
Gilgamesh
A New English Version
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Narrated by:
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George Guidall
In the ancient city of Uruk, the tyrannical King Gilgamesh tramples citizens "like a wild bull". The gods send an untamed man named Enkidu to control the ruthless king, but after fighting, Enkidu and Gilgamesh become great friends and embark on a series of adventures. They kill fearsome creatures before Enkidu succumbs to disease, leaving Gilgamesh despondent and alone. Eventually, Gilgamesh moves forward, and his quest becomes a soul-searching journey of self-discovery.
Mitchell's treatment of this extraordinary work is the finest yet, surpassing previous versions in its preservation of the wisdom and beauty of the original.
©2004 Stephen Mitchell (P)2004 Recorded Books LLCListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh is a wonderful version....This is certainly the best that I have seen in English." (Harold Bloom)
"Here is a flowing, unbroken version that reads as effortlessly as a novel....Vibrant, earnest, unfussibly accesible....The muscular eloquence and rousing simplicity of Mitchell's four-beat line effectively unleashes the grand vehemence of the epic's battle scenes." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Mitchell seeks language that is as swift and strong as the story itself. He conveys the evenhanded generosity of the original poet....This wonderful new version of the story of Gilgamesh shows how the story came to achieve literary immortality: not because it is a rare ancient artifact, but because reading it can make people in the here and now feel more completely alive." (Publishers Weekly)
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Impressive, Odd and Inspiring
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A fantastic tale
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Historic
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Perfection itself
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So good
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Essential Reading
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Great version
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Great story
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This version of Gilgamesh was translated by Stephen Mitchell and narrated by George Guidall, and both gentlemen did a fantastic job with this book. Gilgamesh is a Sumerian Epic Tale that predates the bible by a 1,000 years. It's a tale that follows Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and the wildman Enkidu, who was created by the Goddess Aruru, after the citizens of Uruk cry out to the Gods for the way Gilgamesh was treating them. Enkidu lives in the wild, is spotted by a shepherd, and Gilgamesh finds out about this wildman who looks like him. The two meet, battle each other, and in the end become close friends and brother's to each other. This story then continues as the two go on adventures which lead to some rewards, but also leads them to some punishments as well by the Gods.
This tale is a tale of friendship, love, self discovery, humanity's fear and struggle with death and mortality, and learning that sometimes that which we seek to escape to search for better is sometimes the thing that brings us blessings as well. This whole tale was a great read, but what I really found interesting was when Gilgamesh sails across the Great Waters and the Waters of Death and he finds Utnapishtim who tells Gilgamesh about how he became immortal after surviving the great flood, and of course this is the great flood mentioned in the bible a thousand years later. The story was just a tad different in some spots, but still it was the same story as Noah. This was a fantastic tale filled with beautiful prose and wisdom.
An excellent classic with so much meaning to it!
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Beautiful.
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