About this title: Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu are the only heroes to have survived from the ancient literature of Babylon, immortalized in this epic poem that dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Together they journey to the Spring of Youth, defeat the Bull of Heaven and slay the monster Humbaba. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh's grief and fear of death are such that they lead him to undertake a quest for eternal life. A timeless tale of morality, tragedy and pure adventure, "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is a landmark literary exploration of man's search for immortality.
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Description: Reader copy. Paperback. cover and corner wear. yellowed pages. different cover, greenish, not blue. reprinted 1979. creased covers. highlighting. notes. writing on cover. bookstore stamps in book. marks on book edge. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780140441000ISBN:014044100X
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780140441000ISBN:014044100X
Description: Very Good. Slight cover wear with minor scuffing to edges. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780140441000ISBN:014044100X
Description: A good reading copy only. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. May have underlining or highlighting throughout. -, Mass Market PaperBack, Good / read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"This version of Gilgamesh is a very readable retelling of the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian tale of Gilgamesh, the hero-king of Uruk. It is a tale for adults. If this were a movie, I would rate it R for sex.
Gilgamesh is immoral. He is powerful and no woman is safe from him. To counter him, the gods send another powerful man, Enkidu. Enkidu helps direct Gilgamesh's power to more warrior-like conquests. However, their actions are still self-centered and bring troubles to the general populace. Eventually the gods decide either Enkidu or Gilgamesh must die. Enkidu is selected by chance. Enkidu faces an underworld of darkness and dirt.
After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh seeks to avoid the same fate himself. He has heard that Utnapishtim has survived a great flood and received eternal life. He seeks him out for the secret of eternal life. Utnapishtim requires Gilgamesh to stay awake for six nights and seven days to prove himself worthy. Gilgamesh is unable to do it, and returns to Uruk. Gilgamesh seems to finally find some satisfaction in the greatness of the city he built.
This story is like many modern novels that reject a purposeful, loving, personal God and end with hopelessness. There are gods in Gilgamesh but they are selfish, humanized gods. Strength seems to be the trait the Sumerians and Babylonians most admired, but it was insufficient to earn Gilgamesh eternal life. The friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is probably the best aspect of the book. "Two people, companions, they can prevail together." There is strength in friendship, but as Gilgamesh and Enkidu learned, that strength does not extend past death."
"Reviewing Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh one faces considerable challenges, for this is not a translation as such, but as the cover claims, a new version. Nor does Mitchell hide this fact, but to his credit not only makes clear where he edits the text, often moving lines and even deleting pieces he finds extraneous to the story, but actually offers end notes that give the literal translations as opposed to his more stylized choices. This makes Mitchell's Gilgamesh a strange creature, not an attempt to present the ancient work as it existed, but instead in a way that grips modern readers.
Gilgamesh stands as uniquely suited to such treatment. A 3,000 year old text only rediscovered in the last century, readers have little context for the epic's characters and themes, leaving us only with our modern sensibilities. Mitchell sees the story in terms of themes that are at once familiar, coming of age, realization of friendship, mourning loss, learning of mortality, all stand at the center of this work. Unlike similar, less successful effort with other ancient texts, such as the Iliad, here our ignorance works in our favor, as even scholars have only a limited understanding of the milieu in which it arose.
Mitchell's introduction grounds the reader well in both the history of the text and the goals of his edition. As opposed to many other versions, often painful for the reader, Mitchell's prose flows seamlessly and grips the reader with vivid language. Again, his choice of words may on occasion be at some distance from the literal, but at least he does the courtesy of offering excellent end notes so we can see a more literal rendering.
As with other great works on ancient texts, such as Robert Alter's translation of Samuel, "The David Story," Mitchell offers the reader a chance to see themselves in the text and in so doing, recognize its timeless genius. For those previously intimidated by this oldest piece of literature, I highly recommend they give this version a try."
"I've read several books that refer to the Epic of Gilgamesh and figured I should read it at some point in time. The introduction to the epic in this edition is just as many pages as the epic itself and entirely more in depth than I really needed it to be, but then I'm not reading it for a college lit course. The epic itself was interesting in that some of the themes are still so relevant thousands of years later: power, love, the search for immortality/fear of death. The flood story in the epic is very interesting. One can clearly see details that the writers of the Bible kept for their version, but also details that were left out such as the detailed description of the storm/flood. Although Sanders explains why he doesn't have detailed footnotes explaining passages in the epic, I think it would have been helpful for someone not familiar with the cultural practices of the time of the writing. A lot of explanation was given in the introduction, but quite frankly till I waded through and got around to reading the epic, I'd forgotten them. I would recommend skipping straight to reading the epic, then go back and read the introduction."
"I'd heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh over and over again from history classes, to the use of it to confirm events in the Bible, but had never bothered to read it before. Perhaps it is the word "Epic" in the title that had conjured up mental images of a giant tome written in verse that deep down I knew I would never comprehend. Then suddenly one day I decided that I needed to at least OWN a copy, even if I never managed to read it. When I opened up my amazon box, imagine my surprise when I pulled out a thin little book of only 128 pages.
The introduction is well worth the read, and actually makes up the majority of the book. For people like myself who had no prior knowledge of what the Epic of Gilgamesh really was, this intro is invaluable. It gives not only the history of the tablets, but also goes into the meaning of the tale, and tons of historical information that really added to my enjoyment of the story.
The actual Epic goes from page 61-119 and is very interesting to those who have read other mythologies. The characters are very human though I won't say that in today's frame of mind that they are entirely likeable. The story follows King Gilgamesh who is 1/3 human and 2/3 god though the discovery of his brother, their quest to fight Humbaba, their battle with the Bull of the Heavens, and Gilgamesh's search for immortality. To be honest, I wouldn't say that this is a "must read" but it is certainly a very interesting read, simple to follow (at least in this translation) and a real eye opener to the beliefs and customs of the time.
I highly recommend this version to those that are reading it outside of a classroom or discussion setting, because the intro was a lifesaver with the background and historical context that it gave. The version I read was the Penguin Classics translated by N. K. Sandars."
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