Université de Sherbrooke

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31 156008440102

DÉPARTEMENT DES LETTRES ET COMMUNICATIONS

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Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines G
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Université de Sherbrooke

MYTHOTEXTUAUTY AND THE EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGIES:

THE REUSE OF THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH IN NORTH AMERICAN TEXTS

par

CHRISTINE HOPPS ^ /f ►
MA (httérature canadienne comparée) ..

De l'Université de Sherbrooke

THESE PRESENTEE

Pour obtenir

PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR, Ph.D. (LITTÉRATURE CANADIENNE COMPARÉE)

Sherbrooke

MARS 2001

m
 Composition du jury

MYTHOTEXTUALITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGIES:

THE REUSE OF THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH IN NORTH AMERICAN TEXTS

Christine Hopps

Cette thèse a été évaluée par un jury composé des personnes suivantes:

Winfried Siemerling
(Département des lettres et communications
Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines)

Gregory Reid
(Département des lettres et communications
Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines)

Antoine Sirois
(Département des lettres et communications
Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines)

Monique Boucher
(Collège Ahuntsic et
Université de Moncton)
 Abstract

When the scribes of cincient Mesopotamla rewrote the Epie of Gilgamesh

over a period of over two thousand years, the modifications made
reflected the socicil transformations occurring during the same era. The
dethroning of the goddess Inarma-Ishtar and the dévaluation of other
female characters in the evolving Epie of Gilgamesh coincided with the
declining status of women in society. Since the 1960s, translations into
modem languages have been readily avciilable. The Mesopotamian myth
has been reused in a wide variety of mythic and mythological texts by
Québécois, Canadian and American authors. Our analysis of the first
group of mythic texts, written in the 1960s and 1970s, shows a reversai
of the tendency of the Mesopotamian texts. Written at a time when the
feminist movement was transforming North American society, these
retellings feature a goddess with her high status restored and her ancient
attributes re-established. Another group of writers, publishing in the
1980s and 1990s, makes a radiccd shift away from these feminist
tendencies while still basically rewriting the Epie. In this group of mythic
texts, the goddess and other female characters find their rôles reduced
while the mcde gods and characters have expanded cind glorified rôles.
The third group of texts analysed does not rewrite the Epie. The Epie is
reused here intertextually to give depth to mythological works set in the
twentieth century or later. The dicQogue created between the
contemporary text and the Epie emphasises the rôle that the individual
has in society. A large-scale comparative mythotextual study of texts that
share a common hypotext can, especially when socio-historical factors
are considered, provide a wlndow onto the relationship between text and
society. A comparative study of how the Epie of Gilgamesh is rewritten
cind referred to intertextually through time can help us relativize the
understcmding of our own time and culture.
 Résumé

Cette thèse est le fruit d'une étude exploratoire qui avait pour but

d'examiner comment VÉpopée de Gilgamesh a été reprise et transformée

dans la littérature québécoise, canadienne et américaine. Tout d'abord,

les termes les plus importants sont définis, puis l'épopée est résumée

brièvement. Un survol des traductions disponibles en anglciis et en

françciis qui ont servi d'hypotexte à des auteurs contemporains est

ensuite effectué et les textes du corpus sont énumérés. L'excimen de

travaux analysant l'utilisation de l'épopée dans la littérature

contemporaine nous mène à constater que le sujet a été à peine abordé.

Fincdement, le processus méthodologique est clarifié et les termes utilisés

avec plus de détails sont définis. La dernière section de l'introduction

suggère l'utilité d'une approche mythotextueUe.

Le deuxième chapitre, intitulé « Subversive Scribes », est

entièrement consacré à l'évolution de VÉpopée de Gilgamesh au Proche-

Orient tel qu'il existait anciennement. Afin de se situer, le

développement social et politique des premières villes de Mésopotamie

est d'abord examiné. La deuxième section donne des résumés de textes

mésopotamiens, dont les cinq poèmes sumériens touchant la vie de

Gilgamesh ainsi que l'Épopée de Gilgamesh. On constate que la

transformation des cinq poèmes en épopées babyloniennes et

 11

akkadiennes ne s'est pas faite sans de nombreux changements. L'une des

transformations les plus notables est que la déesse Inarma/Ishtar perd

l'importance qu'on lui avait jusqu'alors attribuée. Afin de mieux

comprendre ce qui s'est produit, des textes historiques et légaux sont

examinés dans le but d'explorer le rapport entre le déclin de la déesse et

le rôle de la femme dans la société mésopotamienne. En conclusion à ce

chapitre, quelques hypothèses suggèrent que la société s'était mise à

remplacer la déesse et le panthéon par le patriarcat et l'hénothéisme.
Les trois chapitres suivants sont consacrés à l'étude mythotextuelle

de VÉpopée de Gilgamesh dans la httérature contemporaine au Canada et

aux États-Unis. Comme l'a fait John J. White, on établit une distinction

entre les textes mythiques(re-narrations de l'épopée dans une langue

moderne)et les textes mythologiques(textes contemporains réutihsant

l'épopée dans une intrigue moderne). Le chapitre trois, « The Goddess

Rising », ainsi que le chapitre quatre, « Mythic Authority », analysent des
textes mythiques, tandis que le chapitre cinq, « Mythotextual Dialogues »,

analyse des textes mythologiques.

Dans le premier groupe de textes contemporains à l'étude, on a

constaté que la déesse Inanna-lshtar et les autres personnages féminins

étaient mis en valeur. Dans les textes écrits entre 1960 et 1970, les

auteurs réécrivent l'épopée, transforment les poèmes sumériens, et ce

faisant, redonnent à la déesse un rôle éminent. La pièce de théâtre

 111

Gilgamesh(1976)de Michel Garneau ainsi que Le chant de Gilgamesh

(1980) de Jean Marcel nous présentent une déesse dont les attributs ont

été réintégrés. De plus, Marcel présente sept autres déesses et quatre

puissants personnages féminins, ayant tous un lien avec la déesse Ishtar

ou avec l'Assemblée des dieux. Dans le roman pour enfants Gilgamesh:

Man's First Storyil967), l'Ishtar de Barbara Bryson n'a rien perdu de son
pouvoir originel. A Song For Gilgamesh(1971) de Elisabeth Jamison
Hodges, un autre conte pour enfants, se distingue des autres textes

étudiés par le fait que l'auteur n'utilise que les poèmes sumériens comme
hypotexte. La déesse Inanna est un être céleste et Gilgamesh n'est qu'un
gouverneur. Ces textes mythiques qui ont été écrits alors que le
mouvement féministe prenait de l'ampleur pourraient signifier un désir
d'explorer d'autres tendances sociales telles que le matriarcat.

Les textes analysés au chapitre quatre révèlent une autre tendance

même s'ils réutihsent les textes mésopotamiens d'une façon semblable

aux textes étudiés au chapitre précédent. Écrits dans les années 1980 et
1990, ces textes cherchent à détrôner la déesse et donnent aux

personnages masculins des rôles importants. Dans son texte de

Gilgamesh:A New Rendering in English Verse(1992), David Ferry profite
des désaccords entre assyriologues : il utilise des passages incomplets

pour insérer sa propre vision des choses. Il crée ainsi un véritable conflit
entre Ishtar et Gilgamesh, et la déesse se retrouve dépourvue de tous ses
 IV

attributs positifs. Dans son roman Gilgamesh the King(1984), Robert

Silverberg va encore plus loin du fait qu'il oublie ou nie tous les éléments
sacrés reliés à la déesse. Le père de Gilgamesh devient même un

personnage divin après sa mort. Écrite et illustrée pour de jeunes

enfants, la trilogie de Ludmilla Zeman se compose de Gilgamesh the King
(1992), Ishtar's Revenge(1993)et The Last Quest of Gilgamesh (1994).
Ishtar, maintenant réduite à un rôle similaire à celui d'Ève dans la Genèse,
est tenue coupable de la mort d'Enkidu et de la perte de la plante qui

rend immortel. Le dieu solaire, dès le début de la série, remplace

l'Assemblée des dieux à lui seul. Comme dans l'œuvre de Zeman, Jean

Marcel dans son roman Gilgamesh(1986)réduit le rôle de la déesse et du

panthéon qu'il tente de remplacer par un seul dieu. Ces textes
mythiques, qui ont été publiés après les textes examinés au chapitre
trois, semblent ignorer ou même contester les textes antérieurs, ou à tout
le moins,le mouvement féministe. Réduisant le rôle de la déesse tout en

donnant plus d'ampleur aux personnages masculins(Gilgamesh, son

père, le dieu solaire et le dieu suprême), ces textes reprennent l'évolution
documentée dans la Mésopotamie ancienne.

Au chapitre cinq, sont analysés des textes qui ne transforment pas

l'épopée mais intégrent des éléments du mythe comportant une intrigue

contemporaine. Ces textes mythologiques sont abordés d'une façon
légèrement différente de ceux étudiés dans les chapitres trois et quatre.
Après avoir établi le lien entre le mythe ancien et le texte contemporciin,

on cherche à établir l'originalité de l'auteur moderne. Un des aspects les

plus intéressants de ces textes est l'espace laissé au lecteur pour élaborer

sa propre vision. Dans l'émission télévisée « Darmok » (1991), qui fait

partie de la série Star Trek, un fragment de l'épopée est utilisé et suggère

que la mythologie peut servir de lieu commun à tous les peuples. Dans le

roman Confncf(1985)de Cari Sagan, la communication est également un

thème prisé. Le personnage de Gilgcimesh est fragmenté, créant ainsi la

possibihté d'im dialogue sur les thèmes de l'immortalité et de l'amour.

Dans The Sunlight Dialogues(1973) de John Gardner, un romcin se

déroulant durant les cinnées 1960, nous retrouvons plusieurs

personnages inspirés de l'épopée. Gardner, qui a traduit l'Épopée de

Gilgamesh avec son collègue John Maier, se sert de textes historiques,

notamment Ancient Mesopotamia de Léon Oppenheim, pour créer une

oeuvre ayant comme thème principal la liberté. Enfin, nous analysons

deux romans de Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin ofa Lion(1988)et The

English Patient(1996). Dans le premier, Ondaatje reprend plusieurs des

personnages ainsi que des scènes du mythe, démontrant sa maîtrise de la

fragmentation et de la condensation décrites par White. Comme dans le

roman de Sagan, la rencontre de deux personnages partagant le rôle de

Gilgamesh crée un heu riche et propice à la coexistence de plusieurs

points de vue. Le second roman d'Ondaatje démontre bien de son côté ce

 VI

que Brunei appelle l'irradiation du mythe. Cela veut dire que l'auteur

reprend le mythe sans donner d'indice intratextuel clair, même s'il

connaît l'épopée. On peut néanmoins identifier plusieurs éléments du

mythe. Dans les deux romans d'Ondaatje, les personnages marginaux se

retrouvent au centre de l'intrigue et d'événements historiques. Dans

l'analyse des textes mythologiques du chapitre cinq, on ne parle plus de

lutte entre les dieux et les déesses mais de quête des individus pour une

société meilleure.

Au chapitre six, l'étude mythotextuelle est examinée de plus près.

La comparcûson d'un groupe de textes partageant le même mythe comme

hypotexte permet de déceler certaines tendances. L'analyse d'une

douzaine de textes qui reprerment VÉpopée de Gilgamesh à la fin du

vingtième siècle en Amérique du Nord nous a permis de découvrir

l'évolution de certaines idéologies à travers cette étude mythotextuelle.

Est-ce que la reprise de cette épopée, perdue pendant des siècles et

retrouvée depuis seulement une centaine d'années, pourrait signifier un

besoin de dialoguer avec le passé? L'Épopée de Gilgamesh est en réalité

l'histoire de la création de la société organisée. C'est pourquoi il faudrciit

continuer notre étude en examinant comment l'Épopée de Gilgamesh est

reprise et transformée par les autres cultures.

Nous ne prétendons pas faire une étude exhaustive ni épuiser

l'interprétation des textes étudiés. Cette thèse avait pour but de mettre
 vil

en évidence le lien entre VÉpopée de Gilgamesh et des textes nord-

américains contemporains, d'explorer les variations entre les diverses

utilisations faites du mythe ainsi que de réfléchir sur les liens unissant

littérature et société. Souhaitons que cette étude serve de tremplin à

d'autres chercheurs.
 Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to ail those affillated wlth the

Dépcirtement des lettres et communications at the Université de

Sherbrooke who were part of this project. I cdso must acknowledge that a

grant from the Department proved very helpful during the final phases of

the Project. 1 am grateful to Professors Douglas G. Jones and Ronald

Sutherland for their input and encouragement early on in the

development of the thesis topic. I am indebted to Professor Antoine

Sirois for sharing his expertise. Had it not been for his course Mythe et

roman and for his introducing me to the field, none of this would have

been possible. I would also like to thank Professor Greg Reid for his

feedback and encouragement. Finally, I would like to express my

appréciation of Professor Winfried Siemerling, my thesis director, for his

guidance, his expertise and his positive attitude.

I also am grateful to a great number of friends and family members

who have assisted me in a variety of ways over the last few years: the

Soussan family, Slim Temtem, Danièle Allard, Marta Ruiz, Patricia

Godbout, Elvino Agostinho, the Hareifi family, Max Bishop and the

Ahousaht Tribe. This project would not have been completed without

their help. And fineilly, spécial thanks go ont to those closest to me,

Karim and Muriel.

 Table of Contents

I. Introduction

A. Our First Epie - 7; B. The Evolution of the Epie of Gilgamesh in

the Ancient Near East - 13; G. Common Ancestors - Translations
as Hypotexts - 15; D. Gilgamesh in North American Texts - 17; E.
The Epie of Gilgamesh in Literciry Criticism - 21; F. Where Myth
Criticism meets Political Criticism - 23; G. The Possibilities of
Mythotextuahty - 34

IL Subversive Scribes 37

A. Preparing the Soil for a Révolution - 38; B. The Mesopotamian

Texts Relating to Gilgamesh - 41; C. Decentring the Centre: The
Process of Transforming a Myth - 50; D. Why Might the Scribes
have Transformed the Epie? - 65; E. The Link Between Social
Reahty and Mythology - 68; F. The End of the Goddess Era - 71

m.The Goddess Rising 75

A. "Ishtar la Souveraine" in Michel Gameau's Gilgamesh - 81; B.

The Mciny Faces of the Goddess in Jean Marcel's Gilgamesh - 95;
C. Barbara Bryson's Bold Women and Goddesses in Gilgamesh:
Man's Eirst Story- 106; Elizabeth Jamison Hodges' Vision of
Matriarchy in A Song for Gilgamesh - 118; E. The Goddess Rebom
- What Can We Leam from Her Reappearance? - 130

FV. Mythic Authority 134

A. Making Use of Omissions cind Disagreements in Ferry's

Gilgamesh - 139; B. The One Who Speaks to Us Directly -
Silverberg's Gilgamesh the King - 151; C. Gilgamesh in the Garden
of Eden - Zeman's Trilogy for Children - 162; D. The Goddess is
 Dead; Long Live the God - Gagnon's Gilgamesh - 171; E.
Transformations of a Myth - 179

V. Mythotextual Dicilogues 186

A. Communication Through Myth in "Darmok"(Star Trek: The

Ne?(t Génération)- 191; B. "Love Ends Their Long Loneliness" in
Cari Sagan's Contact- 198; C. Gardner's The Sunlight Dialogues: A
Search for Freedom - 209; D. Choruses and Solos in Michael
Ondaatje's In the Skin ofa Lion - 221; E Communal Historiés in
Ondaatje's The English Patient- 234; F. Writing the Self into the
Story - 245

VI, The Power of Mythotextuality 250

A. A Mythotextual Approach - 252; B, Palimpsests: What Can an

Ancient Story Tell us about Ourselves? - 256; C. Mythotextuahty:
Further Directions in Research - 266; D. Enkidu's Legacy - 268

Endnotes 273

Appendix A; Map of Ancient Mesopotcimia 292

Appendix B: Date Chart for Mesopotamia 293

Appendix C: Mesopotamicin Gods, Goddesses and Places 294

Appendix D: Cuneiform Tablet 296

Bibliography 297
I Introduction

Why are the Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh and the Epie of

Gilgamesh being rewritten, or referred to intertextually, in so many modem

texts? How are humanity's oldest literary texts belng reused in

contemporary North American literature? What can the compctrison of

several texts containing mythotextual references to a spécifie myth reveal?

Ccin a comparative mythotextual study help expose and challenge

répressive myths of hegemony? Can the study of how a single myth

evolves through time help us better understand our culture and our future?

These questions are at the centre of the présent study, To answer

them, we will be taking a mythotextucil approach. In other words, we will

analyse the reuse of a spécifie myth in a chosen group of contemporary

texts. By myth, we mean a hterary myth, which is a written version of a

myth originally derived from the oral tradition. This brings us to the term

reuse, which in this case describes the action of using and transforming a

myth -- that has already been written down, rewritten, transformed and

then translated (at least once)~ in a contemporary text. For the purpose of

our study, the Mesopotamian poems and epics about Gilgamesh will be the

hypotexts, and the hypertexts are the contemporary texts that reuse the

Mesopotamian material about Gilgamesh.' In some cases we will use the

more famihar term intertext to discuss incidences where a contemporary

 2

author has reused multiple hypotexts, both ancient and modem. Our

approach wlll also lead us to explore reuse pattems, with emphasis being

on how the contemporary author has altered the ancient myth. The

contemporary works selected for the current study feature patterns that

can be described as either mythic or mythologiccd.^ The texts described as

mythic re-narrate the Epie of Gilgamesh or the poems about Gilgamesh,

whereas the mythological texts, set in the présent or the future, refer

intertextually to the Mesopotamian material(and often other texts as well).

Though we cannot deny that hterature can have an impact on society, our

study emphasises rather the mimetic aspect of hterature, and the fact that

"il subsiste une homologie entre la structure esthétique de l'œuvre en

question et la structure plus vaste de la vision du monde d'un groupe social

particuher"(Zima 10). Our study explores how a mythotextual analysis of

the reuse of a single myth in a group of texts can create a fertile dialogue

about the relationships between myth, hterature and society.

Before approaching the reuse of the Mesopotamian material in the

contemporary texts, we must first explore the évolution of the

Mesopotamian material during the reign of the Sumerians, the Babylonians,

and the Akkadians in the Ancient Near East.' The relationship between the

transformation of the Gilgamesh material and the évolution of

Mesopotamian society wih be surveyed before proceeding to the main part

of our study." We will see how the évolution of the Sumerian poems about
 3

Gilgamesh into the Babylonian and Akkadian versions of the Epie of

Gilgamesh reveal a society undergoing a massive transformation. In Myth:

Its Meaning and Functions, G. S. Kirk writes:

In spite of a strongly conservative streak in Mesopotamian

culture, and the ability of its highly organized literate

tradition to preserve certciin versions unchanged for a

thousand years or more, many of the myths vary in the

attitudes they reflect and the purposes they seem to fulfill.

(Kirk 86)

Like ail myths, these Mesopotamian texts attempt to tell a story that

explains beginnings, that explains how things have come to be the way they

are. A comparison of the Sumerian poems and the epics about Gilgamesh

show a society that is coming to tenus with a major socio-pohtical shift.

While the majority of peoples are still hunters and gatherers, agriculture

has stcirted to transform society. With Icirge quantities of food available on

demand in the région, settled hfe has lead to the birth of cities and the rise

of kings. This shift in society and the changes in the mythology are

concurrent:

The next major change observable in création myths occurs

contemporaneously with the rise of archaic states under

strong kings. Sometime beginning in the third millennium

 4

BC the figure of the Mother-Goddess is replaced from the

head of the panthéon of gods...[who] cornes to resemble an

ecirthly klng of the new kind. (Lemer 152)^

Where the Sumerlan poems about Gilgcimesh reveal the suprême rôle of

the goddess Incinna, the later Epies, which are loosely based on four or five

of the Sumerian poems, diminish and transform the rôle of the goddess

Ishtar significantly.® A single maie god replaces the Mother-Goddess, who

had symbohcally provided for many of humanity's needs. In hght of the

changes occurring in Mesopotamian society, Gilgamesh's défiance of the

goddess Ishtar in the Epie of Gilgamesh seems inévitable:

In the days when the invaders conquered Ishtar's cities,

Gilgamish^ prepared to take part in the rites of the sacred

marriage, thus to gain the divine right to shepherdship, that

was bestowed by Ishtcu*.... But Gilgamish sought

immortality, permanence upon the earthly throne. Thus the

legend formed, the story of the changing of the rites, telling

ail that when the mighty Ishtar proposed ... Gilgamish

feared that his death might be included in the bargain

Gilgamish, with his warrior army behind him, defied the ways

of those that worshipped Ishtar ...(Stone, Ancient IIO)

 5

Acting together with Enkidu, the wild man from the steppes who had

previously challenged Gilgamesh's tyrannical rôle, Gilgamesh does not

stop there. With his compcinlon, he also defies the Assembly of the Gods.

Though Gilgamesh's quest for personai, physical immortedity fcdls, it is

clear that the Epie of Gilgamesh is a subversive story.

This subversive element is likely the reason why so many

contemporary writers have been drawn to reusing the Epie. At trnies of

political and social transformations, the appe£d of the Mesopotamian

material is significant. In her study on Gide, Genova suggests that, "Les

manipulations de l'auteur aux niveaux du sens et de la forme du mythe

originel servent à insérer une histoire personnelle dans la mythologie"

(Genova x). Contemporary authors adapt the story - their own experience

and ideology becomes part of the new story. We will analyse how the

contemporcuy North AmericcUi texts that reuse the poems about

Gilgamesh cind the Epie of Gilgamesh integrate the Mesopotamian

material. The first category involves texts that have a mythic reuse

pattem. We will study the contemporary retellings, focusing on the

variations, especially those related to the rôle of the goddess and other

female characters. The first subcategory of texts we will examine,

discussed in the chapter "The Goddess Rising," tries to reinstate some of

the goddess'lost status and power. In the second subcategory of texts,

grouped together in the chapter "Mythic Authority," we will analyse how

 6

the Mesopotamian matericd is reused and manipulated in a way that

emphasises the goddess' négative attributes and dimlnishes her rôle. We

wlll £ilso be examlning how the maie characters in these texts have

expanded rôles. The authors discussed in both of these groups rewrite

the ancient story, adjusting the Mesopotamian material to fit their own

vision. Their stories are set in the distant past, and they do not alter the

setting or the names of the characters. We will also look at these subtle

altérations within a larger socio-historical context, with the goal of

showing that the reuse strategy is not isolated from social and historical

trends. The third and last group of contemporary texts we will delve into,

covered in the chapter "Mythotextual Dialogues," are not attempts at

rewriting the ancient story at ail. Set in the présent or the future, these

mythological texts integrate part of the Mesopotamian material into a

larger context. The Epie of Gilgamesh, often but one of many texts

referred to intertextually, often provides a structurcd element. Though

the same issues are often addressed, these texts do not provide simple

answers, but guide the reader to participate in a dicQogue.

