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Gilgamesh

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GILGAMESH : Translated from the Sin-leqi-unninni Version by John Gardner and John Maier, with the assistance of Richard A. Henshaw. 304 pp. New York : Vintage Books, 1985 (1984). ISBN 0-394-740-89-0 (pbk.)

The present book is the fruit of a collaboration between John Gardner, literary scholar and writer who was responsible for the translation, and John Maier, who wrote the 50-page Introduction, the extensive Notes, and the concluding Appendix. Although both might be described as 'non-specialist enthusiasts,' and it was their intention to write "a translation for the non-specialist" (page 4), evidence of real scholarship is evident throughout, and it's clear that we are dealing here with enthusiasts who were madly in love their subject and knew a great deal about it.

The Gilgamesh story has a very long history and reaches back to a real Sumerian hero of the Third Millenium B.C. Its late version was written, not in Sumerian but in Akkadian, the language of Sumer's conquerors, by the priest, Sin-leqi-unnini, around 1300 B.C., and it is this Middle Babylonian version that we have been given in the present book.

Although Gilgamesh is usually presented as a poem in twelve books, Gardner and Maier, guided by the fact that each of its twelve cuneiform tablets has six columns on each side, and feeling that "the column is an important unit of composition" (page vii), decided to treat the tablets as seventy-two columns or separate poems. Hence the unusual column-by-column layout of their book.

Most clay tablets that have survived are usually in a pretty battered condition, and have lost many words and lines of their text. These losses are usually smoothed over and largely hidden in translations for the ordinary reader. But in the Gardner-Maier the general intent seems to have been, not so much to give us a reader's version of Gilgamesh, but to literally transcribe, line-by-line and with all of the many gaps and losses caused by wear and breakage, what is actually on the tablets, thereby bringing us much closer to the extant text.

This can make for a very different and interesting kind of reading experience, though one that involves work since we ourselves must use our imagination to try to fill in the gaps. Here is an example from TABLET IX Column i lines 15-24, with losses and editorial insertions in square brackets exactly as found on page 196, but with my obliques added to indicate line breaks :

"Gilgamesh takes up the axe in his hand; / he drew [the weapon] from his belt / [and] like an arrow . . . he fell among them. / He struck . . . smashing them, / . . . [enjoying it]. / He threw . . . / he [guarded] . . . / Second . . . / He lifted . . . / . . ."

Fortunately, most columns have far less damage than this, and some have none at all. Here are lines 1-5 of TABLET I Column iv :

"The animals came, their hearts grew light in the waters. / And as for him, Enkidu, child of the mountain, / he who fed with gazelles on grass, / he drank with the wild beasts at the watering place / and with the hurrying animals his heart grew light in the waters" (page 77).

Here we begin to touch on something of the beauty and mystery of this strange and compelling text. What is Enkidu, the wild man? What stage of human development does he represent? And how did he find his way into this poem of a highly civilized people? As for what happens when the sacred whore arrives a few lines later to "teach him what a woman is," I leave it to your imagination . . .

If the first of the passages quoted above worried anyone, I should add that, following each column of translation, Maier has supplied extensive notes which can run to two or three times the length of the translated column. These notes attempt to supply us with as much relevant Gilgamesh scholarship as Maier has been able to pack into them, and make frequent references to the original language. Using these notes will sometimes help the reader to puzzle out the meaning of at least some of the damaged or missing lines.

In addition to Maier's extensive notes, and his scholarly Introduction which will interest all students of the Ancient Near East, he has also gone to the trouble of giving us an interestingly illustrated 30-page Appendix, 'Translating Gilgamesh,' which shows us something of the difficulties of translating cuneiform.

Mutterings have been heard about the appropriateness of this Appendix, but there is a real aura of romance about these extremely ancient and miraculously preserved clay tablets, and cuneiform is a fascinating and beautiful script. Given this, it's hard to see how anyone could be seriously interested in 'Gilgamesh' and not be interested in both its language and the ancient vehicles that brought this language to us. And anyway, you don't have to read the Appendix if you don't want to read it. Think of it as a bonus.

The Gardner-Maier edition is, as I've indicated, the joint product of two real and very scholarly enthusiasts, men who assumed in their readers an interest in Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh-related matters as keen as their own. As such it's not an edition that I would recommend to most beginners. The newcomer to Gilgamesh would, I think, be far better off starting with something less ambitious such as the excellent Penguin Classics edition by N. K. Sandars, and to save the Gardner-Maier for later when they will be in a position to benefit from it more.

