For Gilgamesh initiates, it’s as good a place to start as any.
Relying chiefly on the works of early-20th-century scholars, Davis (Beowulf: The New Translation, 2013) gives an old-school treatment to one of the world’s foremost works of literature.
Believed to have originated in oral form more than 4,000 years ago, the ancient Middle Eastern tale of Gilgamesh has been subjected to all manner of translation: poetic, literary, literal, pastiche. Davis opts for the latter, combining the Sumerian and Akkadian versions and filling in the lacunae as befits his research. After a tidy introduction spotlighting the epic’s key historic figures (Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sir Austen Henry Layard and the integral George Smith), the familiar tale begins. Gilgamesh, the fifth king of the first dynasty of Uruk, challenges and then befriends the beast-man Enkidu, fashioned by the gods to counterbalance Gilgamesh’s decadent, ruthless comportment. Determined to be forever remembered, the godlike duo venture forth to challenge Humbaba, a fearsome giant who guards the Forest of Cedars. Their bloodlust doesn’t stop there, and as punishment for their hubris, the gods decide that Gilgamesh must live while Enkidu dies. Gilgamesh’s ensuing quest for immortality reads particularly well, resplendent with melancholy and desperation. “If you indeed be Gilgamesh, King of high-wall’d Uruk,” asks Siduri, Maker of Wine, “wherefore is your vigor so wasted and your cheeks so sunken? Wherefore is your face so wretched and why is your spirt so sorrowful?” While the original epic is known for its repetitive parallelism, Davis’ sometimes-rote translation challenges readers to work through certain redundant sections. Accompanying the text proper are two appendices; the first, Tablet XII, is treated as either an epilogue or “an appendage written by an inferior author and thus not worthy of inclusion.” The second, an earlier poem, recounts the death of Gilgamesh. Two scholarly essays help illuminate the historical and literary context of the epic, but as this version purports to draw from modern discoveries, the lack of contemporary references feels like a missed opportunity.
For Gilgamesh initiates, it’s as good a place to start as any.Pub Date: July 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500256463
Page Count: 138
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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