Publisher's Synopsis
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest documented story in the history of humankind. And after 4000 years from its inception, we can still relate to its message for its striking account on human condition, bright or bleak, which we have to deal with in our daily life: love and relationship, life and death, tyranny and ruthlessness, and soul searching. Although The Epic of Gilgamesh roots cultivated in Mesopotamia: however, its thematic message is still relevant to our daily life. The personal relationship in our daily life, the value of friendship, the lose of loved one, the pesuit of happiness, the quest for longevity, the conflict between logic and illusion, are shaping our daily life. Sam Kuraish's adaptation of The Epic of Gilgamesh is different than othe versions. He clarified and substituted some achaic words that are troubling the reader of modern poetry. He also worked some lines into simplified free verse. When appropriate, he used dialoge in his adaptation. He used a style of free verse that dosn't follow a regular patern or a steady backbeat as well as combining short and long lines as Frank Ohara and Allen Ginsburg did it with harmony. He also used initial repetition (anaphora) as walt Whitman did in (Leaves od Grass). Regardless of what it was altered, or what liberty Sam Kuraishi has taken in his composition of the epic, he coherently retained the thematic basis of the epic. This is the story that exhibits a striking meaning of life and death, of love and friendship, and of one's deeds. This is the story of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk (Erik in The Book of Genesis)--the greatest city of its time.