But for those who have already fallen in love with this mysterious and wonderful story, and who would like to get closer to the original and dig into the details, it's doubtful that there could be any better version for the enthusiastic non-specialist. I just wish Maier had also thought to add a Bibliography and an Index, or if he did, that someone hadn't forgotten to include them.

Gardner and Maier's Gilgamesh provides the reader with a full understanding and comprehension of the epic tale at a time when parts of the story may have been linked to real historical events. The Gilgamesh story of the flood was long thought to be just a curious predating story of Noah's flood, but recent oceanographic and archaeological findings indicate that the ancient Sumerian tale may have described a real flood of the ocean through the Bosporus which raised the Black Sea, resulting in a human diaspora which forever changed civilization. I strongly recommend this book be read along with "Noah's Flood" by William Ryan and Walter Pitman (Touchstone, 1998) because of the exciting historical, scientific, and human contexts provided. The book provides extensive explanatory text and a full chapter on translating Gilgamesh from the original cuneiform, with specific examples taken from the tablets. It is a joy to read. I was left with great respect for the translators and strong desire to see more fragments of the story unearthed.

The epic of Gilgamesh would, of course, be of historical interest regardless of its content, since it seems to be the oldest written narrative in human history. Its relevance, however, goes far beyond the purely archival -- the story is engaging and powerful, and addresses fundamental questions of humanity. The combination of these two important characteristics makes for a classic creation of human culture; it is somehow comforting and at the same time humbling to know that people 3000 years ago struggled with the same questions with which we struggle still today.

I have read several renderings of the Gilgamesh epic, and in my opinion this version by John Gardner and John Maier is the best overall. It is probably the most direct translation you will find. The original text from which this translation is drawn (the "Sin-leqi-unninni" version) is written on 12 stone tablets, each of which has 6 columns of cuneiform. (The appendix includes pictures of some of the tablets, along with commetnary about the translation process.) Gardner and Maier have preserved this format, dividing their text according to the tablet and column divisions of the original. They have also, for the most part, translated line-by-line from the original, rather than reorganizing it as many other renderings have done.

The result is a work of disarming simplicity. Taking little or no poetic license, Gardner and Maier allow the text to speak for itself. Not being a reader of Akkadian myself, I cannot say how literal or accurate this translation is; I can, however, say that, to me as a reader, it FEELS authentic, and I think that is at least as important. The story has a timeless quality which, in other renderings, is sometimes obscured by excessive verbal flourishes on the part of the "translation" -- not so here.

On its own, the text would make this book a worthwhile purchase, but there's more to this translation than just the story. Extensive commentary follows each column, providing a wide range of helpful information. Since this translation draws only from the Sin-leqi-unninni original tablets, which are damaged in some places, the commentary gives occasional pointers to other versions, and attempts to piece together missing sections. There is also historical and cultural background where appropriate, explaining for instance the various gods referenced, and more literary commentary on the story itself.

And, though I have not addressed it specifically as yet, the story is remarkable. It covers a broad range of emotions, and manages to tug at the heart in several ways. In some places, the action is simply stated without emotional exposition; in other places, the language becomes more expressive, and probes the souls of the characters.

Some readers may be deterred by one byproduct of the translation's careful adherence to the original: where there are gaps in the original text (due to damage to the stone tablets), Gardner and Maier have simply left the gaps in their translation. This is unusual; most renderings attempt to smooth over such gaps by drawing from other sources. This is only a superficial problem, however. Gardner and Maier DO draw from other sources to complete the picture, but they wisely do so in the commentary rather than attempting to patch the text itself. This allows the reader to assemble the whole picture himself where necessary, rather than having it handed to him preassembled from undisclosed fragments.

All in all this is a wonderful book. It concisely provides a clear version of the story and a wealth of relevant commentary.

"Gilgamesh" was Gardner's last project, according to co-author Maier; he died just after completing the typescript. "Gilgamesh" is not a playful reworking of the story like "Grendel" or "Jason and Medeia" (serious play there): this is a line by line translation of a single version of the poem. Where only one word of the original clay tablet was legible, this book has one word on the page. Where there were enough words to work with, Gardner has given us some powerful poetry. It is hard-hitting, primal stuff. Hypnotic repetitions pull the reader along, then crash into the pit of dismembered or missing fragments. What's not-there is very much a part of this "Gilgamesh." The notes supply the missing story line from alternate versions of the poem, but reading the fragments as fragments is part of Gardner's and Maier's "Gilgamesh": even poetry itself is mortal.

My opinion may be skewed--this was the first translation of "Gilgamesh" that I had read. My other experience with it is an old, yellowed Penguin version in academic prose. I came to this after "Grendel" which is another 5-star epic.

