Contemporary Approaches to Mesopotamian Literature

How to Tell a Story

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This volume lays theoretical and methodological groundwork for the analysis of Mesopotamian literature. A comprehensive first chapter by the editors explores critical contemporary issues in Sumerian and Akkadian narrative analysis, and nine case studies written by an international array of scholars test the responsiveness of Sumerian and Akkadian narratives to diverse approaches drawn from literary studies and theories of fiction. Included are intertextual and transtextual analyses, studies of narrative structure and focalization, and treatments of character and characterization. Works considered include the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic and many other Sumerian and Akkadian narratives of gods, heroes, kings, and monsters.
Copyright Year:
2024
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978-90-04-69757-7
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19 Aug 2024
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978-90-04-69756-0
Publication:
15 Aug 2024
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Front Matter
Preliminary Material
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction How to Tell a Story in Ancient Mesopotamia
Part 1 Issues, Theories, and Methods
Chapter 1 Mesopotamian Literature: Issues, Theories, and Methods of Sumerian and Akkadian Narrative Analysis
Part 2 Sumerian Narratives: Narratological Approaches
Chapter 2 Focalization and “Story Time”: Techniques of Sumerian Narrative
Chapter 3 There and Back Again: Journeying and Narrative Structure in the Sumerian Lugalbanda Epics
Part 3 Akkadian Gilgamesh Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches
Chapter 4 Gilgamesh and the Forest of Gemstones: Symbolic Value—History of Tradition—Intertextuality
Chapter 5 Journey towards Death: The Cedar Forest in the SB Gilgamesh Epic from an Intertextual Perspective
Chapter 6 Allusion or No Allusion: Commenting on the Interpretations of SB Gilgamesh Epic V 1–26 and IX 171–194
Part 4 Assyrian Royal Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches
Chapter 7 The Good, the Bad, (and the Ugly?): Propaganda and the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
Chapter 8 A Methodology for the Transtextual Analysis of Assyrian Royal Narrative Texts
Chapter 9 Making the Invisible Visible: Propaganda, Ideology, and Intertextuality in Assyrian Royal Narrative
Part 5 Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives: Novel Approaches
Chapter 10 Characterization and Identity in Mesopotamian Literature: The Gilgamesh Epic, Enuma elish, and Other Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives
Back Matter
Indexes
Dahlia Shehata, PhD University of Göttingen, completed her habilitation and is Assistant Professor at the University of Würzburg, where she teaches Sumerian, Akkadian, and Mesopotamian history. Her research explores Mesopotamian languages and culture, with particular emphasis on literature and music history.

Karen Sonik, PhD University of Pennsylvania, is Associate Professor at Auburn University. Her research explores Mesopotamian literature, with an emphasis on the Sumerian and Akkadian Gilgamesh narratives and Enuma elish, as well as the visual arts, aesthetics, and emotions in Mesopotamia.

Contributors are:
Johannes Bach, Gösta Gabriel, Stefan Jakob, Gina Konstantopoulos, Martin Lang, Anne Löhnert, Jamie Novotny, Dahlia Shehata, Karen Sonik and Selena Wisnom.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors

Introduction: How to Tell a Story in Ancient Mesopotamia
 Dahlia Shehata and Karen Sonik

Part 1 Issues, Theories, and Methods



1 Mesopotamian Literature: Theories, Methods, and Issues of Sumerian and Akkadian Narrative Analysis
 Karen Sonik and Dahlia Shehata

Part 2 Sumerian Narratives: Narratological Approaches



2 Focalization and “Story Time”: Techniques of Sumerian Narrative
 Anne Löhnert

3 There and Back Again: Journeying and Narrative Structure in the Sumerian Lugalbanda Epics
 Gina Konstantopoulos

Part 3 Akkadian Gilgamesh Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches



4 Gilgamesh and the Forest of Gemstones: Symbolic Value—History of Tradition—Intertextuality
 Martin Lang

5 Journey towards Death: The Cedar Forest in the SB Gilgamesh Epic from an Intertextual Perspective
 Selena Wisnom

6 Allusion or No Allusion: Commenting on the Interpretations of SB Gilgamesh Epic V1–26 and IX171–194
 Gösta Ingvar Gabriel

Part 4 Assyrian Royal Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches



7 The Good, the Bad, (and the Ugly?): Propaganda and the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
 Stefan Jakob

8 A Methodology for the Transtextual Analysis of Assyrian Royal Narrative Texts
 Johannes Bach

9 Making the Invisible Visible: Propaganda, Ideology, and Intertextuality in Assyrian Royal Narrative
 Jamie Novotny and Karen Sonik

Part 5 Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives: Novel Approaches



10 Characterization and Identity in Mesopotamian Literature: The Gilgamesh Epic, Enuma elish, and Other Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives
 Karen Sonik

Index
Specialists and students of the ancient Near East and adjacent fields: Classics, Egyptology, comparative literature; academic libraries; interested lay readers
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