|
| Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative | 
| Author: Herbert Mason
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $8.95
Buy Used: $1.87
You Save: $7.08 (79%)
New (29) Collectible (4) from $4.62
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 13027
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0618275649
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
UPC: 046442275644
EAN: 9780618275649
ASIN: 0618275649
Publication Date: July 8, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Standard shipping arrives within 6-8 business days. This is the textbook only unless otherwise noted. Marks, underlining, cover wear, edge wear
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Herbert Mason's best-selling Gilgamesh is the most widely read and enduring interpretation of this ancient Babylonian epic. One of the oldest and most universal stories known in literature, the epic of Gilgamesh presents the grand, timeless themes of love and death, loss and reparations within the stirring tale of a hero-king and his doomed friend. A finalist for the National Book Award, Mason's retelling is at once a triumph of scholarship, a masterpiece of style, and a labor of love that grew out of the poet's long affinity with the original.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 My First Introduction To Gilgamesh and Postmodern Poetics (from Ahadada Books) May 17, 2008
I picked up this book back in the early 1970's from a little card shop in 140 Village Shopping Center, Westminster, Maryland. The owner and his daughters were almost my family because I came back again and again to the small "classics" rack they had on the back wall of the shop, and I sometimes fantasize that they stocked the racks with me in mind. There I found cheap paperback editions of Shelley and Milton and Pope among others, and one day I noticed this wonderful book and bought it with my spare change for something like 50 cents. Not only did the story of Gilgamesh as retold by Mr. Mason grip me, but I was enthralled by the "easy" free verse of the lines. The simple prose narrative was made to look and "sound" somewhat like a poem by the way it was set up on the page. I recognized this same kind of sensibility at work much later when I read Charles Reznikoff's Testimony and his long poem on the Holocaust, and encountered Dennis Tedlock's exercises in ethnopoetic translation. In a sense, then, this was my introduction to a new kind of postmodern poetics, and for that this "verse narrative"--now appearing in its latest version from Mariner Books, and augmented by an autobiographical postscript by the author--holds an important place in my development.
On the other hand, it was not until I began reading Armand Schwerner's "Tablets" that I went back and began to investigate the more scholarly versions of Gilgamesh, and I discovered the extent to which Mr. Mason's narrative diverges from the original both in form and content. To get a real feeling for the true Gilgamesh I recommend the Andrew George translation (published by Penguin)of all the available versions and fragments. However, for a good introduction to Gilgamesh's quest to recover Enkidu from the dead suitable for high school classes or ESL college classes, I would suggest this one. Indeed, I plan to use this book in future in my comparative literature classes in Japan. Mason's description of Gilgamesh's grief retold in such plain language is very understandable to students at all levels, and very moving.
 Gilgamesh for Dummies September 21, 2007
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an important literary work to study. For us, it provided the opportunity to contrast our Biblical worldview in stark contrast to the flawed, self-seeking, and non-covenantial gods in the epic. The examination of mortality and the afterlife also attempts to give an alternate explanation of the Biblical worldwide flood.
Mason's version of Gilgamesh is a wonderful starting point for the beginning student of classical literature. The text is easily attainable while maintaining an enjoyably lyrical style. Our course's study questions revealed that the version did lack some particulars and thoroughness, but managed to catch the key points adequately.
Caution: There is a brief segment of the book that was inappropriate, in my view, for even a middle/high school grade student. I sought a solution through other versions which were dramatically worse! The segment amounted to a few lines in this version, which we successfully blacked out without affecting the storyline.
 False teeth September 20, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
The well meaning Mr. Mason does not represent the Epic of Gilgamesh well in his verse narrative. In fact, it is not a translation of the Epic, rather has he cooked up his own version of somebody else's translation. He did this in times when few knew much about Gilgamesh, and made many novices belive it was the Epic. I have even heard of a small country where the most prominent philosopher translated Mason's narrative into the native language. The literature professor entered it into the curriculum for early literature and everyone thought they were reading the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Mason's verse narrative is strikingly purged of place and time specific references. In his hands this complex monument of Babylonian literature has become just "an old story... that can still be told" about friendship, loss and human mortality. In Mason's popular retelling, the character Gilgamesh has been reduced to a sentimental simpleton, who cannot deal with the facts of life. Such a retelling can be recommended for children, but it is too full of anachronistic references to "thoughts" (unheard of in early texts) and other modern phenomena to deserve the attention of grown-ups. From Mr. Mason's recreation of the poem alone it would seem unlikely that the Epic of Gilgamesh had held the fascination of generations of writers and scholars, ever since it was rediscovered in the 19th century.
One former reviewer states: "If this wonderful epic were familiar to everyone in our culture, as it was to the Babylonians who made it their national epic back in the third millenium B.C., we would be the richer for having a wealth of images to sustain us as we encounter our tragedies and walk through our dark valleys." I do essentially agree, but in that case it is imperative to keep closer to the Epic itself, not to rely on an imitation. My recommendations: For those who need textual supplementary information and variant readings I recommend either of Maureen Gallery Kovacs or Andrew R. George's translations. Stephen Mitchell's New English Version should be easy to use for those who are looking for a simplified translation for a clear understanding.
Read this again and again September 16, 2007
Mason's translation of the epic can be easily read in one sitting, but it is worth savoring and pondering passages filled with beautiful imagery and timeless meaning. This is a simple story of hubris, friendship, and loss. It is a tale of accepting both the limitations and beautiful power of being human. I have read this translation yearly, and I plan to continue to do so, to remind me of the univeral pain but ultimately triumphant power of the human spirit.
Nothing needed to be said October 19, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Words fail. I love this book, this translation, especially. It's not verbose; it relies on detail to express pathos. The lack of embellishments enhances the story and characters. I'm afraid to talk about this book too much. Simply elegant, and heartbreakingly honest.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