It is hoped that the study of how a single myth is reused in a variety

of contemporary texts should test assumptions about our own

civilisation, a society whose very foundations were built on the shifting

ground of the Fertile Crescent over five thousand years ago. A study of

the reuse of myths,in ancient and the modem societies, can reveal the
 7

relationship between texts, power, and society. In his book The Political

Unconscious: Narrative as a socially symbolic act, Fredrick Jameson writes

that "effective libération ... begins wlth the récognition that there is

nothing that is not social and historiccil - indeed, that everything is "in the

last analysis" political Oameson 20). We expect that a close look at how

certain symbols evolve and how contemporary authors manipulate them

will lead to a better understanding of the potenticd of a mythocritical

study in providing insights into our own culture and our future.

Symbols bave both psychological and poUtical effects, because

they create the inner conditions(deep-seated attitudes and

feelings) that lead people to feel comfortable with or to accept

social and political arrangements that correspond to the

symbolic system. (Christ 274)

Our First Epie

Unlike the Odyssey and the lliad, which have provided inspiration to

générations of writers, the Epie of Gilgamesh had been buried in the sands

of time for over two thouscind years and was unearthed just over a

century ago.® Austin H. Layard, George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam, who

had first discovered fragments of the Epie in the temple library and palace

ruins in Nineveh, presented their findings to the British Society of Bibhcal

 8

Archaeology in 1872. Archaeologists have since found much more than a

few fragments; however, due to the fragile nature of the clay tablets, net a

single version of the ancient epic is complété. The foUowing table, based

on Jeffrey H. Tigay's The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic, provides us with

a quick overview of the évolution of the Mesopotamian Epic:

2000-1620 BC 1800-1700 BC 1700-1600 BC 1300-1200 BC

Siunerian Poems Babylonian CreatMty Consobdation of Akkadian Epic (also

About Gilgamesh Babylonian Texts described as the canonlcal,
standard or Ninivite version)

The first texts that mention Gilgamesh consist of a group of six

poorly preserved and incomplète Sumerian poems from about 2000 B.C.

S. N. Kramer provides translations for most of the poems about Gilgamesh

in Ancient Near Eastem Texts(edited by James B. Pritchard). By about

1700 B. G.(Old and Middle Babylonian period), a consoUdated version,

integrating some of the Sumerian material and early Akkadicm matericil

was written.® The later Babylonian and Akkadian versions of the Epic of

Gilgamesh were no doubt well known throughout the Ancient Near East, as

versions have been found in a multitude of ancient Icinguages. Kovacs

writes in her article, "The Epies of Gilgamesh," that the early scribes "used

existing written material and motifs landl recast and reformulated them

freely, as their own imaginations and forms of self-expression dictated"

 9

(Kovacs 65). The most complété version of the ancient Epie is the Ninivite

version signed by Sin-leqe-unninni, also known as the standcird or

canonized version.^" The Epie, whieh relates the story of a legendary king

and his deeds, is very eomplex. The following summary, based on

Speiser's translation of fragments from multiple versions, provides but a

brief outline of the mciin points of the Epie."

Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is a tyrant who leaves his people

exhausted with his exeesses: building projeets, sporting events and sexual

exploits. Having had enough, his people appeal to the gods to send

another man, as strong as Gilgcunesh, to challenge him. The goddess

Aruru créâtes Enkidu, a wild man. After having had his catch set free by

Enkidu, a frustrated hunter goes to Uruk to ask the king for a solution.

Gilgamesh sends the hunter back with one of Ishtar's temple women."

She initiâtes Enkidu and then, with the help of shepherds, teaches him the

ways of civilised men. Enkidu, upon hearing about the king's behaviour,

travels to Uruk and confronts Gilgamesh. After a tiring wrestling match

without Victor, the two equally matched men hug and become like

brothers. Gilgamesh's mother Ninsun, who had foreseen Enkidu's coming

when she had interpreted Gilgamesh's drecims, soon adopts him:

Mighty Enkidu, thou not my womb's issue,

I herewith have adopted thee

 10

With the devotees of Gilgamesh,

The priestesses, tlie votaries, and the cuit women! (Speiser 81)

After Uttle tlme together, the companlons grow restless, and against the

wlll of the city elders, the two plan a trip to the Cedcir Forest. Once there,

they meet Huwawa, guardian of Ishtcir's forest, who says to Gilgamesh,

"Let me go Gilgamesh; thou [wilt be] my [master], And I shall be thy

servant"(Speiser 83)." Gilgamesh hesitates, Enkidu urges him to kill the

guardian. Unwhling to Wciit any longer, Enkidu then kills Huwawa himself.

Upon their retum, Ishtar proposes to Gilgamesh. She offers him wealth

and respect, prosperity for his people in exchange for his companionship.

He rejects her offer and insults her:

For Tammuz,the lover of thy youth,

Thou hast ordained waihng year after year.

Having loved the dappled shepherd-bird,

Thou smotest him, breeiking his wing ...

If thou shouldst love me, thou wouldst[treat me]like [the

previous lovers]. (Speiser 84)"

Ishtar sohcits the aid of her father, Anu. She threatens her father, when

he hesitates to provide her with the Bull of Heaven she has requested,

with the letting loose of the dead. He sends the Bull of Heaven, to serve

as Ishtar's punishment of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. When Gilgamesh and

 11

Enkldu kill the celestial créature, the gods are agaln enraged by their

hubris. As a punishment, they decree that one of the two must die.

Enkldu becomes 111 and though every effort Is made to save him, he dles.

The giievlng Gllgamesh cannot accept that his companion has dled, nor

can he accept that he toc wlll die eventually. He then goes on a quest for

Immortallty. Hls fantastlc journey takes hlm through the "mountaln range

of Mashu, which daUy keeps watch over the sunrlse and sunset"(Spelser

88), and through a tunnel twelve leagues long that leads hlm to the

Gcirden of the Gods. Here he meets Slduii who tells him that hls quest Is

hopeless - that the gods reserved Immortallty for themselves. She shares

her wlsdom wlth the tlred and bereaved klng:

When the gods created manklnd,

Death for manklnd they set aslde,

Llfe In thelr own hands retalning.

Thou Gllgamesh, let full be thy belly,

Make thou merry by day and by night.

Of each day make thou a feast of rejolclng,

Day and night dance thou and play!

Let thy garments be sparkllng fresh,

Thy head by washed; bathe thou In water.

Pay heed to the httle one that holds on to thy hand.

 12

Let thy spouse delight in thy bosom!

For this is the task of mankind! (Speiser 90)'^

Paylng little attention to her wisdom, he continues, still seeking ont

Utnapishtim, who was made immortal after saving humankind from the

great Flood. With the help of a ferryman, Urshanabi, he crosses the Waters

of Death and meets the immortalized Utnapishtim and his wife. While

being recounted the story of the Flood, the weary Gilgamesh falls asleep2®

After seven days of sleep, he awakens, cind still insists on achieving

immortahty. Utnapishtim tells him that it is not possible; after ail, he

could not even stay awake! However, after his wife insists that he give

GUgamesh something, he tells the hero about a plant that keeps men

young. Gilgamesh, rested, washed and well fed, leaves the island with the

ferryman. He finds the secret plant and décidés to bring it back to Uruk

with him. But while Gilgamesh takes a rest during his long retum voyage,

a snake, attracted by the sweet odour of the flower, steals and eats the

secret plant - and immediately sheds its old skin for a new one.

Gilgamesh, empty handed, returns to Uruk with the ferryman. Upon

cirrival, he asks his travelling companion to inspect the greatness of his

city, just as the narrator asks the reader to do in the opening lines of the

Epie. The Epie ends at the same point it begins;

 13

It is futile, he seems to argue, to be content wlth more than

earthly accomplishments. When this notion is alluded to

again [at the end of the Epie...] one cannot admire the

poets' clevemess in choosing a resigned Gilgamesh to utter

[the last few words of the Epie.] (Sasson 269)

The ending has been deseribed as unsatisfying by some erities, as

ambiguous by others. This is beeause though Gilgamesh defies the gods

and fails to gain immortality, at the end of his last quest the unsueeessful

hero is nonetheless transformed by his experienee. There are indications

in many translations, not to mention historieal documents, that Gilgamesh

accepts his fate and his rôle vis-à-vis the goddess Inanna/Ishtar after his

retum to Uruk.

The Evolution of the Epie of Gilgamesh in the Andent Near East

Le mythe est le lieu où l'objet

se crée à partir d'une question

et de sa réponse. Qolles 91)

Considérable research, by a number of scholars, has been done

relating to the historieal significance of the Epie and the study of its

évolution from a set of Sumerian poems to a complex epic. The second

 14

chapter of the current study,"Subversive Scribes," vsâll summarise how

cind why the early authors of the Epie transformed earlier material by

surveying the important work done by a number of Assyriologists,

historians and trcinslators. The most comprehensive study of the

transformation of the Epie in aneient times is Tigay's The Evolution ofthe

Gilgamesh Epie. His over 300-page long study foeuses on the différences

between the Old Babylonian version and the Late Babylonian version. Of

partieular interest to this study are the sections "The Dérivation of the Old

Babylonian Narratives From Their Sumerian Forerunners" and "The

Introduction and Framework of the Late Version," which discusses the

addition of the Prologue and its effect. Silva Castillo's brief article

"Gilgamesh en las tradiciones sumerias y en la tradiciôn acadia" covers the

essential différences between the Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh and

the later Akkadian Epie. The hope is that by providing an overview of how

the Epie was transformed and for what reasons it might have been altered

will give us insights into the significance of changes made when

contemporary authors retell the aneient myth, or reuse part of it in their

own work. Quite a number of works discuss how the rôle of the goddess

Inanna/Ishtar was altered and how her powers diminished when the

Sumerian poems evolved into the Babylonian and Akkadian epics, and

again when they were rewritten into the standard Epie. In chapter II, we

will survey articles by Tom Absher, John A. Bailey, Berit Thorbjomsrud

 15

and Gary D. Miller wlth P. Wheeler in an attempt to better understand the

complex and ambiguous rôle the goddess Inanna/Ishtar played in Ancient

Mesopotamia. Some of the articles, particularly those by Sasson and

Thorbjomsrud, specifically discuss the évolution of the Epie in relation to

concurrent socio-political chcinges. Sasson's "Some Literary Motifs in the

Composition of the Gilgamesh Epie" attempts to answer why the scribes

probably rewrote the Epie the way they did. By surveying the évolution of

the Mesopotamian material, we hope to gain insight into the types of

changes made, and also, to point out the relationship between the

évolution of the Epie and transformations experienced in Mesopotamian

Society during the same period.

Coimnon Ancestors - Translations as Hypotexts

In his introduction to "L'Épopée de Gilgamesh," René Labat

emphasises that the Epie

N'y fut d'ailleurs pas le produit d'un milieu particulier, d'une

époque donnée, ni même d'un seul peuple. Issue de la

mythologie sumérienne, elle s'épanouit, pendant plus d'un

millénaire, en Assyrie comme en Babylonie, et elle déborda

largement leurs frontières, puisqu'eUe fut connue, copiée, ou

 16

traduite depuis la Palestine jusqu'au cœur de l'Anatolie, à la

cour des rois hittites,(Labat 145)

Written in cuneiform on fragile clay tablets, tbe Epie more or less

disappeared from circulation about two tbousand years ago. As not a

single complété version of tbe Epie bas been found, translators bave bad

to adapt. Wbile some scbolars bave publisbed trcmslations of fragments

from a single version, otbers bave combined more tban one version to

offer a more complété story.

A multitude of translations, in a number of modem languages, bas

been publisbed of tbe Sumerian poems about Gilgamesb and tbe différent

versions of tbe Epie of Gilgamesh. Early translations pubbsbed by Morris

Jasrow (1898), Campbell Tbompson(1928, 1930)and Alexander Heidel

(1946)were, for tbe most part, of interest mostly to bistorians and Bibbcal

scbolars. Tbe translation of tbe Sumerian poems by S. N. Kramer and of

tbe Old Babylonian-Akkadicm Epie by E. A. Speiser, botb found in

Pritcbard's Ancient Near East Texts Relating to the Old Testament{1969),

bave provided inspiration to a small number of contemporary writers. Tbe

work of botb Kramer cmd Speiser bas also been essential to tbe work of

later translators. René Labat's translation of tbe Akkadian version,

Gilgamesh (1970), N. K. Sandars' blending of numerous translations, The

Epie of Gilgamesh (1972), and John Gardner and John Maier's translation of
 17

the standard version, Gilgamesh: Translated from the Sin-leqi-inninni

version(1985), have been clted as a hypotext(source) by severcd

contemporary authors featured in our study. Later translations of the

Epie, such as Maureen Kovacs'(1985) and Jean Bottéro's(1993)

translations of the standard, canonized version have not been frequently

used as hypotexts as they were published after most of the texts in our

study were written. Many of the authors of the contemporary texts have

reused parts of several différent translations, as well as other texts, during

the creative process.

Gilgamesh in North American Texts

It is not imtil the late 1960s and the 1970s that a notable number of

Canadian and American authors rewrite or refer intertextually to the

EpicJ® This corpus includes plays, poetry, novels, children's Uterature,

films, and an épisode from a télévision sériés. We have hmited our study
to texts from these two countries, written or produced in English and

French, written after 1965. Far from being an exhaustive study, our work

does not include numerous texts for a variety of reasons. For example, we
have not included texts that appear to have used the Epie as a hypotext,
but do not contain a clear example of préfiguration, such as Robert

Kroetsch's novel The Words ofMy Roaring. Furthermore, we have not

 18

included texts that refer to the Mesopotamian material in only a minor

way, such as John Kula's prose poem The Epie ofGilgamesh as

Commissioned by Morgan, Maggle Shayne's romance novel Twilight

Illusions and Nancy Bogen's verse narrative Bagatell - Genevere. Despite

the irradiation of the Mesopotamian material via the novels that were later

made into screenplays and adapted into film versions, the films Contact

and The English Patient will not be discussed (except in note form)as there

are too few correspondences left between the original hypotext and the

film adaptations. Other texts have not been studied for practical reasons -

such as David Anderson's play as it is unpublished. The texts that have

been retained have three points in common. Firstly, there is no difficulty

establishing the Mesopotamian material as a hypotext as each text has at

least one clear example of préfiguration. Second, in each case the

hypotext is rewritten, or referred to throughout a significant portion of the

text. Lastly, and most importcmtly, the texts chosen for our study have a

reuse pattem that can be described as either mythic or mythological. For

these reasons, the material will not be organized by genre, language or by

provenance, but by what effect the reuse strategy employed by a

contemporary author can have on a reader's interprétation of the text.

The first chapter to analyse the contemporary texts,"The Goddess

Rising"(chapter III), will focus on texts rewriting the Epie that are set in

ancient Mesopotamia. These mythic texts do not continue the process of

 19

relegating ail that is female towards the margins, a process that is

chronicled in chapter II. Instead, we wlll see how the female figures from

Sumericin poems, that are later reduced or robbed of their positive status

in the Babylonian and Akkadian Epies, see their power reinstated in these

contemporary texts. The goddess Inanna/Ishtar, for example, is portrayed

in ail her duality. Though her rôle remains somewhat ambiguous - she is

after ail the goddess of love and war - in these texts neither her authority

nor her féminine side cire undermined. To help us better understand the

significance of the transformations of the goddess in the texts covered in

this chapter, we will bring the research of several feminist writers into the

discussion. Mary Beth Edelson, Carol P. Christ, Gerda Lerner, Rosemary

Ruether, Merlin Stone, Judith Hoch-Smith and Anita Spring will provide

valuable insights geiined by feminist research on the représentation of

women.'® Covered in this chapter are Michel Gameau's Gilgamesh: théâtre

(1976), Jean Marcel's Le Chant de Gilgamesh (1980), Bernarda Bryson's

Gilgamesh: Man's First Story{l9Q7) and Elizabeth Jamison Hodges' A Song

for Gilgamesh (1971). Interestingly, these texts were written during a

period when the feminist movement was a powerful force in both Canada

and the United States of America.

The next chapter,"Mythic Authority," shows how some

contemporary authors use various devices to reinforce patriarchal values

while rewriting the Epie of Gilgamesh. Agciin, we will focus specifically on

 20

how the rôle of the goddess and other female characters are altered in

these mythlc texts. Thls is often achieved not only through réduction of

the rôles played by females, but also tbrougb tbe valorization of maie

figures(of botb men and gods). More striking in many of tbese texts is a

négative portrayal of female figures, a strategy tbat was also employed

wben tbe Epie evolved in tbe Ancient Near East.^" To be covered in tbis

cbapter are David Ferry's Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse

(1992), Alain Gagnon's novel Gilgamesh(1986), Robert Silverberg's novel

Gilgamesh the King(1984), and Ludmilla Zeman's trilogy for cbildren,

Gilgamesh the King(1992), The Revenge ofIshtar(1993)and The Last

Quest of Gilgamesh (1994). We will discover bow tbese texts, written after

tbose covered in "Tbe Goddess Rising," are very différent in terms of bow

tbe goddess(es)cmd otber female characters are treated.

In tbe fiftb cbapter,"Mytbotextual Dialogues," we will take a

somewbat différent approacb as tbe texts discussed bere are not set in

ancient Mesopotamia, nor are tbey reteUings of tbe Epie. Set in tbis

century, tbese mytbological works nonetbeless contain numerous

intertextucd references to tbe Epie, as well as otber texts. Tbe intertextual

ecboes from tbe past create a playful dicdogue tbat disrupts and enricbes

tbe reading process. Tbe texts covered in tbis section are: Joe Menosky's
"Darmok"(1991)an épisode from tbe télévision sériés Star Trek, John

Gardner's The Sunlight Dialogues(1973), Cari Sagan's Contact(1997), and

 21

Michael Ondaatje's novels In the Skin ofa Lion(1988)and its sequel The

English Patient(1992). As this last set of texts is clearly différent from

those we cover in the two prior chapters, the task of estabhshing the Epie

as a hypotexts is more compiex. Once the link is estabUshed, we will be

free to explore some of the possibilities of reusing myth in texts set in the

présent or the future.

This corpus of North American texts, which includes a number of

genres, written in two différent languages, also créâtes a space for a

dialogue between the modem texts. The fact that they also share a

common hypotext will allow us to see the significance of the variations

made by the contemporary authors.

The Epie of Gilgamesh in Literary Criticism

"The real meaning of myth is

revealed, not by its origin . . .

but by its later career, as it

becomes recreated by poets."

(Northrop Frye, "literature" 38)

The influence of the Epie on a number of ancient texts, from the Old

Testament to Homeric epics, has been studied by a handful of scholars. A

 22

number of books and articles, Including Heidel's The Gilgamesh Epie and

Old Testament Parallels, Dalley's "Gilgamesh in the Arabian Nights"and

Wilson's "The Gilgamesh Epie and the Iliad," have provided interesting

insights on how others have approached the reuse of the Epie of Gilgamesh

in a single text. A handful of critics, however, has looked specifically at

the reuse of the Epie of Gilgamesh in literature that is more recent. T.

Slaughter's "Thomas Wolfe and The Epie of Gilgamesh" documents one of

the first instances of the reuse of the Epie in North American hterature.

John J. White briefly mentions the Epic's minor rôle in two German novels

in his book Mythology in the Modem Novel. Maricinne Bosshard, in her

article "Chantai Chawaf: Le mythème de la femme comme initiatrice à la

spiritualisation de la chair" discusses the reworking of the rôle of the

sacred prostitute from the Epie of Gilgamesh and of Eve from "Genesis" in

the work of Chantcd Chawaf. There are two articles and a book chapter

that are of great interest to the présent study as they discuss the Epie in
relation to Ondaatje's In the Skin ofa Lion: Gordon Gamlin's "Michael

Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion and the Oral Narrative," Michael

Greenstein's "Ondaatje's Métamorphosés: In the Skin ofa Lion," and

Winfried Siemerling's chapter, "'Scared by the Company of the Mirror':

Temptations of Identity and Umits of Control in the Work of Michael

Ondaatje," in Diseoveries of the Other. Though research has been done on

how individual authors have used the Epie of Gilgamesh as a hypotext.

 23

researchers have not yet attempted to compare the différent ways the Epie

has been used in a body of literature.

Where Myth Criticism meets Political Criticism

L'intertextualité consiste ... en un double mouvement

d'intégration et de métamorphose ... elle enchâsse le texte

primitif dcins un contexte nouveau dans le dessein d'en

modifier le sens. (Ellel se définit par un travail

d'appropriation et de réécriture qui s'apphque à recréer le

sens, en invitcint à une lecture nouvelle.(Eigeldinger 11)

Mythocritical studies by other critics provide interesting insight into

how to approach the reuse of a myth in a later text; however, most seem

satisfied to simply establish and then define the llnk between the two

texts. Some critics, such as Northrop Frye, are much more interested in

archetypal myth criticism. Others, such as Gilbert Durand, practice

mythanalysis,"une méthode d'analyse scientifique des mythes afin d'en

tirer non seulement le sens psychologique mais le sens sociologique"

(Durand, Figures 313). Though we are interested in the relationship

between hterature and myth, our mythotextual approach begins by

comparing textual variations. We have not set out to do a sociological

study, as does Durand; however, we readily admit that our study such also
 24

reveals links between literature and society. When we look at the

contemporary texts that reuse the Mesopotamian material, a number of

questions surface. Which translation(s) served as the contemporary

author's hypotext(s)? Is thls choice signlficant? How does the author

reuse the cincient Epie? What is omitted, added or altered? What does this

reveal? What happens when a modem reader is forced to acknowledge the

intertextual play between the ancient and the modem text? Or between

différent versions of modem retellings? Can this be a means of

questioning values that usually appear natural or unlversal? Can the

trends found in hterature find their counterparts in society? We will see

how the contemporary texts offer much more than a variation on a theme.

Though very helpful in answering the first few questions, traditional myth

criticism often does not engage the last few. A more complex approach to

myth criticism should help us not only to see links between the past and

the présent, between literature and society, but also to foster socio-

political awareness.