This book introduced me to the epic. It is the perfect combination of professional detail and lay man knowledge. There is a detailed discussion on cuniform which you can skip straight to the verse. I read another version after finishing this one and it really sucked in comparison. Kudos to these the authors and A MUST READ FOR ALL!

Kang

This is the best translation into English of The Epic of Gilgamesh I've encountered, and I've read six. I don't imagine a better one will ever be written, either.

This ancient story is best interpreted as a successful -- not a failed -- quest for immortality. Gilgamesh's love of life and contempt for the rules of the gods continue to inspire many who seek to beat mortality, either figuratively or literally, and might inspire you to seek life as well.

Gilgamesh was a hero from the earliest days of Western civilization. His story was told for a thousand years, in many parts of the mid-East. This book renders into English one of the latest versions of that story, from about 2000BC.

The book's layout follows the format of the clay tablets on which it was inscribed, twelve tablets each divided into six columns of text. After roughly 4000 years, much of the original text has been damaged or lost, and that is part of the excitement of reading this book. The translator shows just which parts were illegible, giving a sometimes broken form of the story. It really gives me, a modern reader, a sense of time's ravages and a better appreciation for the parts that remain.

According to notes in this book, other translators have often tried to patch a whole story together from different texts of the Gilgamesh epic. Since the story changed so many times over its active life, that practice is suspect - almost like filling in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale with scraps of a Disney version. The editor does sometimes show alternative versions, especially where this text was most damaged. That is very different. It preserves the integrity of the current translation, but still gives some idea of what might have been lost.

In other ways, though, I generally found the footnotes to be pedantic. They helped in a few places, in understanding the role of the temple courtesans in that society and religion. Most often, however, debates about the meanings of specific words and the ancient poetic forms added very little to my reading. I skipped most of that esoterica, of interest primarily to other translators.

What I did get was a deeper appreciation of the canon of Western literature. This story includes an early story much like Noah and the ark. This version is so similar to the biblical one that the differences are more striking. That pre-Noah saved "the seed of all living creatures", an evocative phrase in this era of DNA banking. He also saved "the children of all the craftsmen", preserving not just life but knowledge. A later part of the epic foreshadows Charon the ferryman, crossing the river Lethe to the Greek world of the dead. There is also the snake that deprived mankind of eternal life, with echoes of a Prometheus story and the Edenic snake.

Despite the academic commentary, the translation is modern and comfortable - even crude, when there was crudity in the original text. Parts of the story are missing, as they are in the historical record, but what's left is enjoyable and enlightening.

//wiredweird

This book is written in an interesting fashion. Each section starts with a direct translation of the ancient text. It is then supplementend on the following pages by Gardner and Maier's notes and commentary. The appendix has pictures of the ancient tablets with comments on the their various states. I cannot address any academic aspects (what was translated accurately, etc. what is debatable), however it does appear the authors do raise competing views on some interpretations and do illuminate how some interpretations of various aspects have changed over time. As a layment, it is disappointing that so much of the tablets have been lost to time and so many pieces of the story are missing. This is no fault of the authors at all, it just is the way it is. However, it is breathtaking to read a story that is believed to have been first related thousands of years ago, passed down orally for generations and finally written around 1600 B.C. An excellent presentation of the most ancient of tales for a layperson.

This is one of the oldest known heroic poems, with some versions dating back to the Old Babylonian age about 2000 BC. What survives of the twelve tablets that make up the Gilgamesh epic tells a story about a king of Uruk, named Gilgamesh, who goes on an epic search for immortality with his companion Enkidu which leads him through many adventures and eventually takes him to a Noah-like sage who tells him the story of the flood.
Much of the twelve tablets on which the poem were written has been lost, but enough survives (through various copies and versions of the work) to be able to piece it together into a fairly coherent form. Gardner and Maier do an excellent job here of presenting the text, of translating it in a reliable and enjoyable manner, and of providing sufficient notes (actually, over half this book is notes!) to give the reader a very good feel for this beautiful poem.
This is an epic in many senses of the word, but it differs somewhat in scope from the Greek and Medieval heroic poems that we have. Still, for fans of the epic, for those interested in Homer, Virgil, Dante, or Milton, Gilgamesh provides an interesting look at an early Babylonian/Sumerian text.

Anyone who doesn't like this book must have difficulty in the face of the sublime. Not only is the Gilgamesh epic itself one of those rare gems of ancient literature, but the Gardner/Maier version is an extraordinarily accomplished translation. The book is one you will want to read multiply, to own and consult at regular intervals, as gradually the other major works of Western culture (the Bible, the Odyssey, etc.) are filtered through its astonishing lens. I love it.