Changed,
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This review is from: Gilgamesh: A New English Version (Hardcover)
4.5 stars of 5People haven't changed. A thoughtful reader will be struck by that as they read Mitchell's fine translation of this ~4,000 year old tale. Ok, sure, we're not off in the forest slaying monsters, or directly interacting with the Gods, but we're driven by all the same frailties and motives, and you can see that in every page of the Epic of Gilgamesh. A very fine forward helps set the stage for what is essentially a short tale, providing context and interesting elements to look for as you proceed. While I often find it hard to get through an extensive forward, this one was written with a sense of wonder and joy that betrayed a deep affection for the story itself. Also to be applauded is the use of end notes rather than footnotes. It would be far too difficult and distracting to have the significant number of notes within the text, they are a wonderful addition when read after absorbing the wonder and beauty of the story itself - many will find the tale of the flood particularly interesting, especially given the timeline established for the writing of the tale. All in all, a wonderful interpretation of an age old tale, bookended by an excellent forward and strong supporting notes. Well worth the read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars,
By
This review is from: Gilgamesh: A New English Version (Paperback)
The best retelling of the Gilgamesh epic I've come across; my son was assigned this story for a Grade 10 English project so we checked out a number of print and internet versions. Mitchell's was immediately a hit.Excellent and very detailed Introduction and Notes, and the epic itself flows along "like poetry", to quote my son. Well done, Stephen Mitchell! A pleasure to read. Note to parents - this is not the "cleaned up" version you've come across in kids' history books (the brief retelling in Bauer's Story of the World comes to mind), but the full frontal version chock full of sex and violence. Tastefully done, but it's all in there. May want to preview if buying this for a younger teen, just so you're ready for discussion time, LOL.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ever Ancient, Ever New!,
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This review is from: Gilgamesh: A New English Version (Audio CD)
Although reputed to be the oldest story extant, "Gilgamesh" shows that human nature remains constant through the ages. The story of King Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu, record the age-old tale of rivalry and friendship, death and remorse and, ultimately, the search for immortality. These themes of daily life and parallels to modern statecraft render Gilgamesh as fresh as today's news.Some features of "Gilgamesh" bear such a resemblance to the Bible as to clearly establish the Bible as a book of its time and culture. Gilgamesh contains a reference to seven years of famine (Joseph in Egypt), a flood story (similar to, but in critical ways different from Noah's) and sections of repeated dialogue, so reminiscent of Biblical sections. The explanatory essay by Stephen Mitchell helps the reader to understand the significance of portions of the tale's subtleties. As the oldest surviving example of the literature of civilization, "Gilgamesh" should be within the ken of every civilized person. Besides that, it is entertaining reading.
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