Gilgamesh (Ebook)

Stephen Mitchell

Very readable.

'A powerful translation' The Telegraph
'As narrative verse, this Gilgamesh entrances and enthrals.' Independent
'Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh is a wonderful version' Harold Bloom

Discover the foundational work of world literature - the world's oldest epic poem, vividly translated by Stephen Mitchell.

Gilgamesh is a born leader, the king of Uruk. But he is arrogant. To control Gilgamesh, the Gods create Enkidu, a wild man, his equal in strength and courage. They are destined to come to conflict - and yet together they could rid the world of evil, and Gilgamesh may finally discover the one secret the Gods have kept from humanity: the gift of eternal life.

Written in the second millennium B.C. the Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the most important surviving works of ancient literature, a thousand years older than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. A core influence on religion, culture and the heroic tradition, it is essential reading to understand the birth of ancient civilisations.

Publication date: February 27, 2014

£8.49

ISBN: 9781847653833

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B00IT03W7Q

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Fiction

Gilgamesh (Paperback)

Stephen Mitchell

Very readable.

'A powerful translation' The Telegraph
'As narrative verse, this Gilgamesh entrances and enthrals.' Independent
'Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh is a wonderful version' Harold Bloom

Discover the foundational work of world literature - the world's oldest epic poem, vividly translated by Stephen Mitchell.

Gilgamesh is a born leader, the king of Uruk. But he is arrogant. To control Gilgamesh, the Gods create Enkidu, a wild man, his equal in strength and courage. They are destined to come to conflict - and yet together they could rid the world of evil, and Gilgamesh may finally discover the one secret the Gods have kept from humanity: the gift of eternal life.

Written in the second millennium B.C. the Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the most important surviving works of ancient literature, a thousand years older than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. A core influence on religion, culture and the heroic tradition, it is essential reading to understand the birth of ancient civilisations.

Publication date: October 6, 2005

£10.99

ISBN: 9781861977984

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: Fiction

Reviews for Gilgamesh

'Very readable.'

James Fenton The Guardian

'It was a revelation. The translation is superb.'

 Harold Pinter

'As narrative verse, this Gilgamesh entrances and enthrals. Its liquid, intimate four-stressed lines negotiate the rapid shifts between everyday pleasures, heroic feats and blazing visions in this mythic world where the sensual and spiritual always intersect. Mitchell manages to slip the mesmerising incantations of the verse into his reader's bloodstream as if they flowed through some poetic intravenous drip.'

Boyd Tonkin Independent

'This is the most pellucid version of the epic yet to have been written in English, but what is most startling and admirable about it is the fact that Mitchell has not sacrificed a sense of the weird on the altar of readability.'

Tom Holland Daily Telegraph

'Mitchell produces what should become recognised as the standard text. Read it and sense all the wisdom and complexity of the original before film-makers now planning a screen version get their hands on it. Let it settle down into your imaginative depths.'

Rachel Campbell-Johnston The Times

'Reading Stephen Mitchell's marvellously clear and vivid rendering of Gilgamesh makes me feel that I am encountering this ancient poem for the first time.'

 Elaine Pagels

'Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh is a wonderful version. It is as eloquent and nuanced as his translations of Rilke. This is certainly the best that I have seen in English.'

Harold Bloom 

'Beautifully retold and a page-turner in the bargain. Like Seamus Heaney's recent retelling of Beowulf, this book proves that in the right hands, no great story ever grows stale.'

Malcolm Jones Newsweek

'Stephen Mitchell's fresh new rendition of mankind's oldest recorded myth is quite wonderful in its limpidity and the immediacy of its live emotions.'

 Peter Mathiessen

'Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh is a wonderful version. It is as eloquent and nuanced as his translations of Rilke. This is certainly the best that I have seen in English.'

 Harold Bloom

Stephen Mitchell

Stephen Mitchell

Stephen Mitchell is widely known for his original and definitive versions of spiritual writings and poetry. His many books include The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Tao Te Ching, The Gospel According to Jesus and Bhagavad Gita.