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Gilgamesh - The Life of a Poem (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R520
Discovery Miles 5 200
You Save: R141
(21%)
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Gilgamesh - The Life of a Poem (Hardcover)
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List price R661
Loot Price R520
Discovery Miles 5 200
You Save R141 (21%)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Reflections on a lost poem and its rediscovery by contemporary
poets Gilgamesh is the most ancient long poem known to exist. It is
also the newest classic in the canon of world literature. Lost for
centuries to the sands of the Middle East but found again in the
1850s, it tells the story of a great king, his heroism, and his
eventual defeat. It is a story of monsters, gods, and cataclysms,
and of intimate friendship and love. Acclaimed literary historian
Michael Schmidt provides a unique meditation on the rediscovery of
Gilgamesh and its profound influence on poets today. Schmidt
describes how the poem is a work in progress even now, an
undertaking that has drawn on the talents and obsessions of an
unlikely cast of characters, from archaeologists and museum
curators to tomb raiders and jihadis. Fragments of the poem,
incised on clay tablets, were scattered across a huge expanse of
desert when it was recovered in the nineteenth century. The poem
had to be reassembled, its languages deciphered. The discovery of a
pre-Noah flood story was front-page news on both sides of the
Atlantic, and the poem's allure only continues to grow as
additional cuneiform tablets come to light. Its translation,
interpretation, and integration are ongoing. In this illuminating
book, Schmidt discusses the special fascination Gilgamesh holds for
contemporary poets, arguing that part of its appeal is its
captivating otherness. He reflects on the work of leading poets
such as Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky, and Yusef Komunyakaa, whose
own encounters with the poem are revelatory, and he reads its many
translations and editions to bring it vividly to life for readers.
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