A number of scholars have emphasised the responsibility of the

intellectual in society. Among these, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault,

and Roland Barthes stand out. In their view, the intellectual should expose

the means by which individuals are oppressed and,just as importantly,

provide them wlth a means of finding their own tmths. In his Literary

Theory:An Introduction, Terry Eagleton asserts that an approach to

 25

literature should be "stratégie ... asking first not what the object is or

how we should approach it, but why we should want to engage with it in
the first place"(Eagleton 210). The contemporary texts that reuse the
Epie, despite sharing a eommon set of hypotexts, integrate it in différent
ways with widely varying results. One of the most striking différences
between the texts is the représentation of the goddess and other female

characters. As the Epie of Gilgamesh is itself a reconstructed text that was

written against the matriarehal centre, a close look at how the

contemporary authors deal with the représentations of the female could
prove revealing. PohticcJ criticism, with its goal of revealing the origins of
power and with its reliance on a number of théories and approaches, will
then be the method best suited to defending one of my main theses,

namely that the reuse of myth is about power. The goal of the

mythotextual reading we shall undertake is to reveal that certain ideeds,

that are often taken as universal, have not always existed and are ever-

evolving, even in the présent.

In the process of art, a theme, often a mythic theme,is taken

out of the dark and placed in a context that jibes with the

world as it is seen and understood by both artist and

audience. The theme is tested as a scientific hypothesis is

tested: by confronting it with reahty. Qaneway 31)

 26

What brought the contemporary texts that reuse the Epie of

Gilgamesh together for the présent study is that they are in a relationship

with a much older text, or more accurately, set of texts. The first goal of

the présent study is to détermine the source(s) and explore the variations.

The terminology of John J. White, E. W. Herd, Pierre Brunei and Gérard

Genette, though their théories attempt to avoid any political or ideologiccd

interprétation, is very useful. It can assist in the establishment of

préfiguration, the type of reuse, cind the discussion on the techniques used
by contemporary authors reusing the Epie of Gilgamesh in their texts.

Most studies of myth and literature focus on an analysis of sources and

simply cite outside sources or textual references to prove that the myth(s)

in question indeed are referred to intertextually in the more recent text. In

fact, much of the work done under the title of myth criticism has focused

not so much on the presence of a spécifie myth in a text, but on the

presence of an archetypal pattem. For example what Frye, like many of

his emulators, was trying to do was "a kind of Uterary archaeology"(Fables

ofIdentity 12). Both Herd and White, whose approaches mostly

compliment each other, stand opposed to the général tendencies of this

'schooL' In his article,"Myth Criticism: Umitations and Possibilities," Herd

is critical of the myth criticism typical of his time where often "the

emphasis has been on the origin or on the identity of the myth, and not on
its function as a structurcd element in a work of literature"(Herd 70). At
 27

the very beginning of White's cirtide "Myths and Patterns in the Modem

Novel," he writes "slnce 'myth' can have so many meanlngs, I would start

by pointing eut that, in this context, it refers to ancient myths cind net

archetypal patterns"(White 42). Likewise, this study will look at a spécifie

literary myth, the Epie of Gilgamesh, and not the circhetypal patterns found

throughout, such as the hero's joumey. Throughout our study, we will use

Genette's terms hypotext and hypertext. The ancient text that has been

referred to intertextually, the Epie of Gilgamesh in this case, is the

hypotext whereas the contemporary text that has transformed the

hypotext is the hypertext. In his book, Mythology and the Modem Novel

White sets out to

Consider the main problems of interprétation raised by the

use of myths in fiction, and to examine in détail varions

patterns of correspondences that contemporary novehsts

have chosen to estabhsh between their subjects and classical

préfigurations. (White ix)

White's approach consists of seeking out clear examples of préfiguration,

either vsithin or outside the text's main body. Similcir to Bmnel's concept

of emergence, préfiguration consists of recognizable mythic éléments

within the contemporary text. This might include exphcit references to a

spécifie myth, such as a récurrence of the same title, or less obvions

 28

relationships, such as those revealed by character types or plot sequences.

Whlte's goal is to establish whether the novel Is classified as either mythlc

(re-narratlon of a classiccd myth or juxtaposition of a myth and a

contemporary story) or mythologiccd (story set in modem world wlth

references to myth in a section of or throughout the text). Next, the type

of pattem being utilised - either unilinear (mythical setting or modem

setting where the contemporary text is superimposed onto the myth)or

deformed (condensation,fusion,fragmentation - of chciracter types or of

plot elements)- is elucidated. Again, this is very similar to Bmnel, who

uses the term flejâbilité to discuss how the author has altered the myth by

making omissions, additions or changes. Brunei employs another term,

irradiation, to express incidences where there is no clear préfiguration, but

where a myth is nonetheless présent, subtextucdly. In some cases, the

author might have exphcitly reused a myth in a previous work.

Unfortunately, though his study offers terminology and catégories for

discussing the reuse of myth in contemporary hterature, it does not

attempt to answer why such transformations might have been undertaken.

Genette's Seuils and Palimpsestes offer an excellent, not to mention

thorough, approach to what he calls paratextuahty(which is similar to

what White calls préfiguration). Genette's term, which encompasses more

than White's, also, involves the study of the auxiliary texts accompanying

or surrounding the main body of the text. In both cases, the point is to
 29

establish that the modem text is indeed in communication wlth a spécifie

and Identifiable myth. On thls subject, Genette writes:

J'aborderai donc Ici, sauf exception, l'hypertextuallté par son

versant le plus ensoleillé: celui où la dérivation de l'hypotexte

à l'hypertexte est à la fols massive et décleirée, d'une manière

plus ou moins officielle. (Genette, Palimpsestes 19)

In hls article "Myths and Patterns In the Modem Novel" Whlte adds,"If the

reader Is to be encouraged to speculate about thls relatlonship or pattem

of correspondences between preflgmatlon and novel, he must be Informed

of the analogy qulte early on In the novel"(Whlte 46). Thls Is partlcularly

relevant In chapter flve, where we look at texts that do not retell the Epie.

But that Is only a beglnnlng - next we must analyse how the text Is belng

reused. To study just how each contemporary author Imitâtes, transforms

or Intégrâtes the Mesopotamlan material Into hls/her text, Genette's

approach to hypertextuallty Is qulte useful. Wlthln transformatlonal

hypertextual practlces, he Includes translation, versification, proslflcatlon,

transtylatlon, condensation, and excision. Imltatlve hypertextual practlces,

such as pastiche and forgery, are uncommon In the texts under study. A

close readlng of each text can provide Information such as what was kept,

what was left out and what was changed. Once thls has been

accompllshed, the reader can then broach the most Interestlng questions -
 30

why did the author reuse the Epie the way he/she did and what effect

might this have on the meaning generated by the reader.

Though White, Herd, Brunei and Genette's terminology for

discussing relatlonships between hypotexts and hypertexts remains

important, cind their catégories for establishing the types of reuse is

essential, their methods give httle insight into why the source myth might

have been reused the way it is. Next, comes the most important aspect of

the study - an attempt to uncover to what ends the Epie is being

transformed by the contemporary authors.

According to Claude Lévi-Strauss, it is not the divine speaking

through the myth that makes it powerful; its power résides in the readtng

of the myth:

Les mythes n'ont pas d'auteurs; dès l'instant qu'ils sont perçus

comme mythes, et quelle qu'ait été leur origine réelle, ils

n'existent qu'incarnés dans une tradition. Quand un mythe est

raconté, des auditeurs individuels reçoivent un message qui ne

vient... de nulle part.(Lévi-Strauss, Mythologies 126).

Though this may contribute to the authoritarian nature of contemporary

texts that reuse myths, it is the reader (or listener) who brings a personal

and cultural context to the interprétation of the myth. In light of the

 31

récognition of the reader's rôle in the making of mecining, what are some

of the likely openings encouraged by the textual stratégies employed?

In her article "Literary Borrowing ... and Steciling: Plagiarism,

Sources, Influences, and Intertexts," Linda Hutcheon points out that

throughout the history of Western literature authors have reused texts

from the past. Just as the Romantics, with their emphasis on the author's

originahty, paid little heed to the influence of one author on another, later

critics, uncomfortable with the author-centred approaches shifted the

emphasis away from the author and towards the text itself. Coined by

Julia Kristeva and further developed by a number of critics including

Gérard Genette and Roland Barthes, intertextuality offers an important

dimension to the présent study. It puts the reader in a position where he

or she bas important experience to bring to the reading and sense-making

process.

It is at this point, as readers attempt to understand the text and its

significance to them, that the socio-political dimension becomes very

important. In search of the text's significance, Michael Riffaterre insists

that readers reread the texts, leading (ideally) to the resolution of any

discrepancies and contradictions perceived in the first reading. Uke

Riffaterre, Barthes analyses in particular the decoding of texts in hght of

other texts. Barthes sees great potential in this decoding process as it

 32

could stimulate the reader to question social values that are presented as

universal and thus natural. As the Epie was first written(and rewritten)

over two thousand years ago, the soclety It paints is dramatlcally différent

from our present-day society. An intertextual study offers ample

opportunities for the modem reader to explore how contemporary writers

deal with the différences between the évolution of Mesopotamian society

and that of our own. In the chapter "Subversive Scribes," we will see the

inter-relationship between the évolution of the Mesopotamian material and

changes in the status of women in the cmcient Near East. Michel Foucault's

work on centres, on the process of decentring and of revealing hégémonie

practices, is particularly à propos for our study.^' By comparing so many

ancient and modem versions of the Epie, we can unearth some of the

hidden manifestations of power and reveal the inconsistent growth of

power. The évolution of the Epie in the Ancient Near East, for instance,

marginalizes the goddess. We will see how some of her power is

reinstated when contemporary authors from the 1960s and 1970s reuse

the Epie - only to bave the goddess and other female characters' rôles

reduced in several texts that retell the Epie in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jacques Derrida's techniques for dismpting centres by putting them under

erasure - showing how certain ideas bave been marginalized - makes

known the arbitrariness of ideas that are made to appear as universal.

One of the effects of our current study will be to underline the fact that
 33

modem monotheistic religions cind hierarchical social Systems have not

always been the norm. And yet, North American society remains a

descendant of the socio-political chcinges that took place in ancient

Mesopotamian about 5000 years ago. Foucault's daim that we are ail

responsible for everything may discourage a number of readers from

trying to uncover the players in the web of power. His statements

concerning the responsibility of individucils for their own oppression could

also be taken as a challenge, provoking indivlduals to become more aware

of their rôle and their assumptions. If Althusser's hypothesis that

hterature (or the culture institution in général)is an extension of

ideological state apparatuses,^^ then a comparative hterary study that

revecds contradictory societal Vcdues and norms Ccin provide the reader

with a différent perspective of their own society. This kind of reading can

work as a kind of vaccination agcdnst interpellation, against an individual's

bhnd adoption of the rôle he/she believes society expects them to play.

Texts that refer intertextually to the classics could make the values of the

dominant class more digestible - but they also have a defcuniliarizing

power by setting up contrasts between what was deemed normal and

universal in the ancient world and what seems normal and universal now.

The hving reader, made aware of the constructed nature of social values,

may not remeiin as willing to play the rôle assigned, may start to question

even the seeming mundcine détails of daily hfe and may even take action.
 34

In his study of Antonio Gramsci, Robert S. Dombroskl points ont Gramsci's

theory that "the politics of literature are always a 'politics' of something

else - of the control, the power, the dominance, however subtle, that one

social group exerts over another. Culture, indeed, is the stuff of which

power is made and by which it is maintained"(Dombroski 132). The hope

is that a certain kind of reading - one that is historicized, contextual zed

and comparative - makes literature something more than a pressure valve

for subversive ideas.

The Possibilities of Mythotextuality

Our goal is to go beyond simply comparing the hypotext with the

contemporary text that reuses it. By looking at a number of contemporary

texts that reuse the same hypotexts, the Mesopotamian poems cind epics

about Gilgcimesh, a pattern will emerge. This type of study is similar to

Antoine Sirois' mythocritical study of Jacques Ferron, in which his goal

was "d'analyser brièvement l'usage qu'il... fait [des références aux récits

mythologiques] et d'esquisser, à partir de ces éléments, une certaine

vision du monde"(Sirois,"De l'usage" 181). In our study, instead of

focusing on multiple myths in the work of a single author, we will study

the reuse of a single myth in the work of multiple authors. As in the case

of Sirois' work, the most importcint goal of our study is to reveal the vision
 35

of these writers. In doing so, we wish to explore the évolution of ideology

in of our society.

Showing how the Sumerian poems were transformed into the

Babylonian and later Akkadian Epie of Gilgamesh, and then the Epie of

Gilgamesh were transformed into contemporary texts in a multitude of

genres, offers a rare opportunity to study the interrelationship between

literary products and socio-political situations. In the next chapter,

"Subversive Scribes," we will look at the period in which the Epie was first

written and rewritten, as well as summarise the évolution of the Epie

during this eeirly period. During this period of rapid change, the ruling

elass in Mesopotamia wished to gain power over the authority of the

temple. The Epie of Gilgamesh documents the transition from a goddess-

centred culture to one led by the king and bis dominant maie deity(s).

Well-known throughout the ancient Near East, the story of Gilgamesh and

Enkidu's defying of the gods, and in particular of the goddess

Inaima/lshtar, may bave done more than shnply document a tumultuous

period of transition.

In the later half of the last century, numerous contemporary authors

bave been drawn to this Epie, incorporating parts or retelling it in their

own words. Though none of the authors reuse the myth in quite the same

way, there are nonetheless two basic trends. Quite a number of

contemporary authors re-narrate the Epie. These retellings differ little, in

 36

terms of setting and events, from the ancient Epie. These mythic texts will

be discussed in chapters three and four. In "The Goddess Rising," we will

examine how a group of contemporary authors re-establishes the goddess'

powerful rôle. In the chapter "Mythic Authority," we will see how another

group of authors retells the Epie in ways that further diminishes the status

of the goddess and other female eharaeters. A last group of authors

reuses the Epie of Gilgamesh and related material to ereate mythologieal

texts. In the fifth ehapter,"Mythotextual Dialogues," we wUl thus explore

a group of faseinating texts that feature the Epie of Gilgamesh as but one

of multiple sources. AU set in the twentieth century or later, these novels

and télévision épisode do not re-narrate the Epie. Certain elements of the

Epie are retained, ereating a dialogue between multiple texts. Though this

second type of reuse does require a greater participation on the part of the

reader, in many ways, aU of the texts effeetively juxtapose the values and

idéologies of the ancient world with our own. The thought-provoking

nature of mythotextual anedysis may prove a promising means of better

understanding our society and ourselves:

L'espace mythique est l'espace de la poésie, du langage

informé par le désir, mais c'est aussi l'espace où se déroule

une aventure fondamentale, ceUe de chacun de nous et de

nous tous. (Beaujour 222)

 37

n Subversive Scribes

"It is not easy to free

Myth from reality." (Birney 5-6)

Essential to better understanding how and why the contemporary

texts reuse the Epie of Gilgamesh is a basic knowledge of Mesopotamian

Society and the texts it produced. As the hypotexts were rewritten, copied,

translated and transformed during a period of profound social change, we

will first provide relevant information about the period when the texts

were being written and altered by scribes. We will then summarise

Sumerian, Babylonian and Akkadian texts relating to the Epie of Gilgamesh.

The Sumerian material to be covered includes the five poems about

Gilgamesh,"Gilgamesh and Agga," "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Huluppu

tree," "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living," "Gilgamesh and the Bull of

Heaven," "The Death of Gilgamesh," as well as a flood narrative,"The

Deluge." Three Babylonian texts will be discussed briefly: the Epie ofAtra-

hasis, the Enuma Elis, and the Epie of Gilgamesh, with emphasis on their

relationship to the évolution of the Epie. From the later, Akkadian period,

we will briefly discuss the Ninivite Epie of Gilgamesh. Next, we will survey

the research of Assyriologists that focuses on what the scribes kept, left

out or changed when they wrote the varions versions of the Epie. During

this phase, we will look more closely at some of the altérations,

particularly those pertaining to the goddess Ishtar and to Gilgamesh's

 38

servant/companion, Enkidu. We will look at différent opinions concerning

why the scribes might have made the changes they did. The scribes

responsible for this laborious work were part of the court and were

responsible to their kings. Though we do not know whether the

transformations of the Epie simply reflected socicd changes or whether

these changes were made to help the newly formed dominant class gain

and maintciin power. We will excunine concurrent chcinges in the évolution

of Mesopotamian laws, The rejection of the previous paradigm meant no

longer depending on the Earth for sustenance. We will see how when

humankind "left the garden" and adopted a new hfestyle(one that

includes agriculture and the development of cities), modem society was

bom. It is hoped that by seeing how a previous culture reused and altered

the Epie of Gilgamesh, we will gain insight into the reuse of the Epie in our

own hterature.

Preparing the soil for a révolution

After the end of the last Ice Age(15 000 BC), chmactic chcinges

iTcinsformed the Necir East into a fertile région that facilitated the

sedentarism of hunter-gatherers in the région. By 10 000 BC small villages

of circular dwellings, situated near food sources (wild grains and animais),

are common throughout the ancient Near East.^^ In The Sacred Balance,
 39

David Suzuki and Amanda McCoimell wrlte: "When we domestlcated

animais and plants, only ten thousand to twelve thousand years ago,

human life changed forever, vaulting to another level in the évolution of

culture"(Suzuki and McConnell 130). Though Robert Adams recognises

the importance of technological and environmental factors in the

development of civilisation, he stresses that at the centre of such a

révolution are chcinges in social organisation. Throughout the period

preceding the development of cities, and well into it, female statuettes are

found throughout the région, cuid are the most common object found at

burial sites. Annie Caubet and Patrick Pouyssegur explain that "elles sont

l'expression d'un principe de fécondité, garant de la pérennité du groupe,

et de son corollaire de fertilité, unique source de prospérité en économie

agricole"(Caubet cmd Pouyssegur 37).^" Adrienne Rich believes that the

female figurines do not necessarily prove that there ever was a "true

matricirchy." She concludes that the figurines are more than fertihty

symbols and that "they express an attitude toward the female charged

with the awareness of her intrinsic importance, her depth of meaning, her

existence at the very centre of what is necessary and sacred"(Rich 93). In

his book Déesse ou servantes de Dieu? Femmes et religions, Odon Vallet

writes that "comme ces statuettes se retrouvent un peu partout dans

l'espace européen et proche-oriental... on a pu y voir aussi une divinité

universelle, antérieure aux rehgions indo-européennes et à leurs dieux

 40

principalement masculins"(Vallet 15). Rapid social transformation,from

the domestication of animais to the increasing population of what could

now be called cities, required an infrastructure. By 3700 BC, monumental

public buildings are built in some of the largest cities, and the

standardised production of ceramics, particularly of female figurines,

spreads throughout southem Mesopotamia. This Uruk period is

characterized by a hierarchy that constitutes several classes, one of which

is constituted by the nobles that control the flow of merchandise in and

out of the cities." In "Le Cunéiforme," C. F. B. Walker of the British

Musemn tells us that "dans le Proche-Orient ancien, l'écriture fut inventée

dans le but d'enregistrer les activités d'échcinges"(Walker 27)." The

scribes became an important class in society because with their writing

"kings might extend their sway over hitherto unknown régions, merchants

might organize the importation of rare commodities from distant lands,

the irrigation officiai might set the labourers to [work .. (Saggs,

Everyday life 72). During the Recent Uruk period,from 3100 to 2900 BC,

Uruk is the prototype for cities to come. Its 30 000 to 50 000 inhabitants,

who are no longer directly involved with agriculture nor with hunting, hve

on only 250 hectares. The city's centre, with its administrative buildings,

surrounds Inanna's White Temple. The social structure of the city is well

established. At the top of the hierarchical pyreimid are the en or lugal

(govemorAing), who controls the wealth of the state, cind the Goddess
 41

(incarnate in her living représentative), who assures the fertility of the

land, This new iifestyle, however, is not without its challenges.

Archaeological evidence shows that during this Scime period, fortifications

were built throughout the région." Severcd bumt layers point to a period

of confhct and struggle (Sasson 261-2). With ail these developments,

there are ever increasing administrative needs, and already there is a shift

away from the temple (Thorbjornsrud 123). It is during this period, the

heroic âge of Sumer that Gilgamesh reigned. The Sumerian King list, a

historical document from Mesopotamia, shows us Gilgamesh's place

among the rulers of that period:

Enmerkar, son of Meskiaggasher, the king of Erek who built

Uruk, reigned 420 years as king; Lugalbanda, the Shepherd,

reigned 1200 years; Dumuzi, the fisherman, whose city was

Kua, reigned 100 years; Gilgamesh, whose father was a démon

...reigned 126 years; Umungal, the son of Gilgcimesh, reigned

30 years. {KiameT, The Sumerians 328)

The Mesopotcimian Texts relating to Gilgamesh

The historical Gilgamesh ruled the Mesopotamian city of Uruk during

the Early Dynastie period (from 2700 to 2500 BC). The Sumerian King List,

written about 600 years after his death,"even names a son of his who
 42

succeeded him to the throne"(Kovacs 55). ContTciry to what is said in the

Epie, the King List states that it is Enmerkar(Gilgamesh's grandfather) who

built Uruk's wall. It is not until about 1800 BC that a daim is made that

Gilgamesh had built the wall. Many later rulers claimed to be bis brother,

induding Ur-Nammu, Shulgi and Gudea, in the hopes of sohdifying their

own power by their dose assodation with Gilgamesh, who had successfuUy

challenged Agga, the King of Kish, and who had also freed Sumer from

foreign domination.

The Smnerian Material

Though the oFcd form of several poems about Gilgamesh circulated

at the time of cuid immediately following Gilgamesh's death, the first

poems were first written down about six hundred years after bis death.

Between 2000 and 1600 BC, five epic poems were written about Gilgcimesh.

Of the Smnerian poems, Jorge Silva Castillo writes;

De todos estros poemas, el ùltimo ofrece una imagen mas

realista del héroe. Por supuesto que no intervienen en él

seres sobre-naturales y, ademâs, la trama parece reflejar las

condidones de la historia social y politica del periodo

protodinâstico: la hegemonia entre las dudades - estado, en

este caso Kish y Uruk. (Silva Castillo 345)^®

 43

"Gilgamesh and Agga," the last of the five poems, is about the

conflict between Gilgamesh and Agga, the klng of Kish. Believed to be

historically accurate, thls brief epic deals only with humans. Gilgamesh

goes against the elders and refuses to subrnit to Agga. When Agga's army

holds Uruk under siege, Gilgamesh sends two of his servants to calm the

King of Kish. The conflict is resolved when Gilgamesh gives thanks to

Agga and Agga praises Gilgamesh.

