Gilgamesh - Softcover

Mitchell, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861977980 ISBN 13: 9781861977984

Publisher: Profile Books, 2005

Synopsis

Vivid, enjoyable and comprehensible, the poet and pre-eminent translator Stephen Mitchell makes the oldest epic poem in the world accessible for the first time. Gilgamesh is a born leader, but in an attempt to control his growing arrogance, the Gods create Enkidu, a wild man, his equal in strength and courage. Enkidu is trapped by a temple prostitute, civilised through sexual experience and brought to Gilgamesh. They become best friends and battle evil together. After Enkidu's death the distraught Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to find Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Great Flood, made immortal by the Gods to ask him the secret of life and death. Gilgamesh is the first and remains one of the most important works of world literature. Written in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C., it predates the Iliad by roughly 1,000 years. Gilgamesh is extraordinarily modern in its emotional power but also provides an insight into the values of an ancient culture and civilisation.

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Mitchell is widely known for his original and definitive versions of spiritual writings and poetry. His most popular translations and anthologies include The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Tao Te Ching, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, the Bhagavad Gita and many others.

About this edition

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1861977980
• ISBN 13: 9781861977984
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304