Gilgamesh

“Looks to be the last word on this Babylonian masterpiece.”—Michael Dirda, Washington Post

“Sophus Helle’s new translation, just released by Yale University Press, [is] a thrilling, enchanting, desperate thing to read, moving from questing adventure to surging grief and the confrontation with the reality of death. . . . With a clear-eyed and informative introduction and five essays that provide context and insight into the epic, the book Helle has made feels both magic and deeply, lastingly human.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe

“In Sophus Helle’s brilliant new translation of the Gilgamesh epic, an ancient text hailed by Wai Chee Dimock as ‘speaking to our mortal loves and fears with undying force,’ readers have a timely opportunity to reconsider a masterpiece of world literature that is also a sobering portent of the Anthropocene.”—Daniel Simon, World Literature Today

“[Helle’s] translation is the most direct and literal yet, pulled directly from the cuneiform for an audience of literary scholars and general readers.”—Soren Chang, Journal of the Core Curriculum

“Sophus Helle’s Gilgamesh is woven of earthly, muscular language that breathes an epic of gutsy dreams and ancient knowhow. In Helle’s rendition, this scholar truly translates rhythm and movement until Gilgamesh breathes anew.”—Yusef Komunyakaa, author of Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth
 

“The translation is elegant and eloquent. The essays and elucidations are learned, lively, and hugely illuminating. Sophus Helle is a poet, a scholar, and, if truth be told, a genius.”—Marshall Brown, University of Washington
 

“Helle’s new translation reminds us just what a miracle it is that Gilgamesh has survived, an emblem of mortality available only in fragments, yet speaking to our mortal loves and fears with undying force.”—Wai Chee Dimock, Yale University
 

“A dazzling work of scholarship that manages complex topics with elegance and thoughtfulness.”—Louise Pryke, University of Sydney

“A fresh and vital translation, alive to the music of the original, and accompanied by essays offering crucial background and insightful analysis, Helle’s Gilgamesh will bring the ancient poem to life for new audiences.”—Alexander Beecroft, University of South Carolina