In "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Huluppu-Tree," Inanna's tree has been

taken over by a serpent, a demonic bird and a démon. After

unsuccessfully pleading to the sun god for help, Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to

help her. He drives away the beasts and cuts down the tree; he gives most

of the wood to the goddess, and for himself keeps enough to make two

objects: a mikku and a pukku.^° Somehow, apparently due to the

complaints of widows and girls, the implements end up in the

Netherworld. Gilgamesh's servant, Enkidu,is sent, with detailed

instructions, to retrieve the lost objects. Paying no heed to very spécifie

instructions on how to handle himself during his visit, Enkidu is seized by

the Netherworld. His ghost retums to tell Gilgamesh about the sad state of

its inhabitants. He tells Gilgamesh that those who have left behind

children and loved ones fcire better than those who died without do.

Unfortunately, the poem is incomplète. Because of the fragile nature of the

 44

clay tablets onto which the story was inscribed, we may never know what

happened to the lost implements, or to Enkidu, in thls story.

In "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living," sometimes titled

"Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest," the king, suddenly aware of his own

mortallty, seeks fcime.^' Against the wlU of the city's elders, he goes on a

joumey to the Cedar Forest, accompanled by his servant Enkidu and a

group of young men. Huwawa,guardian of the forest, tries to defend it by

invoking a trance-like state on Gilgamesh. With Enkidu's encouragement,

Gilgamesh manages to disarm Huwawa through trickery. Once Huwawa is

shackled, Gilgamesh reconsiders and wants to free him, but again his

servant urges him on. "G Enkidu, let the caught bird go (back) to its place,

/ Let the caught man retum to the bosom of his mother," Gilgamesh tells

his servant(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 49). But to no avail, for Enkidu

insists and together they kill the giant. When Enkidu présents Huwawa's

head to Enlil, the god is furious. He curses the two men for killing the

guardian of the Cedar Forest in the Land of the Living.

Inanna refuses Gilgamesh's request to make décisions involvlng her

sanctuary in "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven." The beginning of a

power struggle between the goddess and the king is alluded to in this

poem. Though much of the tablet has been lost, enough remains to

suggest that Gilgamesh goes against the goddess' will. In an attempt to

 45

punish him, she asks Anu, her father, for the Bull of Heaven. When he

refuses, she threatens to seek the help of the other gods.^^ Anu grants her

the Bull, but unfortunately, the section that no doubt describes the confhct

between Gilgamesh, Enkldu and the Bull of Heaven is too damaged to

translate.

In "The Death of Gilgamesh," a death lament that probably reflects

burial customs of the time, our hero goes on a quest for immortahty. Part

of a longer poem, of which much has been lost, the two intact fragments

nonetheless reveal much about how Sumerians viewed death cind the

Netherworld. In the first section, we read that even kings share the same

fate of ail men: "Has destined thy fate, O Gilgamesh, for kingship, for

etemal life he has not destined it" (Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 50). After

describing the fortune granted to the king, the text then reads,"The leader

... Who [destroyedl evil [lies, rises not], Who... h[es, rises not], Who is

flrm of muscle, li[es, rises not], The lord of KuUab li[es, rises not]..

(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 51)." Though the king has been granted power

over others cmd is rivalled by none, there is no mention of the simple

pleasures(food, drink, music, and love)foimd in Siduri's wisdom speech in

the later Babylonian Epie. The second section fragment begins with a hst

of those closest to him, his wives, son, concubine, musician, entertciiner,

valet, et cetera, "a large palace retinue (that was possibly) buried with
 46

Gilgamesh"(Kramer,"Sumericin Myths" 50) and ends with praises to the

dead king.

Another epic poem, simply titled The Deluge, was also written in

Sumerian during this period. Though much of this poem is lest or

damaged, enough of the 300-line poem remains to see that it is divided

into at least four parts. The first part is about the création of the peopie,

animais and plcmts of the earth and the establishment of cities by Anu,

Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursag, the mother goddess. The following fragment

begins with the weeping of the mother goddess and Ineinna, Agcûnst the

wishes of Anu and Enlil, the other gods wam Ziusundra, the Sumerian

Noah-figure. In the next section, the flood storm is upon the land and the

hero sacrifices animais for Utu, the sun god. In the last fragment

Ziusundra, like Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is given immortaUty

by the gods for saving végétation and humankind. Many reseeirchers

believe that this poem is the hypotext to the description of the Flood in the

Babylonicm Epic.

The Material from the Babylonian Period

Between 1800 and 1700 B. C. the Epic ofAtra-hasis is written. In this

version, the deluge is part of a larger epic whereby a flood is sent by the

gods to punish humankind for being so clamorous. In the Old and Middle

Babylonian as well as the Neo-Assyrian versions, Enil sends the flood, but
 47

not before Enki wams Atramhasis/Atra-hasis (which means "the

exceedingly wise") to build a ship and to fill it with "the beasts of the field,

/ The fowl of the heavens" (Speiser 105). In the Neo-Assyrian versions,

humankind is first tortured with years of dearth, plagues and misery while

Enhl dams up the water for the flood. When the hero prays to Ea for relief,

Ea tells him .. pray to your goddess"(Speiser 106). After six years of

oppression, there are even more people and they make even more noise

than before. Enlil asks the Assembly of Gods to stop helping the people.

With no pity, the gods acted:

The land withdrew its yield, / It tumed from the breast of

Nisaba. / During the nights the fields tumed white,/[Asl the

broad plain brought forth potash. / The Earth's womb

revolted, / so that no plant came forth, no grain sprouted. /

Upon the people was placed the fever,/ The womb was bound

and issued not offspring. (Speiser 106)

Already, the tendency towards a heavenly hierarchy, and away from the

goddess, is clear. And with the vivid image of a barren earth, it would have

been clear to the population that either the goddess had abandoned the people

in favour of following Enld's command, or that she was now powerless to bring

forth life or to save her children. According to Tigay, the Epie ofAtra-hasis,
 48

and not the Sumerian "Deluge," is the hypotext of the Akkadian Epie of

Gilgamesh (Tigay 214-8).

During the Old Babylonian period (about 1700 B. C.), tbe Enuma Elis,

also known as tbe Akkadian Création Epie, is written.^" Spelser describes it

as "tbe struggle between cosmic order and chaos ...tbat was renewed at

tbe turn of eacb New Year"(60). As wltb most création stories, it begins

witb tbe création of tbe gods. In tbis mytb, Apsu, tbe begetter, and Tiamat,

"wbo bore tbem ail," become one (Speiser 61). Tbis is a new development

in tbe évolution of création mytbs as tbe goddess créâtes witb tbe belp of a

consort. Apsu complained to Tiamat tbat tbe gods, tbeir own cbildren and

tbeir descendants, bad become loatbsome and noisy. Sbe rages against

bim and bis adviser wben tbey plot against ber cbildren. Ea, learning of

tbeir wicked plans, kills Apsu and bis advisor before tbey kill ail of ber

cbildren. Ea and bis wife Damkina tben bave a son, Marduk, wbo is

"clotbed witb tbe balo of ten gods, be is strong to tbe utmost"(Speiser 62).

Wben Tiamat's cbildren complain about ber letting Ea get away witb

murder, sbe raises an army of monsters to be lead by ber new consort,

Kingu. Wben Ea reabses tbat a battle against Tiamat is bopeless, be asks

bis son Marduk to confront ber. Marduk agréés, but witb conditions. To

bis fatber be says: "Creator of tbe gods, destiny of tbe great gods,/ If I

indeed, as your avenger,/ Am to Vcmquisb Tiamat and save yoiu" bves,/ Set

up tbe Assembly, proclaim suprême my destiny!"(Speiser 64). After tbe

 49

members of the Assembly honour him and equip him with arms to do

battle with Tiamat, Mcirduk challenges her to single combat. He then slays

her and her consort, and imprisons her army.^® Marduk then fashions

humankind, to serve the gods, and orders the building of Babylon. The

epic poem ends with a long list of gods and their rôles. It is Hcimmurabi

(1728-1686 BC)who, while centrahzing the govemment as well as religious

rituals, déclarés Marduk the only important god.^^ The other gods and

goddesses play only a supporting rôle in the yearly rituals.^® More notably,

Hieros Gamos, the cirmucil sacred marriage between the goddess and the

king, is abandoned.®® The king, alone, présidés over the annual rites,

embodying the god Marduk. Once held through ail of Mesopotamia, the

yearly rites are practised in but one city, Babylon. Thorbjomsrud regards

this epic "as a symbohc superstructure, whereby the power which is

transferred from the female to the maie principle, occurs, for one thing, as

a conséquence of the development of Marduk's rehgious hegemony"

(Thorbjomsrud 124). This is an important tumlng point in Mesopotamlan

rehgious thought and practices. Not only is there a significant change in

the way the rituals are practised, but also from here on, rehgious ideas in

Mesopotamia cire typically associated with a mcQe deity.

It is during this same period (between 1700 and 1600 B. C.), that the

first Epic of Gtigamesh is written. It is "composed in the Akkadian

language probably by one author, is a single long narrative drawing on and

 50

integrating the plots and thèmes of most of the Sumerian texts as well as

much other unrelated material"(Kovacs 59). The consolidation of

Babylonian texts intégrâtes "Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest," "Gilgamesh

and the Bull of Heaven" and part of the Epie ofAtra-hasis. Completely new
to the story are the sections "The Taming of Enkidu," the "Journey to the
Flood Hero" and the conclusion.

The Ninivite Epie of Gilgamesh

The Akkadian Epie of Gilgamesh, also known as the standard or

canonical édition, was written in about 1300 BC and is attributed to Sin-

leqi-unmnm. Its eleven tablets mtegrate ail of the Babylonian texts and
add a prologue, which both stylistically cind thematically enhances and

comphcates this version. Of the two main motifs in the latest version - the

quest for immortality and the quest for justice^" - Sasson writes that the

two thèmes "reinforce each other, necessitating rearrangement of the

available material and permitting the forging of a new pattern, that of a

unified epic"(Sasson 266).

Decentring the Centre: the Process of Transforming a Myth

When the scribes transformed the Sumerian poems into a complété

epic, and then rewrote and translated it to create varions versions, the
 51

changes were profound/' Only parts of three of the five Sumerian poems

were kept; however, the scribes spared no imagination in the reworking of

the material either of the poems or of the material from other sources that

they cdso integrated into the Epie. The Epie brings together previously

independent parts, and it also explains more. There is a psychological

development in the inclusion of not only Gilgamesh and Enkidu's dreams,

but also their thoughts. This may be partially due to the fact that the

Sumerian material is not only transformed, but it is written in Akkadian, a

Icmguage that offers more possibilities: "Le sumérien ne s'est jamais

complètement libéré du fait qu'il avait été inventé, à l'origine, dans le but

pratique de tenir des comptes plutôt que celui d'exprimer des idées

abstraites"(Wcdker 38). The most striking changes involve the length (the

disconnected poems are integrated into a single coherent narrative) and

the fact that "the myth reflects a religions change in that the female

principal, symbohzed by Ishtar and her cuit, loses its status"

(Thorbjornsrud 113).

It is clear that two of the Sumerian poems,"Gilgamesh and the Land

of the Living" and "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven," are hypotexts of the

later Babylonian and Akkadian Epies about Gilgamesh. A third Sumericm

poem,"The Death of Gilgamesh," is associated with many, but not ail, of

the later Epies. Why were some of the Sumerian poems used as hypotexts

whereas others are never referred to intertextuaUy? In his article

 52

"Gilgamesh en las tradiclones Sumerias y en la tradiciôn Acadia," Jorge

Silva Castlllo first shows how the Sumerian poems fall into three distinct

catégories: one about a human hero("Gilgamesh cind Agga"), two that

involve a semi-divine hero ("Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living" and

"Gilgcimesh and the Bull of Heaven")cmd two where the hero is divine

("Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Huluppu-Tree" and "The Death of

Gilgamesh"). He then explains that only those involved wlth the semi-

divine hero were kept. Matous, on the other hand, puts forth the

2000-1620B.C. Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Death The

Sumerian &Agga Enkidu & and the Land & Bull of Of Deluge

poems Huluppu-tree of the Living Heaven Gilgamesh

1800-1700B.C. Gilgamesh Epie of

Babylonian and the Land Atra-hasis

Creatlvlty of the Living

1700-1600B.C. The Taming Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Joumey The Retum &

Consolidation Of Enkidu and the Land & Bull of To the Flood Conclusion

Of Babylonian of the Living Heaven Flood Story

Texts Hero

1300-1200 Prologue The Taming Gilgamesh Gilgamesh Joumey The Return &

Canonical édition Of Enkidu and the Land & Bull of To the Flood Conclusion

(Sin-leqe-unninni) of the Living Heaven Flood Hero Story

Detailed Overview of Evolution of the Epie of Gilgamesh*^

hypothesis that "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living," "Gilgamesh and

the Bull of Heaven" and "The Death of Gilgcunesh" were once part of a
 53

single poem, a poem that served as the nucleus of the later Epie (Matous

85-8). While we are net in a position to adjudicate these claims, we will

now look at the Sumerian poems individually, analysing how they are

reused in the Epic(s). We will also discuss some of the major changes

made, such as the addition of "The Taming of Enkidu" and the omission of

"Gilgamesh and Agga." While pursuing this comparison, we will also

highhght the evolving rôles of the goddess Inanna/lshtar, the god

Utu/Shamash and the servant/companion Enkidu, which we beheve to be

at least as important as the structural changes.

The Sumerian "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living"(also known as

"Gilgamesh and the Cedcir Forest")is reused in its entirety, with some

altérations, in Tablet V of the Babylonian and Akkadicm Epies. This poem

contains many of the characters found in the later Epie, including

Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Ninsun (Gilgamesh's mother)and Huwawa. The main

actions of the poem, the préparation for a quest, the quest journey and the

meeting of Gilgamesh and Enkidu with Huwawa, are ail taken up,in much

more detctU, in the later Epie. Near the beginning of the poem, Utu asks

Gilgamesh why he wishes to go to the Land of the Living, a paradise-like

forest in which ail hfe is immortal. Gilgamesh replies: "In my city man

dies, oppressed is the heart,/1 peered over the wall,/ Saw the dead bodies

... floating on the river;/ As for me,I too will be served thus; verily 'tis

so." (Kramer,"The Sumerians" 48)."" The king, aware of his own mortality
 54

wants to "enter the 'land'" and "set up [his] name"(Kramer,"The

Snmerians" 48). According to Silva Castillo, the greatest différence

between the Sumerian poem and the later Epie "es la conciencia de la

muerte que adquiere Gilgamesh"(Silva Castillo 362).^^ The confrontation

of one's mortality and the subséquent quest for immortality is the central

motif of the Epie. In this Sumerian poem, Gilgamesh asks Utu for a

blessing before undertaking the quest to the Cedar Forest. Though not

much is known about Utu's rôle in the panthéon of the gods, he is

sometimes described as a sun god, responsible for justice in some texts.

According to other Sumerian texts, Gilgamesh's two predecessors are also

described as the sons of Utu.^® In the later Epies, Utu is not présent In his

stead, we find Shamash, clearly a sun god in numerous texts. Not only

does he offer the companions protection; when they hesitate, Shamash

urges them on and assists them in defeating Huwawa.

Another important différence between the Sumerian poem

"Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living" and the Middle Babylonian /

Akkadian Epies is the transformed rôle of Enkidu. In the Sumericin poem,

Enkidu is only a servant. In the later Epies, Enkidu is not only promoted to

the status of friend and brother, some critics bave even suggested that he

is Gilgamesh's lover or a double."^ What makes the intensity of their

friendship surprising is that in Mesopotamia, family and children were

very important(Bailey 444). A Sumerian proverb says that, "Friendship

 55

lasts a day, kinship lasts forever"(Kramer, Tablets 157). Whatever the

nature of the friendship, violence draws them together and keeps them

together. The only thing that separates them is death. Even more

importcint is how Enkidu's expanded rôle threads together the Vcirious

épisodes of the Epie. Enkidu's presence motivâtes most of the events and

his death leads Gilgamesh on a quest; in addition, his actions, directly or

indirectly, are in opposition to the Assembly of the Gods, and specifically

the goddess Ishtar. Thorbjomsrud believes that, during their initial

meeting, Enkidu interfères with Gilgamesh's participation of the ritualistic

Hieros Gamos(Thorbjomsrud 120). Though the action of this Sumerian

poem is reused in later Epies, there are a few very important différences.

In the poem,the goals of the quest are to gain a place in history, and at the

same time, return with precious timber for Uruk. When the party

confronts Huwawa, Gilgamesh wishes to set him free, but Enkidu speaks

against Huwawa. The Guardian of the Cedar Forest nonetheless has time

to accuse Enkidu of fearing his rivalry before he is kiUed. Nowhere in the

poem is there the suggestion that the Cedar Forest is associated with

Ishtar's throne, nor that entering the forest is taboo. In the later Epie,

Gilgamesh goes on the quest with the sun god Shamash's blessing and

support. One of the goals of the mission is to confront Huwawa, cind to

fight against evil. By associating the kilhng of Huwawa, who is now the

guardian of Ishtar's sacred forest, with the destruction of evd, hints at a

 56

religious conflict between Shamash and Ishtar. The transformation of the

rôle played by Enkldu reveals a shift in values; the attack on the forest and

its guardian, urged on by a new god, Shamash, is an affront to the goddess

Ishtar.

"Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven," reused in Tablet VI of the Epies,

is transformed in such a way that Ishtar, originally portrayed as a

powerful and paradoxical goddess, is not at ail respected by either

Gilgamesh or Enkidu in the later Epies. When she proposes marriage to

Gilgamesh, she is playing her traditional rôle in Hieros Gamos, where the

goddess and her eonsort, the king, meet with the goal of assuring fertihty
for ail of the land.^® In the Epie, not only does Gilgamesh rejeet Ishtar and

his traditional rôle; he also insults her with stories of her past lovers!

When she asks Anu for the Bull of Heaven in the Sumerian poem, she

threatens her father with the Assembly of the Gods; if she eould give

orders to this important body, this would suggest that she had

tremendous power. In eontrast, in the later Epies, she threatens Anu with

the letting loose of the dead. Not only does this show a diminished status

with respeet to the Assembly of the Gods; it also pciints a more négative

pieture of the goddess. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of

Heaven in the epies, and Enkidu insults Ishtar «md throws part of the BuU's

"thigh" towards her and her wailing priestesses, Ishtar does nothing, and

is thus represented as relatively powerless. It is the Assembly of the Gods,

 57

of which Ishtar no longer participâtes, which décidés to punish Enkidu for

slaying both Huwawa and the Bull of Heaven.

In addition to reusing the Sumerian poems, the Babylonian scribes also

added a significant amount of material. A critical addition to the later Epie is

"The Taming of Enkidu," contained in Tablet I. It is probably loosely based on

oral taies circulating at that time, taies that brought up the nature versus

culture dilemma/° Enkidu exists in the Sumerian poems, but as one of

Gilgamesh's servcints. In this addition, we are made aware of why he was

created, how he was created and of the intimate détails of his hfe before he

meets Gilgamesh. Though similar, there are important différences between the

Old cmd Middle Babylonian versions of this épisode and the later, canonized

version of this épisode. In the Old Babylonian Epie, the humanization of

Enkidu by one of Ishtar's temple priestesses is a sort of magical

transformation. She tells him,"Enkidu, thou art become Uke a god"(Speiser

75). When the initiation is complété and she tells him about Gilgamesh, Enkidu

states: "I will shout in Uruk: 'I am one who is mighty!/1 am the one who can

alter destinies,/ He who was bom on the steppe is mighty; strength he has"

(Speiser 75). It would seem that he considers his initiation positively, and it is

not until he is on his deathbed that he says anything to the contrary. In the

standard version, he also realises ail that he has gained, but not before stating

his loss:
 58

Enkidu ... his utterly depleted body,

His knees that wanted to go off with his animais went rigld;

Enkidu was dlmlnlshed, his runnlng was net as before.

But then he drew hlmself up,for his understandlng had

broadened. (Kovacs, The Epie 9)

Enkidu Is thus capable of respondlng psychologlcally to his own

transformation - he recognlses the wlsdom and quallty of dlvlnlty galned.

"The Death of Gllgamesh," translated dlrectly from the Sumeiian

poem, becomes Tablet XII of the Epie. Most translators, however, do not

Include It In thelr versions - or add It on as a separate poem. Of thls

tablet, Spelser says that the "contents and clrcumstantlal evldence mark [It]

as an Inorganlc appendage to the eplc proper"(Spelser 97). The wlsdom

speech by Sldurl, a figure found only In the Epie of GUgamesh(and not the

Sumeiian poems) may have had Its origlns In thls poem. Here Gllgamesh Is

told:

Enlll, the great mountaln god, the father of the gods -

G lord Gllgamesh, the meaning of the dream -

Has destlned thy fate, G Gllgamesh, for klngshlp, for

eternal llfe he has not destlned It.

(But)... of Ufe, be not sad of heart,

Be not aggrleved, be not depressed ...

 59

The light[and] darkness of mankind

He has granted thee .,.(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 50)

This is very similar in spirit to what Siduri tells Gilgamesh when he tells

her that he is seeking Utnapishtim," the only mortal to have gained, along

with his wife, immortality. This brings us to cinother very importcint

différence between the Old Babylonicin and Assyrian versions of the Epie.

In the Babylonian text, Gilgamesh calls on Siduri, originally a minor

goddess who helps the dying, and tells her of his pain and loss. She then

tells him about the fate of ail men, and of the joys of hving. In the

Akkadian version, Siduri, depicted as nothing more than a barmaid,fears

the approaching Gilgamesh, and he threatens to smash her door. Here too

he tells her of his suffering and of the loss of his companion, whom he

describes in détail. However, Siduri dispenses no wisdom in the later,

standard version - Gilgamesh dememds directions on how to reach

Utnapishtim and leaves soon after.

Just as interesting as what is reused, transformed or added,is what

is left out of the Epie. In "Gilgamesh and Agga," which recounts

Gilgamesh's stand agciinst Kish's foreign domination, the king goes against

the wishes of the city elders when he confronts Kish's army. Though the

exact détails of how Gilgamesh manages to save Uruk are unclear, it would

seem that he had the protection of both Inarma-Ishtar and Anu:

 60

Ereck, the handiwork of the gods,

Eaima", the house descending from heaven -

It is the great gods who have fashioned its parts -

Its great wall touching the clouds,

Its lofty dwelling place established by Anu,

Thou hast cared for, thou who art king(and) hero.

O thou [art the] beloved of Anu. (Kramer,"Sumerian Myths"

46)

Gilgamesh, described as "the lord of Kullab, who performs heroic deeds

for Inanna,"(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 45), manages to overwhelm the

other army. Though no one bas offered a clear interprétation of the

following passage, we think that the multiple references to dust point to

the workings of Inanna-Ishtar or her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the

Underworld: "The multitude cast itselfdown, the multitude rose,/The

multitude covered itselfwith dust,/(The people)of ail the foreign lands

were ovenvhelmed,/ On the months ofithe people) ofthe lands dust was

heaped" (Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 47). Should the scribes who wrote

the Epie have desired to portray Gilgamesh as very powerful or as the

prince of Shamash, the sun god, they would likely have avoided a story

largely based on the king's dependence on Anu and Ishtar. With this in

mind, the reason for leaving out "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Huluppu-

Tree" also seems obvions. Much of the story consists of tasks that
 61

Gilgamesh performs for the goddess, but only after the sun god is unable

to help her. Again, this story would be incompatible with the diminution

of the Goddess' power, particularly vis-à-vis the increasingly importcint

rôle of the king's favourite god, Shamash.

