Male and Female in the Epic of Gilgamesh by Tzvi Abusch

Male and Female in the Epic of Gilgamesh by Tzvi Abusch

The deeds and struggles of Gilgamesh, legendary king of the city-state Uruk in the land of Sumer, have fascinated readers for millennia. They are preserved primarily in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the most well-known pieces of Mesopotamian literature. Studying the text draws us into an orbit that is engaging and thrilling, for it is a work of fantasy and legend that addresses some of the very existential issues with which contemporary readers still grapple. We experience the excitement of trying to penetrate the mind-set of another civilization, an ancient one—in this instance, a civilization that ultimately gave rise to our own.

The studies gathered here all demonstrate Tzvi Abusch’s approach to ancient literature: to make use of the tools of literary, structural, and critical analysis in service of exploring the personal and psychological dimensions of the narration. The author focuses especially on the encounters between males and females in the story. The essays are not only instructive for understanding the Epic of Gilgamesh, they also serve as exemplary studies of ancient literature with a view to investigating streams of commonality between ancient times and ours

“On a literary-critical level, Abusch has given us much to think about and has presented a plausible, if uncertain, reconstruction of the Epic’s long and complicated history. . I can certainly affirm Abusch’s statement that the basic conflict here “is that between the extraordinary and the normal” (p. 131). However gifted a person might be, he or she must come to terms with the constraints inherent in the human condition. But I would hold that this lesson of the Epic applies not only to a semi-divine ruler, but to any person, which helps to account for the great popularity of the tale(s) of Gilgamesh—in the ancient Near East and in the present day.”

—Gary Beckman American Oriental Society

Tzvi Abusch, Ph.D. (1972), Harvard University, is Cohen Professor Emeritus of Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Religion at Brandeis University. His primary fields of publication are Mesopotamian religion and literature. Some of his early studies on Babylonian witchcraft are found in Mesopotamian Witchcraft (Brill, 2002). He is co-author of Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-witchcraft Rituals (Brill, 2011-2020).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781575063492
ISBN 10	1575063492
Title	Male and Female in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Author	Tzvi Abusch
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Pennsylvania State University Press
Year published	2014-04-27
Number of pages	216
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.