What is it about?

Sumerian and Akkadian narratives from ancient Mesopotamia are among the world's earliest literature. These works include epic tales of heroes like Gilgamesh and Lugalbanda, accounts of battles between gods and monsters, and stories of creation, as well as more prosaic works. This chapter examines current and productive future approaches to how we might read, analyze, and understand these ancient works today.

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Why is it important?

Our work lays foundations for the contemporary study of Mesopotamian literature. It examines past and present approaches to the analysis of Sumerian and Akkadian narratives, with a focus on narratology and intertextuality, as well as issues of authorship, canonization, and genre It also looks to contemporary theories of fiction and the novel to identify productive new approaches to Mesopotamia's ancient literature, with a particular interest in character studies.

Perspectives

The narratives of ancient Mesopotamia constitute a stunningly rich but challenging corpus of literature from some of the world's earliest civilizations. As these become increasingly accessible through online and print reconstructions and translations, it is critical that we develop productive methods for analyzing and interpreting these.

Karen Sonik
Auburn University

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This page is a summary of: Mesopotamian Literature: Issues, Theories, and Methods of Sumerian and Akkadian Narrative Analysis, August 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004697577_003.
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