The most obvions transformation between the Sumerian poems and

the later, complété Epies is the length and the fact that the varions poems

about Gilgamesh, and other stories, fit together into a single, coherent

story. The Old and Middle Babylonian versions, like the standard version,

contain twelve tablets that incorporate several of the Sumerian poems

about Gilgamesh and the Epie ofAtra-hasis. The quest motif unifies quite

disconnected stories. A prologue cind an épilogue that depict the same

scene frame the entire narrative. The Epie begins with the end. Before

Gilgamesh's great works, before his quests that take him to the

(Mesopotamian) ends of the world - the reader is told:

He who saw everything

He brought report of before the Flood,

Achieved a long journey, tiring and resting.

Ail his toil he engraved on a stone stela

Go up and walk on the walls of Uruk,

Inspect the base terrace, examine the brickwork:

 62

Is not its brickwork of burnt brick?

Dld not the Seven [Sages]" lay its foundations? (Speiser 73)

The Epie ends with Gilgamesh encouraging Urshanabi to inspect the

city's walls, brickwork and temples, This cycliccd structure unifies the

Sumerian poems about Gilgcimesh, as well as other related material, into a

single, coherent epic. Of this framing device, Sasson writes:

The poet thus assures his hsteners that he will be telhng a

"true" taie since its essence is derived from Gilgamesh's own

inscription. He also reminds them that his hero will come

back from a long joumey, weary and wom,and hghtly

suggests it to bave been an unsuccessful enterprise. Lest the

audience be caught in a despairing mood, one which could

inhibit its response to his story-telling, the Mesopotamian

bard quickly adds praises of Gilgamesh's earthly, tangible

achievements. (Sasson 269)

Within this larger quest for understanding are the smaller epics/joumeys -

Enkidu's socialization followed by his voyage to the city, Gilgamesh cind

Enkidu's joumey to the Cedar Forest, Gilgamesh's quest for immortahty

after Enkidu's death, Utnapishtim's saving of man and animais during the

Flood. Of this structure, Oppenheim writes: "The mention of Umk and its

walls, which frames the Epic, insures Gilgcimesh's famé - thus the
 63

framework of the epic, unlike what lies between, offers a solution to the

problem of death"(Oppenheim, Ancient 257). Bailey, in hls article "Maie,

Female and the Pursuit of Immortality in the Gilgamesh Epic," disagrees

with Oppenheim's positive view of the ending. He writes "it is a bitter,

unresolved ending, starkly underlining Gilgamesh's fallure, a fallure not

sublimated by acceptance of the inévitable"(Bailey 456). Likewise, Silva

Castillo says of the two traditions: "Qué distingue pues al Gilgamesh

sumerio del acadio? ...Prevalece en el Gilgamesh sumerio la conciencia

de la intrascendencia, frente a la que se rebela. El semita, tras una lucha

suprema, sucumbe al pesimismo" (Silva Castillo 362).^" No matter how the

ending is taken, it is clear that Gilgamesh from the later Mesopotamian

Epic of Gilgamesh challenges the gods and opposes matriarchal ideology
through the inversion of values and the démystification of the goddess.
From the Sumerian poems to the later standard Epic, there is a systematic
and progressive détérioration of the rôle of female characters while the

rôles of Enkidu and Shamash are greatly enlarged. Ishtar, once respected
and cherished, loses much of her power and status. Gilgamesh rejects
Ishtar and his rôle as her consort. Her power is so greatly diminished in
the later Epic that she cannot even punish the heroes for ignoring the
sacred rituals, for attacking her seat(the Cedar Forest) and killing her
guardian, for rejecting her offer of marriage with numerous insults

(Gilgamesh), for killing the Bull of Heaven and for insultlng her after
 64

having killed the Bull. Even once the Assembly has punished the heroes

for thelr actions agalnst the gods, Gilgamesh continues to reject his

traditional rôle. Aside from Ishtar, other female characters also lose some

of their status. When we compare the Babylonian and Akkadian versions,

both Siduri cind the temple priestess have their status diminished. Siduri,

the wise and proud minor goddess of the Babylonian Epie is transformed

into a fecirful alewife, bullied by Gilgamesh who wants nothing more than

directions in the Ninivite version. Even the temple priestess that performs

Enkidu's initiation goes from being an ambiguous to a négative character.

The négative view of death that dominâtes the epics could at least

partially be explained by the loss of cychcal/religious elements represented

by the goddess and the yearly rituals she performed. The ambiguity of the

Epic's ending, that shows a defeated yet proud Gilgamesh, hints at the

possibihty that Gilgamesh wiU accept his rôle as king and consort of the

Goddess. According to historical documents and the Sumerian poem "The

Death of Gilgamesh," it would appear that the historical king had at least a

wife and a son(Thorbjomsrud 135). In his article "Rama and Gilgamesh,"

Hiltebeitel argues that the slaying of the Bull of Heaven "concemtsl Ithel

restoration of [thel proper relationship with the goddess after that

relationship has been disrupted"(Hiltebeitel 223). There are even

indications that the historical Gilgamesh does eventually résumé his rôle

vis-à-vis Ishtar. Miller and Wheeler's analysis of the structure of the Epie in
 65

"Mother Goddess and Consort as Literary Motif Sequence in the Gilgamesh

Epie" leads them to the following theory: "It is possible that the ultimate

fulfilment of[Gilgamesh becoming Ishtar's consort] is implied by

Gilgamesh's retum to Uruk to accept his responsibihties of kingship ...

[and become] the consort of Inanna-Ishtar"(Wheeler et al. 99-100). In the

Epie itself, when Gilgamesh asks Urshanabi to admire his city, Gilgamesh

points ont ail of the same elements that the narrator had asked the reader

to note in the Prologue, except that the king adds: "One 'sar' is city, one

sar orchards,^^ / One sar mcirgin land; (further) the precinct of the Temple

of Ishtar./ Three sar and the precinct comprise Uruk" (Speiser 97). These

dues indicate that there may have been some sort of reconcihation

between the historical Gilgamesh and the 01^s primary deity, Ishtar.

Whether or not the historical Gilgamesh ever did reconcile with the

goddess Ishtar's représentative, we will probably never know; however, we

do know that the time of kings serving goddesses was coming to an end,in

both Mesopotamian mythology and society.

Why Might the Scribes have Transformed the Epie?

In his article "Some Literary Motifs in the Composition of the

Gilgamesh Epie," Sasson gives three possible reasons as to why the scribes

rewrote the Epie the way they did - to help settle a religions struggle, to
 66

reinforce the newly established power structure headed by a king and

lastly, towards the éducation of a king (Sasson 278-9). He, as well as

Matous, Flore, Miller and Wheeler suggest that the Epie is a religions

allegory that tries to résolve a struggle between the worshippers of Ishtar,

eind her cuit, and the worshippers of Shamash, the sun god. In their article

"Mother Goddess and Consort as Literary Motif Sequence in the Gilgamesh

Epie," Miller and Wheeler set ont to demonstrate that "the author(s) of the

Gilgamesh Epie apparently sympathise with Gilgamesh's anti-Mother

Goddess Consort attitude possibly because the new Shamash cuit is being

introduced precisely as an alternative to Uruk's Anu-lshtar cuit" (Miller

and Wheeler 100). That the Neo-Sumerian moncirchs, Ur-Ncimmu, Gudea

and Shugh, the first two of which claimed to be close relatives of

Gilgamesh, wish "to perpetuate the glorious memory of the Agade period"

(Sasson 278)and gain power by their association with that heroic âge

seems quite plausible. Kovacs seems to support this possibihty, as she

writes: "The statements are often contradictory, as 'history' in

Mesopotamia was written to serve the présent and therefore subject to

revision as needed"(Kovacs,"The Epies" 55). In addition to the

identification with the historiccil Gilgamesh, who had freed Sumer from

foreign domination, the kings' status would also benefit from an

increasingly négative view of the goddess and her cuit. In La Naissances

des écritures, C. F. B. Walker writes: "... il est fort probable que les rois
 67

n'aient su ni lire ni écrire, ce qui ne les empêchaient pas d'être

parfaitement conscients du rôle de propagande que pouvcdt jouer des

inscriptions commémorant, de manière permanente,lems exploits"

(Walker 57). The likelihood that the scribes manipulated the material they

copied in support of the new kings seems a possibility. In her book on the

Ancient Near East, Caubet, who also supports this theory: "Toute en

fondant sa légitimité sur sa relation privilégiée au divin, le pouvoir royal

cherche à s'émanciper de la tutelle des temples: il fait donc édifier dans

chaque grande cité un peilais afin d'établir sa puissance naissante"(Caubet

64). Sasson, after bringing forward various théories to explain why the

Epie was rewritten, favours the theory that the entire Epie is "centrally

concemed with the theme of the éducation of a king to his humanity"

(Sasson 279).

In fact, the three possibihties are not at ail incompatible. A common

element in ail three cases has to do with power. During this critical period

during which the kings of newly formed city-states sought independence

from the goddess and her living représentations, the scribes helped to

reinforce the power of the kings by highlighting their exploits and their

maie god(s) while simultaneously undermining the power of the goddess.

The scribes, who rewrote the poems into the epic, and those who

continued to make chcinges throughout a period of about eight hundred

years, were methodical in their subversion and decentring of matriarchal

 68

ideology. In a short period of time, the scribes of Mesopotamla went

through the four stages identified by Joseph CampbelL^® The ancient

scribes, reaUsing, as C. G. Jung would thousands of years later, that

"religion can only be replaced by rehgion"(Freud and Jung 294), moved

towards the replacement of the goddess, and the Assembly of the Gods

with a single maie god.

The Link Between Sodal Reality and Mythology

Though it is difficult to prove that the dethroning of the goddesses

in their mythology was directly related to the décliné in status of women in

the région, an examination of the laws nonetheless suggests a constant

décliné in women's status durmg the period that the Mesopotamian

material about Gilgamesh was evolving." Just as in the later

Mesopotamian hterature, Ishtar's temple women, once respected - even

venerated - lost much of their status.^* Temple priestesses, who once had

performed sacred rites in the name of the goddess, are reduced to

providing socieil assistance to the unfortunate. Ishtar's cuit, who at one

time ruled the ruled - or at least played a rôle at par with the king - sees

its status reduced to a point where it is negatively portrayed and attacked.

The position of ail women within the society appears to have suffered the

same loss of status. One of the ways we can get a sense of the changes in
 69

status of women living in Ancient Mesopotamia is to compare how the laws

conceming women and priestesses evolved. By looking at the Upit-Ishtar

Lawcode(from approximately 1900 BC)/® Hammurabi's Code(1700 BC)®°

and the Middle Assyrian Laws(1200 BC though probably datlng from 1500

BC)," certain developments become clear. Predating Hammurabi's Code by

at least 150 years, Lipit-Isbtar's Lawcode makes certain assumptions quite

clear. For example, Law 18 présupposés tbat botb men and women can

own property and Law 21 assumes tbat daugbters can inberit from tbeir

fatbers. Law 27 points to the socicd acceptance of barlots and tbeir

cbildren, wbo are supported by tbeir fatbers. In Hammurabi's code, it

seems clear tbat women's status is not equal to men's; nonetbeless, basic

rigbts appear to bave been assured. In Babylonian times, for example,

women could buy, sell and inberit property; tbey beld positions in varions

sectors, typical positions included scribe, miller, midwife and Priestess.

Law 128 refers to marriage contracts tbat bad to be written, witnessed and

signed by botb parties. In fact, marriage contracts from tbat period bave

been found.®^ In botb exeimples, men and women are able to end tbe

marriage. In tbe case of a divorce, Babylonian laws rivalled tbose of today

- tbe busband bad to return tbe dowry and balf of ail goods and property

(Laws 137 & 138). Sbould a woman be widowed, sbe and ber daugbters

bad tbe same rigbts as a son. Rapists were executed and injuries to

women, particulcirly pregnant women, severely punisbed (Laws 209 - 214).

 70

The Middle Assyricui laws, which soon followed, reveal shocking changes to

women's status - women are little more than property owned by maies.

The entirety of the first tablet deals only wlth women and their crimes.

Laws 1 through 6, which deal with steahng, make it clear that women can

have no assets, nor Ccin they mcinage their husband's assets. Women's

sexuality is controlled cind transgressions are severely punished (see Laws

10-20). Should her husbcind die, only her sons inherit and she is to be

given to her father-in-law if he is still hving, or she is taken in by a son

(Law 33). Divorced or widowed women without sons were often left with

neither resources nor recom-se. Victims of rape had to marry their

aggressor if he was unmarried and the aggressor had to give a sum of

money to her father(Law 55). Should the rapist be already married, he had

to give bis wife to the victim's father as compensation(Law 55). Law 40

goes on in great détail about the wearing of the veil. Women who were

married had to wear it, women who were not, could not wear it. Not

obeying led to severe punishment. Women, especially those who were

associated with Ishtar (priestesses and sacred prostitutes) lost much of the

status they had once enjoyed. In bis study of Babylon, Saggs writes: "the

status of women was certainly higher in the early Sumerian city-state than

it subsequently beccime"(Saggs, Greatness 33). The évolution of

Mesopotamian laws gives us an indication of how women's status declined

 71

during the same period in whlch the goddess was dethroned in the Epie of

Gilgamesh.

Chcinges in the mythology and the laws, however, were certainly not

the only reasons for women's loss of rights and status. Changes in food

production necessitated a profound adaptation in social structures.

Though Mesopotamian society had started on the road of social

transformation before even the Sumerian poems were written, the

évolution from the poems to the Babylonian and then later the Akkadian

Epie shows a clear and progressive move towards a society leaving behind

the goddess and adopting patriarchal values. The cheinges in mythology,

though probably not directly resulting from and in societal changes, are

nonetheless related to changes in society.

The End of the Goddess Era

At the beginning of this chapter, we briefly explored the historical

period that preceded the birth of Sumerian society. During this period,

just prior to the development of modem cities and writing, it would

appear that the goddess had been a very important figure. In the first

poems written in Sumerian, the goddess Ineinna plays an important rôle

and Gilgamesh, who bas the status of a govemor, serves her. Our

discussion of how the scribes transformed and added to the Sumerian

 72

poems about Gilgamesh reveals two major points: the independent poems

become a unlfied and cohérent eplc and the rôle of the Goddess

Inanna/Ishtar is radlcally altered. These two changes are at least in part

related to the increased rôles of maie figures, namely Enkidu and

Shamash. Enkidu, a servant in the Sumericin poems, becomes Gilgamesh's

companion. Additionally, this character is the thread that sews much of

the new complex plot together. Shamash, the sun god, likewise takes on a

larger rôle. The later versions of the epic hint at a conflict between Ishtar

and Shamash - a conflict that finds its équivalent in Mesopotamian society

at that time. The traditional New Year's festivides involving Ishtîir and the

presiding governor/king (Hieros Gamos)are effectively replaced with

ceremony whereby the king, representing the god Marduk®\ performs the

ritucds alone. The most striking aspect of the évolution of the Epic of

Gilgamesh is the dethroning of the goddess. And despite the fact that the

ending hints at a reconciUation between Gilgamesh and Ishtar, Ishtar's

reduced rôle and négative portrayal seem ail the more fascinating as we

find out that the status of women in Mesopotamian society has also

diminished. There is a strong corrélation between changes in the

mythology and the réduction of women's status as seen through the

evolving Mesopotamian laws.

The fact that the goddess' rôle is reduced and later eliminated could

have had a profound impact on the way women hved. At first, the loss of
 73

the rituals and of the temple at the clty's centre would have led to women

losing touch with their divine aspect as well as the loss of a strong female

community. With time, the sacred knowledge would have been dispersed,

and the memories of a time when women held important positions in

Society forgotten. In her monumental Le Deuxième Sexe, de Beauvoir

explains that women's alterity is partly due to a lack of a shared history or

religion with other women (de Beauvoir 19). The discussions of this

chapter point to the fact that knowledge of women's history and religion

does exist, but that it may have been lost or forgotten. Moreover, if that

knowledge were not forgotten, would it make much of a différence? In

their study Femmes d'Islam: ou le se?<e interdit, Attilio Gaudio and Renée

Pelletier write about the Toucireg of Hoggar, who live in the Algerian

Sahcira. The women of this tribe are treated as equals of the men, they cire

usually better educated than their husbands, they are sexually liberated

and they are allowed to ask for a divorce for a number of reasons,

including incompatibility. The authors explain: "Il faut savoir qu'une

tradition fait descendre ce peuple saharien d'une noble femme nommée

Tin-hinan....[Ses] descendantes ... ont conservé une allure de noblesse

et d'autorité unique dans les pays musulmans"(Gaudio and Pelletier 85).

The fact that a strong female character(not even a goddess)remains

in their memory bas lead to a social climate among the Touareg that

is quite différent from that of their patriarchal neighbours.

 74

We have recuperated a sense of pre-patriarchal socieîy, and in doing

so have emphasised two important factors. We have shown that

patriarchy and hierarchical society have a beginning and therefore are

neither universal nor natural Systems. Second, we have gUmpsed at an

earher time when the goddess provided women with a symbol that united

ail women and that Vcdorized the multiple phases of each woman's life.

Our discussion of the dethroning of the goddess in Mesopotamia led into

a survey of some of the ways women's status in society declined. Next, we

will analyse the images of the goddess(es) and other female characters in

contemporary texts that reuse the Mesopotamian material.

 75

III The Goddess Rising

Hymn to Ishtar

Praise the goddess, the most awesome of the goddesses.

Let one revere the mistress of the peoples, the greatest of the

Igigi" Praise Ishtar, the most awesome of the goddesses.

Let one revere the queen of women,the greatest of the Igigi...

She is sought after among the gods; extraordinary is her

station. Respected is her word; it is suprême over them....

She is their queen; they continually cause her commands to be

executed. AU of them bow down before her.

They receive her hght before her.

Women and men indeed revere her. (Stephens 383)

Before the large Mesopotamian panthéon of gods eventuaUy gave

way to a dominant maie god,®^ it consisted of numerous gods and

goddesses. In Sumer,Inaima(who later became Ishtar in Babylonian and

Assyrian texts)"played a greater rôle in myth, epic, and hymn than any

other deity, maie or female. And no wonder," Kramer writes,

She was worshipped under three aspects... as the Venus-

goddess in charge of the bright Morning Star and Evening

Star; as the goddess of war and weaponry, who wrought

havoc upon ail who displeased her [andl as the goddess of

 76

love and desire who ensured the fertility of the soil and the

fecundlty of the womb. (Kramer,"Adoration" 71-3)

Not only was the worshlp of Ishtar widespread throughout the Near East

for a long period of tlme, but in Sumer alone, Ishtar had over 180 temples,

(called Ibratue) as Merlin Stone points out in her Ancient Mirrors of

Womanhood(Stone 102-5). This looking back to a time when the goddess

was worshipped and when women's status was not defined in relation to a

man can provide some fascinating insights. In the "Introduction" to

Women in Ritual and Symbolic Raies(1978), Judith Hoch-Smith and Anita

Spring Write:

When we examine the mythological records of many cultures,

we find that an âge of "matriarchy" précédés the présent

patemalistic order. This was an âge in which women served

as priestesses and political leaders, in which the divine was

imbued with féminine attributes and in which female sexuality

was not considered evil. (Hoch-Smith and Spring 7)

Though there are opposing points of view on whether or not matriarchy

offers a positive model for women today,®® the obvions links between

matriarchy and the goddess, and between patriarchy and monotheistic

religions, bring questions about religion to the foreground. In her

introduction to Religion and Sexism (1974), Rosemary Ruether affirms that

 77

in the "dllemma of women's libération... religion bas not only been a

contributing factor [but] the single most important shaper and enforcer of

the image and rôle of women in culture and society"(Ruether 9).

Quite a number of mythologists, sociologists and feminists bave

speculated that the goddess is returning and bave suggested that her

retum will bave a major impact on our society. In bis book Retum ofthe

Goddess(1982), Edward Wbitmore tells us:

A new mytbologem is arising in our midst and asks to be

integrated into our modem frame of reference. It is the mytb

of the ancient Goddess wbo once ruled eartb and beaven

before the advent of the patriarcby cind of the patriarcbal

rebgions. (Wbitmore vu)

Robert Graves affirms that a matriarcbal rebgion existed tbrougbout

Europe, the Near East and parts of Africa, and be feels that the longer we

put off the return of the goddess,"the more exbausted by man's

irreligious improvidence the natural resources of the soil and sea become"

(Graves, White Goddess 486). Mary Betb Edelson sums up the affirming

quabty of bringing back the symbolism of the goddess wben sbe writes:

The ascending arcbetypal symbols of the féminine unfold

today in the psyché of modem Every woman. Tbey

encompass the multiple forms of the Great Goddess.

 78

Reaching across the centuries we take the hcinds of our

Ancient Sisters. The Great Goddess alive and well is rlslng to

announce to the patriarchs that their 5,000 years «ire up ...

(Edelson 56)

In her article,"Why Women Need the Goddess"(1979), Gard P. Christ

outlines the four most important meanings of the goddess symbol: it is

"the acknowledgement of female power as a beneficent and independent

power"(277); it "aids in the process of naming «ind reclaiming the female

body and its cycles and processes"(281);"in a goddess-centred context

[woman's] will is valued (284); and lastly, it can prompt "a revaluation of

woman's bonds and héritage"(285). Mary Daly points out "rehgious

symbols die when the cultural situation that supported them ceases to

give them plausibility"(Daly 56). It seems that though religions symbols

cannot simply be ehminated, they can be replaced. The re-emergence of

goddess symbolism, not to mention an ever increasing body of evidence

that points to 25 000 years of goddess worshipping,®^ Ccui at once

challenge the plausibility of a single mcde god and offer an alternative. If

patriarchy is shown to have a historical beginning, and if it is not the way

things have always been, then it can be neither natural nor universal.

The second chapter of the thesis has shown how the symbolism of

the goddess was transformed when the Babylonian, Akkadian and

 79

Assyrian scribes rewrote the Sumerian poems into the Epie of Gilgamesh.

Each successive rewriting further dethroned the goddess Inanna/Ishtar.

