Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
From the sunbaked cities of ancient Mesopotamia emerges one of humanity's oldest and most enduring stories — the tale of Gilgamesh, the mighty king of Uruk, whose bond with the wild man Enkidu sets him on a desperate journey across the known world to confront the one enemy no ruler can defeat: death itself. Herbert Mason's celebrated verse narrative strips the ancient Sumerian epic down to its raw, human core, presenting a story of friendship, grief, and the terrifying beauty of mortality that resonates as powerfully today as it did over four thousand years ago. This is not a dry academic translation but a living, breathing poem — spare and luminous in its language, deeply compassionate in its vision. Mason's retelling stands as one of the great achievements in the art of literary translation, transforming fragmented clay tablets into a seamless meditation on what it means to be human. The afterword by John H. Marks provides vital scholarly context, grounding Mason's poetic interpretation within the rich archaeological and mythological tradition from which Gilgamesh springs. For readers who have never encountered this ancient hero, and for those returning to him, this edition promises an experience that is at once timeless and utterly new — a reminder that the questions we ask in the dark have always been the same.
Author: Herbert Mason
Format: Paperback
Genre: Ancient history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
From the sunbaked cities of ancient Mesopotamia emerges one of humanity's oldest and most enduring stories — the tale of Gilgamesh, the mighty king of Uruk, whose bond with the wild man Enkidu sets him on a desperate journey across the known world to confront the one enemy no ruler can defeat: death itself. Herbert Mason's celebrated verse narrative strips the ancient Sumerian epic down to its raw, human core, presenting a story of friendship, grief, and the terrifying beauty of mortality that resonates as powerfully today as it did over four thousand years ago. This is not a dry academic translation but a living, breathing poem — spare and luminous in its language, deeply compassionate in its vision. Mason's retelling stands as one of the great achievements in the art of literary translation, transforming fragmented clay tablets into a seamless meditation on what it means to be human. The afterword by John H. Marks provides vital scholarly context, grounding Mason's poetic interpretation within the rich archaeological and mythological tradition from which Gilgamesh springs. For readers who have never encountered this ancient hero, and for those returning to him, this edition promises an experience that is at once timeless and utterly new — a reminder that the questions we ask in the dark have always been the same.