Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in

Ferry, David

ISBN 10: 0374523835 / ISBN 13: 9780374523831

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993

Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00104176086

Synopsis:

The classic verse rendering of the great epic of ancient Mesopotamia.

Gilgamesh is the story of the godlike ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city Uruk. The start of the poem finds Gilgamesh as a brutal tyrant, whose potency is unmatched and unchecked. The god Aruru fashions him a match, a wild man called Enkidu, who fights the ruler but soon becomes Gilgamesh’s beloved companion and friend. The story of their shared heroism, the pain of Enkidu’s untimely death, and of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality was told across a series of cuneiform clay tablets. It is said to be the oldest recorded literary work.

David Ferry’s elegant verse rendering transmutes the ancient epic into the language of our time. Much like Robert Fitzgerald’s Odyssey or Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, Ferry’s Gilgamesh is a work whose poetic invention and lyrical rendering makes new that which is ancient, and draws forth the antique echoes that persist in our moment.

About the Author: David Ferry, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for his translation of Gilgamesh, is a poet and translator who has also won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, given by the Academy of American Poets, and the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, given by the Library of Congress. In 2001, he received an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ferry is the Sophie Chantal Hart Professor of English Emeritus at Wellesley College.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: 1993
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good