With the rise of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s cind an increasing

awareness of the importance of the goddess as a symboi for a new era, it

is not surprising that a handful of writers have chosen to reuse the

Mesopotamian material in a way that emphasises the goddess' positive

side. The next group of texts to be analysed thus offers the goddess

Inanna/Ishtar as she is represented in the Sumerian and Babylonian

hypotexts, effectively counteracting the tendencies seen in the later

Ninivite version. Some of the texts, no doubt inspired at least in part by

the Sumerian poems, give us a goddess that has been reborn with mciny of

her ancient attributes and her power renewed.

These next texts are grouped together because they reuse the

Mesopotcimian material without dethroning the goddess Ishtar further or

devaluing the status of the other female characters. In each case, once we

have discussed the type of reuse pattem/strategy employed in these

essentially mythic texts, our analysis will focus on how the goddess(es)

and other female characters are portrayed. Michel Gameau's play,

Gilgamesh: théâtre(1976) puts great emphasis on the friendship between

Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Yet, unlike Herbert Mason's Gilgamesh(1970)(a

major hypotext), Garneau does not pit the compcinions against the

goddess Ishtar. In this version, she is called "la souveraine Ishtar." This
 80

may have been at least partially due to his other hypotexts; René Labat's

Gilgamesh(1970)and Jean Marcel's Le Chant de Gilgamesh (1980).®® Not

only does Marcel give Ishtar an essential rôle; he also features seven other

goddesses. We will cdso look at the four human ferucde characters in

Marcel's text in terms of both power and wisdom and will explore how

each one is directly linked to the goddess Ishtar or to the Assembly of the

Gods. In much the same way, Bryson features a number of gods and

goddesses in her children's story Gilgamesh: Man's First Story{l967).

Here too, the goddess Ishtar is powerful cind the female characters are

shown in a positive light. The last text covered in this section, also a

children's story, is Elizabeth Jamison Hodges' A Song for Gilgamesh

(1971). This retelling is unique for several reasons; it is retold from an

adolescent's point of view; it reuses the Sumericin material as a major

hypotext; and lastly, the goddess Incinna - who is here a truly celestial

being - is served by Gilgamesh, here a govemor. Instead of transforming

the myth to présent a dethroned, négative view of the goddess

Inanna/Ishtar(and other femelle characters) as the ancient scribes do,

these contemporary texts put positive emphasis on her high status and

positive attributes. In doing so, they are reversing the trend estabhshed

thousands of years ago. Could this point to a renaissance of a positive

image of the goddess? Could the rebirth of an cincient image such as this

reflect social changes outside the literary world?

 81

"Ishtar la Souveraine" in Michel Gameau's Gilgamesh

Michel Gcimeau's Gilgamesh: théâtre has been put on stage on

varions occasions. Dedlcated to the memory of the author's brother, tbls

version focuses on botb tbe frlendsblp between Gilgamesh and Enkldu and

the death of Enkldu. A transtylatlon of tbe Epie of Gilgamesh, tbe play

relies on four bypotexts, René Labat, N. K. Sandars, Jean Marcel and

Herbert Mason, cdl mentloned on tbe back cover. Tbougb bis major

bypotext, Gilgamesh by Herbert Mason, dévalués tbe goddess and présents

a story fuU of despalr, Garneau glves us Isbtar In ail ber splendour - tbls Is

a positive version tbat Is about bope and joy. Tbls Is alluded to In a poem

tbat précédés tbe dedlcatlon and tbe play Itself. Tbe last few words of tbls

poem foresbadow Sldurl's wlsdom speech and sum up tbe mood of tbe

play,"célébrer journellement l'Immense fête humaine"(Garneau 8).

Tbe students of tbe École Nationale de Théâtre put on tbe flrst

présentation of tbls play from Aprll 1-5, 1974. Tbe Importance of muslc

In tbe présentation Is empbaslsed wben Garneau tells us, "Il faut essayer

d'Imaginer / ce texte / soutenu pénétré enrobé / caressé compris Illuminé

/ dévoilé lu aimé / par la musique / de mon ami / andré angélml [sic]"

(Garneau 11). After belng nomlnated at tbe Festival International de

Théâtre In Belglum In 1997, tbe play was staged In Sherbrooke, Quebec

from February 15-21, 1998. In tbls staglng, tbe muslc was arranged by

Michel G. Côté, tbe puppets were made by Isabelle Caucby and tbe
 82

illustrations by France Leduc. Typiccdly wrltten for chlldren eight years

and older(and their parents), this play features a number of photographs
of Mesopotamian sculpture, bas-reliefs and tablet fragments.

Garneau tells us that he bas depended of the translations of René

Labat, N. K. Sandcirs and Jean Mcu-cel(unpublished at the time) as well as

Herbert Mason's verse narrative adaptation. He also gives us a glimpse of

how he has woven together numerous sources when he tells us:

J'ai travaillé comme René Labat dit que l'auteur sémite de la

version akkadienne a travaillé: en usant fort librement de mes

sources, "Il en retient certaines, en laisse d'autres de côté,

puise ailleurs pour enrichir sa trame, et groupe tous ces

matériaux suivant un schéma qu'il a personnellement choisi."

Mais si vous sentez que, dans ce Gilgamesh, il y a toutes

sortes d'hommages rendus à toutes sortes d'ancêtres, vous

aurez parfaitement rcdson.(Garneau, back cover)

Not only does he reveal that his text is much layered, he also leaves room

for the reader's own intertextual insights. Garneau's reuse strategy, which

re-narrates a classical myth, is mythic. The reuse pattem is predominately

unilinear, with a few minor déformations. Following the translations of

Labat and Marcel, Garneau calls the goddess Ishtar "la souveraine." This

text, much like Mason' in its focus on friendship cind death, puts

Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the foreground. In Garneau's Prologue, the choir

 83

repeats what the singer has said: "C'est l'histoire d'un ami/ Qui aimait son

ami / Et qui l'a perdu dans la mort/ C'est l'histoire de Gilgamesh / Et de

son ami Enkidou / C'est l'histoire de Gilgamesh / Et de son ami Enkidou"

(Gameau 15-6). In this text, the goddess Ishtar does not have a very large

rôle. However, unlike Mason, when it comes to dealing with Ishtar,

Gameau portrays her positively.

Ishtar is first mentioned half way through the play when she

appecirs to propose marriage to Gilgamesh. The narrator tells us: "Aux

abords de la ville au bord de la rivière / Ishtar la souverciine dont le désir

des hommes/ Fait une déesse Ishtar la souveraine / A levé son regcird sur

la beauté de Gilgamesh"(Gameau 65). Gameau refers to Ishtar as "la

souveraine," and she is never described as anything less than a powerful

and respected goddess. In this text, Enkidu does not interfère with the

Sacred Marriage - the two men simply meet and fight. When the heroes

set out to the Cedar Forest, there is no semblance of a religions stmggle

between opposing gods, or of attacking a forest belonging to Ishtar. For in

this text, Humbaba is simply a monster(Gameau 42). Their reason for

going to the Cedar Forest is to achieve fcime:

Mon cuni

Nous ne sommes immortels

 84

Que dcins la mémoire de nos plus beaux gestes ...

Et nos gestes quotidiens se mêlent aux vents

Pour être plus lourds que le vent d'être

Je veux que les temps de l'avenir

Nous disent des héros.(Garneau 43)

The companions are not out to defy the goddess, and though she makes a

late appecirance, Gilgamesh and other chciracters treat her respectfully.

Though Gilgamesh déclinés her offer of marriage, the first half of his

refusai speech is somewhat condensed (Garneau 66). After his rejection,

Ishtar's father - who usually contests her request for the Bull of Heaven -

is not even mentioned (Garneau 67). After the companions kill the Bull of

Heaven, Ishtar cries out. Enkidu insults her, but unlike Garneau's

hypotexts, it stops there. He does not throw anything at her feet(Garneau

69). When the Assembly of the Gods gets together to décidé Enkidu's fate,

Ishtar is not among them. The choir tells us the reasons for deciding that

Enkidu must die: "Ils ont tué le gardien des cèdres / Ils ont violé la forêt

de nos arbres / Ils ont tué le taureau du ciel / Ont humilié notre sœur

souveraine"(Garneau 73). The Assembly accuses the companions of

having humiliated Ishtar, yet in this version they have done far less thcin in

ail other versions. Nonetheless, the Assembly considers that the killing of

the Bull of Heaven sent by Ishtar and then Enkidu's insults now make it

necessciry to punish the companions. Despite the fact that Ishtar plays a
 85

smaller rôle than in the Babylonian and Akkadian Epies, her status

remains intact. She remains a goddess and gets the respect due to her

standing.

The other femcQe characters in thls version mciintain their status as

well. Ail 2ire cormected with the gods in one way or another. Referred to

simply as "la créatrice," a goddess of création is said to have made

Gilgamesh, even though he also has cin earth-bound mother Ninsun: "C'est

la créatrice c'est la créatrice / Qui l'a fait comme il est"(Gameau 21). This

same goddess is called upon to create Gilgamesh's equal:

Alors la créatrice commence à penser

Et de sa pensée va naître une image

Et cette image va clairement devenir

Une matière semblable à toute matière

Elle trempe ses mains doucement dans l'eau du ciel

Elle modèle à même la glaise d'être

Elle laisse tomber l'être dans le désert...

Et maintenant Enkidou entre dans le présent.(Gcirneau 22-3)

Gameau's text présents us with a panthéon of gods, and the one that

created it ail, that continues to create, is the Great Mother. The more

earth-bound fem2ile characters are ail associated one way or another with

the gods. First there's the temple womcin. Throughout this text, she is
 86

referred to as "la fille de joie."®' In this text, Gilgamesh's description of

her seems mystical:

Chasseur Je te donne une fille de joie une fille

Une femme du temple une enfant une enfant élevée

Pour le plaisir pour la joie emmène-la avec toi...

Elle se montrera nue comme la lumière

En dévoilant le mystère de la nudité amoureuse.(Garneau 24)

The hunter's instructions to her reveal the power of her initiation, "Sois la

femme des femmes et toute la femme pour l'initier à jamais /.../ Ouvre

le soleil de ses cuisses / Qu'il naisse au soleil humain /.../ Qu'il meure

dans le soleil humain"(Gameau 25-6). The temple woman's initiation

changes him forever. Though he is no longer able to run with the wild

animais, he immediately understands that something incredible has

happened to him: "11 ne peut plus courir comme avant/ Mais au fond de

lui / Une autre vie commence de s'épanouir / Une autre vie qu'il cherche à

comprendre"(Gameau 28). In this version, Enkidu's initiation is

expanded. After the sacred woman tells him,"Enkidou tu es beau /

Comme un Dieu / Enkidou tu deviens sage"(Gameau 31), he reveals how

he has changed,"Je sais maintenant/ Que je suis conscient de moi-même"

(Gameau 31). Enkidu seems tmly grateful for ail that the young woman

has taught him and for leading him to Umk. It is only on his deathbed

that he curses her, along with the cedar door^" and the hunter(Gameau
 87

76). The choir and the singer tell him that he bas got it ail wrong, and

then they list ail the good she brought to his life:

Une Me de joie une joie en Me

Une femme du temple de la chair...

Elle t'a ouvert le grand mystère ...

Béni ton corps avec son corps

Et ton mystère avec le sien ...

Et tu as marché en tenant sa main

Vers le torrent magnifique de l'amitié

Et tu as marché en laissant sa main

Dans le torrent magnifique de l'amitié.(Gcirneau 76-8)

Here, the stage directions tell us that he goes to her, hugs her and rocks

her, more aware than ever of everything she bas given him, and how little

he bas given in retum(Gameau 78). This text also adds his

acknowledgement of ail that he bas taken from her before he goes on to

lovingly bless her(Gameau 78-9).

Gilgamesh's mother, Ninsun, plays the same rôle in this text as in

the ancient Epie. In the first few lines of the text, the narrator describes

Gilgamesh;"Deux tiers dans lui était comme d'un dieu / Et le tiers qui

restait comme d'un humain / Sa mère lui avait donné l'héritage de beauté"

(Garneau 20). Her rôle is not in the least reduced - she interprets

Gilgamesh's dreams of Enkidu's coming(Gameau 25)and meets with

 88

Gilgamesh before he leaves for the Cedar Forest(Garneau 46-7). He tells

Enkidu of tiis mother's ability; "Viens ma mère est une sagesse / Et ses

avis sont une science / Elle nous aidera à préparer la route"(Garneau 46).

When Gilgcunesh asks her to make a request to the Sim God on bis behalf,

she does this and more. First she accuses the Sun God of having given her

son a restless hecU't. She then asks him to watch over her son:"Accorde-

lui jusqu'à la bonté des étoiles / Et toutes comme des femmes nous

veillerons sur lui"(Garneau 47), She then adopts Enkidu and tells Enkidu

and Gilgcimesh:"Mes fils / Je veille sur votre départ/ Et je cherche déjà

votre retour"(Gameau 47).

At the beginning of the tenth chant, the narrator introduces us to

Siduri;

Au bout du jardin qui verse vers la mer des eaux de la mort

Habite une femme de douceur inespérée Sidouri la cabaretière

Qui garde pour le passcint du dernier voyage le toimeau

De vin tendre et la grande coupe pour boire à la vie

Avant de ghsser dans les eaux de la toute dernière mort.

(Garneau 97)

Obviously hnked to the gods, she plays an important rôle during death,

helping humans see the value of their lives lived, much as the choir, in this

version, helps Enkidu feel grateful for the hfe he has had. After Gilgcimesh

has told her about bis suffering after Enkidu's death, and his quest for
 89

immortality, he tells her:"Maintenant je regarde ton beau visage / Et je

voudrais ne jamais voir la mort"(Gcimeau 98-9). In this version, Siduri's

speech is complété, her wisdom intact. When she refers specifically to the

importance of love, Gameau uses three hnes to say what is usually Sciid in

one: "Il te faut un amour où vivre doucement / U te faut une aimée qui

dorme au bord / De ta poitrine dans le creux de ton bras"(Gameau 99).

Unable to accept bis humcin fate, he insists on getting more information

on how to cross the Waters of Death. In an addition, Gameau has Siduri

ask Gilgamesh to stay with her. She offers him everything that she

beheves is valuable to the hving:

Reste avec moi je te chanterai des chansons heureuses

Pour bercer la douleur de la mort de l'ami

Et tu boiras si bien que tu chanteras avec moi...

Et tu peux prendre dans moi

L'amour qui te manque

Je vEiis te bercer avec tout mon ventre. (Gcirneau 100)

The effect of restating the elements of her wisdom speech as an invitation

to Gilgamesh gives extra emphasis to the values of pleasure and love she

speciks of.

The last of the female characters we come across is Utnapishtim's

wife. When Gilgamesh falls fast asleep, she wants her husband to wake

him and send him home before "qu'il ne s'arrache l'âme ici"(Gameau 108).
 90

Later, when Utnapishtim wants to send Gilgamesh back home empty-

handed, she insists that he give Gilgamesh something. She acts in a

maternai way when she sees how disappointed Gilgamesh is: "Il est venu

jusqu'ici harnaché de souffrance / Il est venu vers toi dans l'errance de sa

peine / Donne-lui quelque chose pour son retour au pays"(Geirneau 110).

Her words cause her husband to offer Gilgamesh a secret - he tells him

where to find the plant that will keep Gilgamesh forever young, that it "est

remède contre l'angoisse, et fleur de la guérison suprême"(Gameau 110).

In Garneau's text, the goddess Ishtar and other female characters

seem to have regained some of the status lost when the Akkadian scribes

rewrote the Epie over three thousand yecirs ago. This is particularly

notable as the hypotext that shares the same emphasis on the relationship

between the two maie heroes, Herbert Mason's Gilgamesh, completely

dethrones the goddess as well as many of the other female characters.

Gameau employs an interesting strategy to stay clear of the conflict

between Ishtar and the companions. He put emphasis instead on the

conflict between humankind and ail of the gods. In fact, several

characters seem to be complaining specifically about the Sun God (often

named Shamash in translations and other modem rewritings). After the

initicil phase of Enkidu's initiation, the choir tells us that now he is bom

and will die under the human sun(Gameau 27). Ninsun's blaming of the

sun god for giving her son a restless heart, as mentioned earher, is
 91

another incidence of this god being drawn negatively, especially since it is

Gilgamesh's restless heart that gets him into so much trouble. His first

joumey leads to the killing of Humbaba and the tciking of sacred trees,

which in tum leads to Ishtar's proposai and subséquent rejection, which

results in the sending of the Bull of Heaven. The heroes then - a further

conséquence of the restless heart given to Gilgamesh - kill the Bull and

Enkidu insults the goddess. Had the two companions not gone to the

Cedar Forest in the first place, they would not have committed the four

acts that lead the gods to punishing them by killing Enkidu {Garneau 74).

When Enkidu hes on his deathbed, he says,"Le soleil qui m'aimait me

montre maintenant / Un destin de grisaille dans l'horizon de la mort"

(Gameau 75). Initially, Gilgamesh does not beheve that the Sun God could

have tumed against them and insists,"Le soleil nous aime encore / Toi et

moi le soleil nous aime"(Gameau 76). Yet when Enkidu dies, and

Gilgamesh is inconsolable, he says,"Je m'en irai dans le désert /.../Je

m'en vais pleurer face au soleil"(Gcimeau 88)as though he blâmes the Sun

God, holds him responsible. After seven days of crytng in the desert, face

to the sun, he says:

Est-ce que je vais mourir moi aussi?

Dans la nuit qui est en moi

L'angoisse hurle comme un oiseau aveugle ...

Maintenant j'ai peur de la mort

 92

Je ne veux plus parler au soleil

Mainteucint je m'adresse à la lune douce

Qu'elle me montre un nouveau chemin. (Garneau 91)

He seeks the path that the sun takes every night, a route "aussi long que

Isa) peine est grande"(Gameau 93). When he does finally meet the

ferryman, Urshanabi tells him,"Tes Joues sont mangées de vent/ Ton

cœur éclate d'espoir et d'angoisse"(Garneau 101). But Gilgamesh answers:

"Oui je suis mangé de soleil / Oui je marche dans l'angoisse"(Gameau

101). Utnapishtim, the immortal one, sums up when he tells Gilgamesh,

"Aucim homme peut regarder le soleil en face / Et le soleil est toujours là"

(Garneau 103). Where the late Mesopotamian Epies have given Shamash a

more significant and positive rôle, Gameau's text appears to hold him

responsible for much misery.

At the very end of this text, Gameau leaves much open for

interprétation. After Gilgamesh's discussion with Enkidu about the fate of

the deceased, the choir tells us:

Gilgamesh est dans sa ville

Dans le cœur de son pays

Et il vit chaque jour de vie

Dans le jour de tous les hommes

Et il vit chaque jour de vie

Chaque jour dans le réel des choses ...

 93

Plus loin que la lumière... (Garneau 120)

This last line, repeated twelve times at the end of the last chant, is no

doubt significcint, especially with Garneau's Québécois and Roman

Catholic héritage in mind, whereby "the hght" is often associated with

being enlightened by God. Perhaps by going "plus loin que la lumière,"

Gilgamesh no longer is seeking the kind of enlightenment offered by

Shamash. Perhaps Garneau is trying to show that Gilgamesh has

transcended the rehgious beliefs of bis time. He has taken the advice of

those he met during his voyage, namely Siduri and Utnapishtim, and has

leamed from Enkidu about the Netherworld, and now he seeks out the

joys of mortal existence such as love and pleasure.

Though Garneau borrows much from his stated hypotexts, his own

text remcdns unique in many ways. He does generate a few interesting

variations or déformations, to use White's terminology. Throughout the

text, Garneau makes references to wild animais, such as moose(Garneau

23), deer, bison and caribou (Garneau 59, 86-7). These are not at ail

mentioned in any of the hypotexts. By referring to cinimals found in

Canada(and not in ancient Mesopotamia nor modem day Iraq), he brings

the story doser to home. Also, he has eliminated the Sacred Marriage

between Ishtar and Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh's moumful joumey is

condensed somewhat when compared to most of the hypotexts, and

Utnapishtim's retelling of the Flood story is completely missing. One

 94

reason is that these elements added nothing to the relationship between

Gilgamesh and Enkidu. In addition, the omissions were ways of reducing

the conflictual portrayal of Ishtar. It is certain that by not naming the

Cedar Forest as hers, and by not having Enkidu throw the Bull's organs at

her, the companions do not seem to be confronting her as they do in the

hypotexts. As mentioned earlier, hke Mason, Gameau emphasises the

relationship between the companions and Enkidu's death. Yet, unlike the

hypotext, this version does not draw attention to their relationship by

either dethroning the goddess Ishtar or by lowering the status of any of

the other femelle characters. Throughout the text, these characters are

portrayed as caring, powerful and helpful. In her book The Création of

Patriarchy, Lemer teUs us:

No matter how degraded and commodified the reproductive

and sexual power of women was in real hfe, their essential

equality could not be banished from thought and feehng as

long as the goddesses lived and were believed to rule human

life. (Lerner 160)

Gcimeau, by reinstating the goddesses in their original rôles, créâtes an

atmosphère where women are an essential, almost primary, part of the

Society, just as the goddesses are in the Assembly of the Gods. Though

the story is, at least at one level, centred on the relationship between
 95

Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the goddesses and other female characters are

behind many of the épisodes. After ail, the Great Mother made the two

heroes, Gllgamesh's mother bids the Sun God to look after them, the

temple priestess brings them together, Utnapishtim's wife provides hope

and the wise Siduri tells him ail about the wonders available to

humankind. The most important message Garneau seems to want to get

across is the importance of life as a célébration - this is brought up in the

introductory poem,in the exchanges between Enkidu and the temple

priestess, and in Siduri's and Utnapishtim's wisdom speeches. The

emphasised, last lines of this text reinforce this message.

The Many Faces of the Goddess in Jean Marcel's Gilgamesh

With over a dozen illustrations, Jecin Marcel's Le Chant de

Gilgamesh: récit sumérien traduit et adapté(1980), was probably prepared

with adults and adolescents in mind. Though the only mention of a

spécifie hypotext is contained in the subtitle, it leads the uninitiated astray

as the story, with its twelve "chants," is not a translation of the Sumericin

poems. If anything, it closely resembles the later Babylonian and Akkadian

versions of the Epie of Gilgamesh. As for being an adapted translation,

there are no indications as to the source text, or the language of that text.

Similar to the Standard Epie, Marcel does make a few changes, such as re-

establishing the goddesses' status and reducing the conflict between

 96

Ishtar and Enkidu. An excellent example of prosification, slmilar in many

ways to Sander's translation, this version is condensed with respect to the

Standard Epie, and there are even a few scenes that cire excised. Some of

the more interesting trcinsformations involve the goddess Ishtar ctnd other

female characters. Compared to the ancient Epie, in this story the rôle of

the goddess is nearly identical, aside from a substitution early in the

narrative. The female characters have more positive rôles and often more

important rôles than in the ancient Epie. The most important aspect of

this modem version is that not only the status of femzde characters is

improved, but that their associations with the goddess and the Assembly

of the Gods are highhghted. The enhanced status of women, combined

with the inclusion of several minor goddesses that are often left out of

modem versions, points to a revzQorization of female power and status.

The other goddesses and women in this version recuperate some of their

lost status, especially when compared to the Stcindard Version of the Epie.

Marcel divides his text into twelve sections, which he calls "chants,"

just as the Akkadicin Epie is told on twelve tablets. He partially explains

his reason for subtitling his version as a "récit sumérien traduit et adapté"

(emphasis added) when he writes in the présentation notes;

Gilgamesh, écrit à même quelque légende déjà plus ancienne

vers l'an trois mille avant notre ère, entreprend donc son

sixième millénaire. Sa fortune fut telle qu'on en retrouve des

 97

versions, toutes plus ou moins fragmentaires, dans les

grandes civilisations qui succédèrent à celle de Sumer:

élamite, akkadienne, assyrierme, babylonierme ... (Mzu-cel 11-

12)

He goes on to discuss the discovery of the most complété version of the

Epie of Gilgamesh, the Ninivite or Standard Version, in Assurbanipal's

library. Though textual analysis points to this version as a primary

hypotext, it is not clear whether Marcel's version is directly translated

from several Mesopotcimian texts/^ Likely this version is more hke

Sander's version, which is "not a fresh translation from the cuneiform"

(Sandars 49)but combines material from a number of translations in an

attempt to offer a complété version that is easy to follow. This version is

'clean,' without the gaps, markings and translator's notes typical of most

translations. Whether this is a translation or not, however, is far from

being resolved, especially in light of an interview between the author and

Réal Ouellet. In response to Ouellet's question "s'il se considérait comme

traducteur, adaptateur ou créateur"(Ouellet 60), Marcel answers:"quand je

m'éloigne de la stricte traduction philologique pour transposer en français

contemporain,je préfère parler de version si le texte de départ était le

français et d'adaptation s'il était en Icingue étrangère"(Ouellet 61). Since

Ouellet uses both terms in bis subtitle, the point cannot be resolved.
 98

Though we cannot be certain as to the hypotext(s) of this version, it

does resemble the late Standard Version quite closely. Instead of

continuing to dethrone the goddess Ishtar, which is what happened when

the Ancient Mesopotamian scribes rewrote the Epie, Marcel maintains the

goddess Ishtar's status. Moreover, he does not omit the many other

Mesopotamian goddesses, as do the contemporary authors covered in the

next chapter. In fact, even his depictions of the human female chciracters

are strongly linked to the goddess Ishtar or to the Assembly of the Gods.

Just as the ancient Epie, Marcel's story starts at the Walls of Uruk. The

description of the city includes a reference to Ishtar and her temple:

"Touchez ce portique ramené de très loin et approchez-vous enfin de

l'Eaima, demeure de la divine Ishtar"(Marcel 17). The goddess Ishtar is

not mentioned again until the two compcinions, Gilgamesh cind Enkidu,

have slain the guardian of the Cedar Forest. It is at this point that she

proposes to Gilgamesh, and in the fashion of the ancient Epies, he rejects

her offer. Likewise, she sends the Bull of Heaven and is later insulted by
Enkidu. In his retelling of the flood story, Utnapishtim does not blame

Ishtar in any way; instead, she is shown to be the first to criticize the

Assembly's actions and to exclude Enlil from the feast put out by

Utnapishtim:

Alors la grande déesse Ishtar tint ce discours: - "Ô dieux qui

êtes ici rassemblés, aussi vrai que jamciis je n'oubUerai ces

 99

pierres précieuses qui pendent à mon cou, ainsi que toujours

je me souvienne de ces journées que jamais je ne pourrai

oublier. Que les dieux vierment recevoir l'odeur de ces

encens, mais que le dieu Enlil reste à l'écart, lui qui par le

Déluge a voué à la mort l'ensemble de mes créatures. (Marcel

89)

Throughout this version, Marcel reuses the material from the ancient Epie

without emphasis on her négative attributes. When there are différent

interprétations of certain events, such as Ishtar's rôle in the flood, Marcel

selects the account that shows Ishtar more positively. Though she is not

mentioned at the end of the story when Gilgamesh shows the ferryman his

city, he does tell him:"contemple de là l'enceinte sacrée où la ville

d'Ourouk est enclose ..."(Marcel 94). As the wall was built for the

patroness of the city, she blesses ail within it. Referring throughout the

text to Ishtar as divine, as sovereign, or with the title of goddess he gives a

drasticcdly différent vision of Ishtar compared to the one put forth by

Gagnon, another Québécois novelist, in his Gilgamesh(which will be

discussed in chapter IV).

Though Marcel sticks quite closely to the Standard Version of the

Epie, he deforms the hypotexts in a very interesting way early on to reduce

the conflict between Enkidu and Ishtar: when Enkidu bars Gilgamesh from

participating in the Sacred Marriage with Ishtar, Enkidu keeps Gilgamesh

 100

from spending the night with the goddess Ishara.^ In this version it is

clear that Enkldu had net set ont to prevent Gilgcimesh from meeting with

the goddess Ishtar, but instead to keep the king away from the newlywed

grooms' new brides, for he had been told by a traveller: "Je vais assister à

des noces. Mais pour le roi d'Ourouk, Gilgamesh, c'est une fête plus

grande encore, car c'est lui d'abord qui possède l'épouse destinée, puis il

la laisse ensuite à son mari" (Marcel 29). Though this variation keeps the

reader from thinking that Enkidu is going against the current customs,

changing another scene - such as not having him throw the Bull of

Heaven's parts at Ishtar - would have had more impact.

Numerous other goddesses cire mentioned in Marcel's version.

Aside from Ishara, there are a number of others who are also related to

Ishtar. When Ishtar cries for help, she ceiUs both of her peirents, Anou and

the goddess Antou(Marcel 53). There is also mention of Ishtar's older

sister, "la reine des Enfers la divine Erskigal"(Marcel 63)and her scribe

Belit-Tseri.''^ In the retelling of the Flood it is Ninourta, along with Anu

and Enlil, who is held responsible for releasing the flood waters (Mcircel

88). Other goddesses mentioned include Arourou, a création goddess,

who made Enkidu and helped to create Gilgcimesh (Marcel 18)and there is

Aya, Shamash's young wife, who sees to it that her husband does not

forget to honour his engagements(Marcel 38). Finally, Marcel also

includes Mamitou, the Great Mother(Marcel 82).^" In contrast to most of

 101

the contemporary retellings of the Epie ofGilgamesh, Marcel's inclusion of

so many powerful goddesses créâtes a world filled with female power and

divinity. In this text, there are more goddesses than maie gods mentioned.

And when there is mention of a maie god, it is rarely positive.

There are fewer female humans in this story than there are

goddesses, and these four characters are ail associated with the gods or

goddesses one way or another. Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother, plays an

important rôle. She is portrayed as being a very wise(Marcel 23, 37),

divine (Marcel 30)and powerful(Marcel 38) woman. She interprets

Gilgamesh's dreams, like a diviner. While trying to get Gilgamesh to

accompany him to the Cedar Forest, Enkidu tells him,"Ta mère, la divine

Ninsoun, taure de la voûte céleste, a enfanté en toi un être unique entre

tous les êtres. Elle a élevé ta tête au-dessus de tous les autres hommes"

(Marcel 30). When her son préparés to set off for the Cedar Forest, she acts

like a priestess as she dons ritual robes and summons Shamash: "Elle

entra dans sa chambre, revêtit ses vêtements rituels et, coiffée de sa tiare,

monta enfin sur la terrasse où elle offrit, face au soleil, l'encens au dieu

Shamash en levant vers lui les mains"(Marcel 37). Not only does she

blâme Shamash for having given her son a restless heart, she accuses him

of being forgetful and suggests that his wife, the goddess Aya, prompt
him to watch out for her son(Marcel 38). Once on his voyage, Gilgamesh

reminds the god Shamash that he is accountable to Ninsoun:"Souviens-toi,

 102

Shamash, de ce que tu as promis, dans Ourouk, à ma mère Ninsoun"

(Marcel 42).

Like Ninsoun, the temple priestess is also shown to have

considérable, goddess-like power. Referred to throughout this story as

"une fille du temple," the woman who initiâtes Enkidu into manhood and

civilisation uses her womanly power to transform Enkidu: "Il comprit

soudain ce qu'il en était, et son esprit s'ouvrit à la lumière. Il retourna

s'asseoir aux pieds de la fille du temple et se mit à contempler son visage"

(Marcel 21-2). She tells him,"Tu es sage, ô Enkidu, ta beauté est celle d'un

dieu"(Marcel 22). Part of her initiation involves his staying with a group of

shepherds. Here he leams more about civilised hfe. He protects the flocks

against the same animais that where his friends prior to meeting the

priestess. Enkidu's initiation lead to a transformation - Enkidu, once like

an animal, has become god-like. The priestess tells him,"Je te regarde,

Enkidou, tu es vraiment fait comme un dieu. Pourquoi donc erres-tu dans

le désert avec les bêtes?"(Marcel 27). She goes on to tell him about the

kind of life he could have in Uruk and how he and Gilgamesh will become

the closest of friends. Afterwards,"Enkidou entendit ces paroles et

comprit bien ce que disait la fille du temple. Le conseil de la femme

pénétra en lui jusqu'à son cœur"(Marcel 27). She then complétés her

mission, and takes him to Uruk. We do not hear about her again until

Enkidu, now on his deathbed, curses her. As in the Standard version.

 103

Shamash hears his curses and shows him how wrong he is to curse her,

Just as in the ancient version (but not ail the modem retellings), Enkidu

takes back ail his curses and blesses her (Marcel 61-62).

The two other female, human characters,"Sidouri la cabaretière"

and Utnapishtim's unnamed wife, are also both linked to the gods. Siduri,

portrayed as both wise and kind, lives to serve the gods. As with the

Babylonian and Akkadian Epies, she offers much to the wecuy and lost

Gilgamesh. She shares her wisdom with him, telling him:

Quant à toi, Gilgamesh, remplis ton ventre et jour et nuit

réjouis-toi. Que chaque nuit soit une fête, que jour et nuit tu

danses et chantes bien haut. Que tes vêtements soient

brodés d'or, lave ta tête, baigne ton corps et regarde bien

l'enfant qui se suspend à toi. Que ton amante sur ton sein

prenne tout son plaisir. Voilà bien tout ce que l'humcuiité

peut faire!(Marcel 78-9)

Her words echo those spoken to Gilgamesh by his mother Ninsim, and

foreshadow those that Utnapishtim and even Enkidu will tell him later.

Though he chooses at the time to continue his quest, it seems at the end

that her message is central - it points to the ambiguous nature of the

gods, and emphasises the importance of human matters, such as pleasure,

love and family. Utnapishtim's wife, who had also been granted

immortality by the gods for her rôle in saving human kind,is the mother
 104

of mothers. She insists that her husband give Gilgamesh something for

his troubles,"Gilgamesh est venu vers nous après mcûntes souffrances.

Que vas-tu lui laisser pour qu'il rentre chez lui?"(Marcel 92).

As much as the goddesses and other female chciracters fare well,

especially when compared to the contemporary versions that we will

discuss in the next chapter, the Assembly of the Gods in général does not.

When Enkidu meets an cingry man on his way to a wedding who tells him
about how the king practices noces primas, the man finishes by saying,
"Ainsi en est-il décrété par la volonté du dieu: dès qu'est coupé le cordon de

l'ombilic, c'est là que commence le destin de l'homme"(Marcel 29). Later,

on his deathbed, Enkidu has a dream about the Netherworld:"Dans ce

royaume de poussière où moi j'ai pénétré,j'ai vu tous ceux qui d'autrefois

jusqu'à ce jour ont régné sur la terre et servi aux dieux Anou, Enlil,

Shamash leurs viandes, leur pain et leurs boissons"(Marcel 63). These two

scenes foreshadow what both Siduri and Utnapishtim will tell Gilgamesh
in their speeches. In Siduri's speech, she seems to criticize the gods: "La
vie que tu poursuis se dérobe devant toi, tu ne l'atteindras jcimais.

Lorsque les dieux ont créé l'homme, c'est la mort qu'ils lui ont donnée en

partage, et c'est pour eux.Jalousement, entre leurs mains, qu'ils ont gardé
la vie"(Marcel 78, emphasis added). Together with the rest of her speech,
Sidun seems to be saying that Gilgamesh should focus on earthly concerns
 105

and pleasures - interestingly, she does not mention at ail the serving of

the gods. Utnaplshtlm shares her sentiments towards the gods:

De toute éternité les grcmds dieux sont assemblés et la déesse

Mamitou qui crée tous les destins fixe avec eux toutes les

destins. Les dieux disposent de la mort et disposent de la vie.

Mais de la mort ds ne révèlent pas le jour, ne révélcint que

celui de la vie.(Marcel 82)

In addition, when Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about the Flood, he reveals

how:"Les dieux eux-mêmes s'effrayèrent de ce Déluge; ils s'enfuient et

montent au ciel d'Anou: là, tapis comme des chiens, ils se retirent du

monde de la terre"(Mîircel 88). Ishtar and Ea speak against the actions of

the gods who participated in the sending of the deluge. This shows how

the Assembly of the Gods had been irresponsible and uncciring towcirds

humankind, Not only do the gods do not seem to care of the mortal

beings they had created to serve them; they also seem to encourage

humans to get mixed up in their conflicts. Shamash seems to be behind

Gilgamesh and Enkidu's voyage to the Cedar Forest. There, they kill

Humbaba, the guardian made by Enlil. Later, Ishtar asks her father Anu

for the Bull of Heaven, and the companions are forced to kill him too.

Utnapishtim also tells of how Ea tells him to build a boat against the

wishes of Enhl.
 106

If anytMng, this modem retelling of the Epie is net about dethronlng

the goddess (es), or about the portraying of femede characters wlth

lowered status; this version seems to confront the entire Assembly of the

Gods - and especially the maie gods. Initiated by the temple woman,

Enkidu says: "J'entends renverser les destins"(Marcel 22). What he does is

to get Gilgamesh to join him and together, they challenge the gods. After

Enkidu's death, Gilgcimesh continues to defy the destiny the gods have

allotted by searching for immortality. He only gives up bis searching when

Enkidu's ghost makes hlm realise the importance of a life well-lived and

shared with loved ones. The clearly mythic reuse strategy combined with

minor altérations of the later Mesopotamian versions of the Epie of

Gilgamesh that reinstate the goddess' status créâtes a version that is

compatible with the feminist perspective dominant at the time of

publication. While presenting the goddesses and other female characters

in a positive hght, this version also calls the rôle of the Assembly of the

Gods into question.

Barbara Bryson's Bold Women and Goddesses in Gilgamesh:Man's First

Story

Gilgamesh: Man's First Story(1967), written and illustrated by

Bemarda Bryson, is a novel for young people. With its multiple references
 107

to the Mesopotamlan panthéon, and ail of the alliances and conflicts

between the gods, Bryson's prosified version is reminiscent of Greek

Mythology. Though it would appear that the hypotext is the later

Akkadian version of the Epie, the author also incorporâtes elements

clearly coming from the Babylonian Epie, such as the reuse of the scene

where the Siduri-character dispenses advice. She also employs elements

from the earlier Sumerian poems,including parts of "The Death of

Gilgamesh." In her explanatory notes at the end of the book, she tells us

that she bas not foUowed a single translation but that she bas "set down

the story as [she knows]it through so many readings, allowing ail the

surmises and the notions that [she bas] had about it to take their place"

(Bryson 107). Many of the over fifty illustrations are based on an

assortments of relies, such as seals, sculptures,jewellery and bas-reliefs,

from the Ancient Near East. The overall effect is that this retelling of the

Epie contains many of the contradictions and the paradoxes of the later

Epie while re-estabhshing the female principle by portraying most of the

female figures more positively. What distinguishes this contemporary

version from the others is that Gilgamesh's transformation - from a tyrant

who exhausts bis subjects to a more humble, defeated hero - leads him

not just to accept but to embrace death prematurely.

The female figures are presented as three-dimensioncd chciracters,

particularly the goddess Ishtar. From the very beginning of this novel, she
 108

is described as "mighty Ishtar the goddess of love, so amiable in her

friendship, so terrible in her wrath"(Bryson 12). Not only does Bryson

restore her dual nature; she also présents Ishtar as a very powerful

goddess. Ishtar, Patroness of Uruk, not only speaks in favour of the

elders' plan, she bypasses the gods when they do not want to support the

elders' wish to make Enkidu, a rival for Gilgamesh:

As the elders explained their plan, the goddess Ishtcir made a

sign toward another goddess named Arum,she who was

responsible for the shaping of human forms ... By the time

Father Anu had given in to the elders and to the pleas of

Ishtar, the form of the man was complété ... And this was

Enkidu. (Bryson 15)

Not very présent in the first third of the novel, she is the first of the gods

to reahse when the "sacred trees"(Bryson 42)of the Cedar Forest are

being threatened and that Gilgamesh and Enkidu have battled with and

kiUed "her servant Humbaba"(Bryson 45). It is in this scene that her

paradoxical personahty is fully revealed. At first, she seems prepared to

call the other gods to help her destroy the heroes: "I have seen the

desecration of my forest. Terrible will be your reckoning when the gods

leam of this insolence!"(Bryson 45-6). But her admiration for them, and

her love for Gilgamesh is stronger than her rage, so she proposes to him:
 109

I am prepared to forgive you, Gilgamesh. I will take you as my

husband and set you among the stars. I will pétition the gods

to forgive you. As the husband of Ishtcir, you will be above

reproach.(Bryson 46)

Gilgamesh takes her offer as a threat and refuses it. The goddess weeps,

and it is unclear whether she is weeping because he bas rejected her or if

it because she fears for him or both. After more insults, she pulls herself

together and wams him,"Beware of your arrogance, Gilgamesh! The

goddess Ishtzu- does not offer her love hghtlyl"(Bryson 47). Fearless,

Gilgamesh lists ail of her previous lovers and their sad fates. Her love

spurned and her past questioned, Ishtcir seeks vengeance. Without

hesitating, the goddess "summoned together ail the gods from the places

where they were, in order to rouse them against the King"(Bryson 78).

She has the force to lock the Temple doors(Bryson 49), and she has the

power to order Anu and the Assembly of the Gods to grant her wish for

the Bull of Heaven against their own desires(Bryson 51). When the

companions kill the Bull of Heaven, and yet again insuit the goddess, her

rage is without bounds. "She uttered a curse upon them:'Woe to

Gilgamesh who has dishonoured my name! Woe to Enkidu who has killed

the Bull of heaven!'"(Bryson 55). Unlike in the Akkadian Epie, it is because

of Ishtar that the gods gather and décidé to kill one of the two, Enkidu

(Bryson 57). In the last scene where we see the goddess, she and her
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devotees are mournlng the Bull of Heaven in the otherwlse empty Temple

ycird. Making no other appearance in the story, she is nonetheless referred

to in Utnapishtim's story of the Flood. In this version of the Flood story, it

is clearly Enlil who décidés to kill humanity. Though he has the help of a

few other gods, Ishtar is not among them. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh:

Great Ishtar wept. She wrung her hands, saying to Enlil,"O

why did I not oppose you in the assembly of the gods! How

could I agree to such evil! How could I allow the destruction

of my people, my children who now he like dead fish in the

sea?" (Bryson 82)

She appears to be ashcimed of herself for not using the power that

imphcitly seems to have been hers to use against Enlil. Though she cannot

change the past, she seems determined to make certain that such an event

will never happen again. Standing before Utnapishtim and his wife, she

tells the other gods:"O great gods... as I shall never forget my jewels, so

I will never forget these days of destruction! Let ail the gods join the

feast, but not Enlil who brought on the flood"(Bryson 85). She reunites

the gods in her cause. When Enlil does appear, he must face Ishtar and

her powerful entourage. The goddess' actions therefore leave Enlil no

choice but to reward Utnapishtim for having saved mankind, the animais

and the plants. He thus grcints Utnapishtim and his wife immortcdity.
 111

Ishtar's desire that the flood be never forgotten is at least partially

guaranteed by the continued existence of the immortalized couple.

In this story, the temple woman who initiâtes and civihses Enkidu

has a more important rôle than in the Ninivite Epie. When the hunter tells

Gilgamesh of the wild man on the steppes,"he sent to the temple of Ishtar

for a certain priestess, one called Harim, servant of the goddess"(Bryson

21). That she is described as a priestess and not a nameless prostitute is a

much more positive description than those that are offered in retelhngs to

be discussed in the next chapter. Before she sets out to tame Enkidu, the

hunter, shamed by her bravery, offers to go himself. But the priestess is

not only courageous, she is also confident and she "laughed at him cind

sent him home"(Bryson 21). Seeing her for the first time, Enkidu

perceives her as "the most admirable, the most enchanting being that he

had ever seen"(Bryson 23). Harim seems just as charmed by Enkidu, and

wants to protect him:

How could she lead this great fellow, so gentle and so

innocent, back to the city of Uruk? Would the people set on

him cmd kill him? Would they jeer at him? Would the king

have him put into a cage and carried through the streets on

the back of soldiers? She shuddered. No, first she must teach

him the ways of people (Bryson 24)

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And so she teikes the time to teach him to speak, to eat, to dress £ind to eat

like civilised men. When he weeps for the loss of his wild companions, he

does not blâme her. Her love for him causes her to further delay the

voyage to Uruk. They first stay with a shepherd where his éducation is

continued and where he becomes friends with and protects the

domesticated animais(Bryson 27). When she feels that he is ready, the

priestess leads him to Uruk by the hand. When Hcirim leaves for a short

time at the door of the temple, Enkidu waits by the door. Attempting to

cross the threshold to "look upon the bride that the people hoped to

choose for him"(Bryson 33), Gilgamesh's entrance is barred by Enkidu.

Once Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends, Enkidu's relationship with

Harim does not end. Upon his retum from the expédition to the Cedar

Forest, his first act is to visit her. Unfortunately, Ishtar's anger has led her

to boit the temple doors, barring him from seeing Harim. Later, on his

deathbed, he curses Hcirim;

G Priestess, it was you who trapped me in the forest! It was

you who lured me to the hut of the shepherd; it was you who

lead me into the streets of the city! May those streets be your

only dwelling place forever! May you crouch in the shade of

the walll May the rain and the wind be your garments, and

dry crusts your only food! May your only companions be the

low, the drunken, and the outcasti(Bryson 59)

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His curse is somewhat milder than in the modem retellings of the same

scene by the authors covered in the next chapter; however, as this version

is written for young adults, this may be partially due to auto-censorship

(excision). These words, uttered during his semi-dehrious state, are

quickly taken back after Shamash addresses him: "Wake up!... Why

should you revile the dear priestess who loves you faithfully? Who was it,

Enkidu who first taught you to speak?"(Bryson 59). As Shcimash lists ail

that Harim had given Enkidu, the latter awakens and calls out:

O Harim, dear Harim, may you be forever favoured by the

gods! May you reign forever young and beautiful! May kings

open their storehouses and spread their treasures before you!

May you be forever admired, forever loved, forever envied -

whether by the young girls or the mothers of seven! May

every heart yearn for you!(Bryson 59-60)

Enkidu's authentic blessing, combined with Harim's expanded rôle, is

a dear improvement of the temple priestess' rôle when compared to

the Akkadian Epie.

Gilgamesh's mother Ninsim is "hsted among the goddesses, the

gentle queen had the gift of prophecy and could read dreams"(Bryson 29).

She plays an enlarged rôle in this retelling and is a powerful figure. Not
 114

only does she have the gift of second sight; her status allows her to

question the Sun God, cind even to ourse him with Impunlty:

O Shcimash, why have you given my son a restless heart? ... It

is ail your plan! It is you who have planted the idea in his

headl May you not sleep, O Shamash, until Gilgamesh £ind his

friend Enkidu retum to Uruk. If they fail, may you never sleep

again!(Bryson 38-9)

When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh questions his mother. Here Ninsun does

what she does not do in the ancient Epie, she explciins to him that, "In

time, dear Gilgamesh, ail people die"(Bryson 61), and that being part man,

he too will die. In Bryson's retelling it is Ninsun, not Siduri, who teUs him

about where to find Utnapishtim, even though she does not want him to

seek him out(Bryson 61). When Gilgamesh retums from his quest, he

informs his mother aU about his voyage and that he must undertake yet

one more quest. When he tells her that he must find Enkidu, she advises

him: "O Gilgamesh, cease your running hither and thither! Stay in Uruk,

my son; take a wife. Have a child that you can lead by the hcmd. Such is

the conformity of life!"(Bryson 93). Here she complétés the wisdom

speech left unfinished by Siduri/Sabitu. Yet again, he does not take her

advice, and again, she helps him achieve his goal by seeking advice from

the gods. After each important event in Gilgamesh's life - his return from
 115

the Cedar Forest, the death of Enkidu, and his retum from hls quest for

immortality - it is Ninsim who he seeks out. Each time she helps him,

even though he rarely follows her advice.

Contrary to the additional emphasis added to Ninsun's rôle, the

Siduri-character's importance is diminished in this text. Here named

Sabitu, she fears the approaching Gilgamesh, as in the Akkadian Epie;

however, he does not threaten to brecik down her door. After heciring his

story, she has pity on the unkempt wanderer. "She brought him wine and

meat and fruits and comforted him with kind words"(Bryson 72). She

invites him to stay and gives him advice. Sabitu nonetheless gives

Gilgamesh advice about some of the pleasures of life, and even suggests

that he get married. Her wisdom speech, though left out of the Ninivite

Epie, is not as long as the Babylonian version of the speech. In a small

variation, Sabitu's unsaid words are included in Ninsim's words to

Gilgamesh when he returns to Uruk.

Bryson's complex text begins with the elders complaining because

under Gilgamesh's rule, his people are oppressed and have no time for the

pleasures of hfe. The friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which

certainly benefits the people of Uruk, leads Gilgamesh to the ends of the

world. Despite the advice of Ninsun, Shamash, Sabitu and Utnapishtim,

Gilgamesh does not settle down and stcirt a family. Instead, in a unique
 116

twist, Gilgamesh seeks out Enkidu's ghost soon after his return to Uruk.

With the assistance of Ea, the king descends into the Netherworld where

he finds Enkidu. Enkidu describes the fate of kings cind servants, telling

him that in the imderworld, the status of the deceased makes no

différence. He also teUs of how those who leave behind mciny children

fare much better than the man who had no son, who "hes unburied at the

foot of the waU cind cast-off crusts of bread are his portion!"(Bryson 100).

After hearing what Enkidu has to say, Gilgamesh begs the gatekeeper

Nergal to set Enkidu free to join the Uving. Nergal refuses his pleas

because "the dead may not join the hving; the hving only may join the

dead"(Bryson 102), and because Gilgamesh has not foUowed the rules

(given by Shamash via Ninsun)(Bryson 93). Gilgamesh hesitates: "He had

at last found Enkidu. Could he now desert him? Could he leave him

behind and go back and hve in the city? Had he found the hfe he sought,

or love, or welcome at the quay of Utnapishtim?"(Bryson 103). He joins

his friend. "But even so," writes Bryson,"his hfe was not an empty wind,

for he made an everlasting name for himseir (Bryson 105). Why Bryson,

who sticks fairly closely to the Akkadian epic throughout much of her

version, gives us this ending requires a doser look. First, the material for

the last section comes from two sources - the twelfth tablet of the

Akkadian Epic and the Sumerian poem "The Death of Gilgamesh"; the

latter is rarely included in the translations of neither the Epic nor the
 117

modem retellings. In itself, this is net exceptional; however, Bryson's

uniqueness lies in the fact that she radically trcinsforms her hypotexts. In

her story, it is Gilgamesh, not Enkidu who disobeys the mies for visitors to

the Netherworld. The Enkidu character from Tablet XII is fragmented,

with certain elements being integrated into the actions of Enkidu or

Gilgamesh. Furthermore, in none of the translations of the Epie does

Gilgamesh stay with Enkidu in the Netherworld. Just as in the Sumerian

poem, Gilgamesh dies in this retelling; however, not from a death that

came naturcdly at the end of a long life that included wives, concubines

and at least one son(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 50-52). The resuit is that

the Epie concludes abmptly, leaving many questions unanswered. It

seems paradoxical that Gilgamesh, who had sought out immortaUty with

such tenacity, who just leams of the terrible afterlife awarded to those like

himself who have no sons, should wiUingly let the Netherworld seize him.

His reasons - the failed quest, his love for Enkidu - do not seem sufficient.

Yet, this version Imphes that, having estabhshed his famé, to be later

depicted in songs, stories and artwork, is a form of immortcility equal or

superior to procreative immortality.

Though Bryson's ending is difficult to interpret, she does offer us a

very powerful Ishtar. With Ishtar's complex persona intact, she gives no

excuses for her behaviour, nor does anyone expect it. AU the other female

characters contribute much to the story, and they are never criticized.
 118

When Enkidu curses Harim, another god requests that he immediately

bless her. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu insuit the goddess - but both also

pay dearly for doing so. No one, not even the other gods, gets in Ishtar's

way. Clearly Bryson offers an image of a strong goddess that could serve

as a model for how women should be treated - with the utmost respect.

She inverts the usual scénario - instead of a strong maie god she gives us

a strong femzde goddess. This paradigm shift, which goes against the

trend we saw in "Subversive Scribes," re-estabhshes the ancient symbol of

the goddess. With her duahty intact, she is a powerful image that many

feiïiinist writers see as offering an alternative to the narrow rôles

presented by the Judaeo-Christiem tradition. The ending, unfortunately,

hints at the possibility that men vrill not be able to find their place in a

Society dominated by such a strong female image.

Elizabeth Jamison Hodges' Vision of Matriarchy in A Song for

Gilgamesh

One of the few contemporary authors to integrate the Sumerian

poems into a modem story, Elizabeth Jamison Hodges reuses the early

material about Gilgamesh in a unique way. In addition to transforming the

poems about Gilgcimesh into a novel, she also changes the point of view.

Presented as a novel for adolescents, A Song for Gtigamesh(1971)is told

 119

from the point of view of a young potter, Abada, who is a contemporciry of

Gilgamesh/^ With over a dozen illustrations of the main characters, by

David Omar White, numerous songs cind fragments of songs and a

glossary added, three of the Sumerian poems are transformed into a

unified narrative. Gilgamesh, not a king but an in this retelUng, is not

a tyrant but a servant of his people and his goddess. Furthermore, the

présentation of the goddess as a truly divine being, without the négative

side often emphasised in the Epie, reinstates the power of the female

principle that has been lost through time. Also, aU the female characters,

from the women running in the streets to Gilgamesh's mother Ninsun, are

depicted positively throughout the novel. Hodges' novel is an excellent

example of a text's abihty to use the power of an earlier myth to reinforce

values différent from those of the présent dominant ideology. Other

elements, such as the clever use of symbols and imagery, recreate some of

the magical and répétitive elements of the original poems. One of the

most provocative elements in this text is the emphasis on writing and on

its power to immortalize. The overall resuit is a truly original retelling of

the Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh that is informative without being

didactic, that is mythic while remaining accessible.

In her "Acknowledgements," Hodges gives us an indication that she

used Sumerian material rather thcin the later Epic(s) when she thanks

Diane E. Taylor, "archaeologist and Sumerologist." Through the eyes of

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the potter, who participâtes in the conflict between Gilgamesh £ind the

King of Kish, we have an accurate retelling of the Sumerian poem

"Gilgamesh and Agga." It is at the end of the battle that the author craftily

includes the scene where the saddened Gilgamesh teUs Adaba,"ail is not

joy today. See how oui dead are carried into the city, while men of Kish

with no breath drift yonder on the slow Buranun"(Hodges 65-6). It is at

this point that the en first mentions the Land of the Living, where men

never die. The fragmented poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Huluppu

Tree" provides a framework for the remeiinder of Hodges' novel. In a

breathtaking night scene, Inanna makes her first and only appearcince,

planting the huluppu tree in her sacred garden while the concealed Adaba

observes. When the heroes confront Huwawa,it is Enkidu, and not the

both, who kill the guardian. Gilgamesh, a true servant, wants the forest

guardian to be free. He rejects Enkidu for having killed Huwawa, because

it is an act against the gods(Hodges 136-7). Later, Gilgamesh, having

retumed from his quest to the Land of the Living, cuts down the huluppu

tree for its sacred wood. The wood is fashioned into a drum that Enkidu

beats during a procession to honour the goddess. In the last chapter,

there is an accident and the drum falls into the Netherworld. The scene

dlffers from the Sumerian poem in that here we do not see Enkidu after

his descent to the Netherworld, nor do we get a report on what goes on

after death. "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living" is integrated in its
 121

entirety into the chapter "The Expédition." There is also mention of the

Flood. Here we know that the hypotext is the Sumerian poem "The

Deluge" as the hero's name is Ziusundra(Hodges 120-1). Noteworthy is

the absence of two other Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh,"Gilgamesh

and the Bull of Heaven" and "The Death of Gilgamesh." In the first poem,
Gilgamesh offends the goddess - this is incompatible with the mood of

this story as here it is as though Gilgamesh lives to serve Inanna. The

Assyrologist S. N. Kramer tells us that the killing of the Bull of Heaven "is

one of the rcire cases in Sumerian literature when the goddess suffered a

humiliating defeat"(Kramer,"Adoration" 75). As with many of the

contemporary texts that reteU ail or part of the épisodes about Gilgamesh,

Hodges also ends her story with Gilgamesh still an active man.^^ To end

her story with the death of the hero, even full of praises, would have

greatly extended the time frame,leaving her with the necessity to add a

significant amount of material, such as the circumstances of his death, not

found in the Sumerian poems nor in historical documents.

The choice to use certain Sumerian poems as hypotexts already

points to a more positive view of the goddess as the Sumerian poems

présent her as a figure that is both loved cind respected, even though her

rôle is sometimes ambiguous. In this novel, the goddess' role is not at ail

ambiguous - the négative aspects found in the Sumerian poems(those

discussed in "Subversive Scribes" as well as in other poems not discussed),

 122

such as her insatiable sexual appetlte, her penchant for war, her links to

the Netherworld, are omitted/® Only her positive side is presented in this

story. Her power is implied through the actions and words of the other

characters. From the first pages of the novel to the very end, she is

preiised;

Here, on ail sides, were great paintings that told stories of

Inanna. His favourite Ifrescol pictured her as a goddess

coming by boat to the land of Sumer with treasures for man.

No wonder, Adaba thought, this tremendous temple had been

built for her house. (Hodges 3-4)

The source of life, protection and progress, she remains a truly divine

figure. She is not represented by a priestess who plays the rôle of Inaima,

but she is a divine créature that makes but one "appearance" in the novel;

For a moment it was as if the moon had dipped close to the

eeirth. From the direction of the gateway came a soft Ught.

The brightness grew imtil the potter saw that it Ccime from a

figure in the shape of a woman, but taller and statelier than

any he had seen before. Deep within him it came to Adaba

that none other than the goddess Inaima, herself, was entering

the garden. (Hodges 74)

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Simple yet effective, Hodges' handling of colours and animal

imagery adds much to the story. Her subtle use of colour or brightness

adds emphasis to her depiction of the goddess and other female

characters. In the scene where Adaba sees hicinna planting the Huluppu

tree in her garden, the description is enchanting:

Stepping with the grâce of a wild gazelle... hicinna's face was

fair like early dawn. As she walked her skirt stirred as

rhythmically as music, while her clocik swayed hke a young

palm in a light wind ... Near her throat the cloak was clasped

with a shining yellow stone ... while jewels of lapis blue hung

round her neck. (Hodges 74)

Despite the goddess' single appeeu-ance in the novel, her presence is felt

throughout as she is repeatedly praised and worshipped. "May Inanna

protect us," says Nammu when war is imminent(Hodges 20). Of the

relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Adaba says in bis song,

"Inanna smiles on their friendship," they say(Hodges 33). Uruk is

described as a "city beloved by Inanna"(Hodges 35). Gilgamesh is able to

defeat the King of Kish "with the aid of Inanna"(Hodges 43). He asks for

her blessing and protection before leavlng for the Land of the Living

(Hodges 116-7). Near the end, Gilgamesh wants his people to know that

"Inanna is honoured in Unug, and in the land of Sumer"(Hodges 151).

 124

Whereas in the Epie and most of the contempor£iry retellings of the Epie

Gilgamesh's quest to the Cedar Forest is against the goddess, here it is

just the opposite. Though it is true that Gilgamesh wishes to gain some

sort of immortahty by going into the Land that is proteeted by Huwawa,

one of the ways he hopes to aehieve this is by ereeting a shrine there in

honour of the goddess Inanna. During the reeruiting of men for the

expédition, the soldiers ehant; "Gilgamesh will faee Huwawa/ The en will

honour Inanna / Gilgamesh will honour Inanna / In the Land of the living"

(Hodges 85). Gilgamesh honours Inanna by bringing baek fine wood,

worthy of a god,for her house(Hodges 91), and he is against the faet that

Huwawa "tries to keep for himself trees so perfeet that surely they belong

only to the gods"(Hodges 129). After his voyage to the Cedar Forest,

Gilgamesh spends five days organizing a procession to honour the

goddess(Hodges 143). It is for thls reason that a sacred drum is made,

the same drum that Enkidu plays during the procession. It is in serving

Gilgamesh and their goddess, that Enkidu risks and loses his hfe to try to

recuperate the drum that accidentally falls into the Netherworld (Hodges

163).

In this story ail female characters are viewed positively.

Gilgamesh's mother Ninsun plays an important rôle, particularly in

relationship to the development of writing. After two of her servants

purchase a jar decorated with a lion where Adaba keeps his songs(Hodges
 125

46), she discovers the talents of the young potter who has already taken a

few lessons with the temple priest and head scribe, Mekia. Adaba's

description of Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother, is even more colourful then

that of hicuma, showing her to be at once powerful and régal:

Her robe, in colour like a fiery sunset... land herl hair, dark

except for a few silvery wisps, was piled high and adomed

with the most elaborate head-dress... made with

crisscrossed golden bands and strings of beads both red and

blue, it was himg with bright pendants like golden leaves....

[Shel also wore large golden earrings, shaped Uke miniature

boats....(Hodges 100)

Knowing that Adaba is to accompany her son on his expédition to the

Land of the Living, she asks Mekia to work with him so that she can

receive news of the expédition via the clay tablets to be brought back by a

messenger. She is depicted as a caring mother, a very clever person and a

good co-ordinator. When the young potter seems surprised at how weU

she has prepared her plan to stay informed, she tells him:"So you had

never thought of that? 1 may be only a woman who caimot read, but I

believe the gods have given me spécial gifts in matters of this nature"

(Hodges 107). At the end of the story, if not for her quick thinking and
 126

her status, she would not have been able to save the potter nor assure him

a bright future as a temple servant.

There is aiso Nammu, Adaba's neighbour, who keeps an eye on the

young orphan, bringing him barley cakes and keeping an eye on bis shop

when he leaves. Even though it is her son cind his compcinions who

destroy his shop and beat him, Adaba does not blâme Nammu:"hi spite of

her son's misdeeds, Adaba realised that he would miss Nammu. "I know it

was not your doing, Nin Nammu,"(Hodges 88)he says. Ashnan, named

after the goddess of the grain(Hodges 81), is Adaba's beautiful and caring

cousin. When he and her brother Saglal are on the run, she wams them

(Hodges 81)and préparés them food for their voyage(Hodges 84). When

they retum from their quest, the youths are well treated by Saglal's family

- his father welcomes them with teary eyes(despite a previous

misunderstanding), his sister Ashnan gives them fresh bread from the

oven and his mother shows her generosity when she tells Adaba: "Do stay

here as long as you please. If you go away for the cérémonies, as we are

sure both you and Saglal will do, we hope you will come back often. You,

like Saglal, will always be welcome"(Hodges 147). Even the minor,

nameless female characters, such as Inaima's handmaiden(Hodges 76-7)

or the "handful of women ... rurming with the men [with their] garments

of red and many shades of yellow made bright spots of colour in the

throng"(Hodges 26), are depicted in a positive light.

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The book's jacket makes much of the importance of writing -

developed by the Sumerians in 3300 BC - and rightly se as the novel

describes the birth of writing, how abstract ideas were first depicted and

how writing becomes a means of immortalizing the gods, the people and

the events of the past. In the opening pages of the Epie, Adaba sees Mekia

giving a writing lesson. The scribe tells him "We must record the numbers

of sheep raised on the temple grounds, the quantities of grain received

and distributed, even the dehvery of jars such as these you have made"

(Hodges 9). Being curions and in the hopes of finding his lost brother, he

asks the scribe if one could use this new technique to write a song. When

the scribe tells him that it is possible, Adaba begins his learning with

much enthusiasm. A poet-songwriter, he begins by writing - albeit with

some gaps - the song that his mother used to sing to him and his now-lost

twin brother: "The fish dreams in the water;/The cow rests in the field./

Heaven watch my little ones,/ Twin hrothers in my arms"(Hodges 153). It

is because he can read cind write that Ninsun later commissions him to

document the voyage to the Land. During the préparations, Adaba and

Mekia work together to develop techniques for writing abstract ideas

(Hodges 112-3). Though presented simply, this épisode shows how

multiple symbols, or single syllable words, could be combined to make

new written words. Having found his songs, including one in praise of

Gilgamesh in the jar purchased by her servants, Ninsun asks the court
 128

scribe and the musicians to work together to préparé it as a gift for

Gilgamesh upon his retum. Though Adaba's wiiting leads to hls being

accused of evil doing by Naimu's son, both Ninsun and Mekia corne to his

defence. When the song is presented to Gilgamesh just after the loss of

Enkidu, Mekia explains to the en and to the population that the art of

writing "is no mystery and no magie" and that "not only has[Adaba]

written [the song] down ... but he can add to it, so that others, long after

we have gone, may know of your great deeds and those of Enkidu in

honour of Inarma"(Hodges 170). To show his appréciation, Gilgamesh

says:

Though we have lost the sacred drum of Inarma, and the one 1

chose to beat it...the Lady Ninsun, my mother, and Adaba,

the poet, have given us a new song. This the guards will sing

to accompany our procession, for the song tells not only of

me but also of Enkidu, whom we moum,and of hiciima, whom

we honour. (Hodges 171)

Gilgamesh then grants Adaba his wish, to serve at the Temple of Inarma.

It is also because of his writing that he is able to find his lost brother,

albeit a bit too late. Unfortunately, it is only after Enkidu's death that

Adaba is told that another scribe had heard Enkidu sing the song his own

mother used to sing to him. Enkidu was Adaba's lost twin brother.
 129

Adaba's grief is at least partlaUy appeased when he hccirs the soldiers in

the courtyard below singing, "Great is Gilgcimesh and his servant Enkidu;

Together they sought the cedars for Inanna"(Hodges 175). His brother is

valued and remembered by the people. The novel ends on a positive note

as we read Adaba's thoughts:"He could hope that the name of Gilgamesh

and of Enkidu might hve on.... This could happen he thought, not only

because men might like his song and learn it, but because he, Adaba, had

written it down" (Hodges 175).

Hodges gives us a remarkable version of a society where the

goddess is a powerful and creative force. She is behind many of the

technological advances, even writing, which is taught at her temple. The

other female characters are ail shown as important, intelligent and caring.

Ninsun especially, for she not only is a great organiser and advisor, she is

also lovtng towards her son and the young potter. Gilgamesh, here an en

and not a king, lives to serve the goddess and his people. Never once does

he challenge the goddess - he even breaks off his friendship with Enkidu

when the latter goes against the goddess by killing her servcmt Humbaba.

This vision of a matriarchal society required that Hodges chose her

hypotexts carefully and then organize and frame that material in a variety

of creative ways. Her creatively rewritten version of the three Sumerian

poems, which clearly depicts an uncontested and divine Inaima, offers the
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most positive view of the goddess in the contemporary retellings we are

studying.

The Goddess Reborn - What can We Leam from Her Reappearance?

In each of the texts covered in this chapter, the goddess

Ishtar/Inanna has at least as much status and power as she had in the

Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh and the Babylonian Epie of Gilgamesh,

thus reversing the developments that had occurred in the ancient Near

East. In Garneau's Gilgamesh, despite a reduced rôle in terms of the

number of appearances, Ishtar is divine and powerful. Here too, the other

female characters play an intégral part of the story. Marcel's Le Chant de

Gilgamesh gives us not only Ishtar as a respected cind powerful goddess,

but several other goddesses as well. Here, even the human female

characters are ail related to the Assembly of Gods in one way or another.

In the same vein, Bryson's Gilgamesh: Man's First introduced us to

several goddesses, ail of who have important rôles in their society. Lastly,

we saw Hodges' A Sang for Gilgamesh where we are presented with the

truly divine Inanna. Though the authors do not ail shcire the same

hypotexts, they ail feature a goddess with many of her ancient attributes

intact. Lemer points ont that,"As long as women still mediated between

humans and the supematural, they might perform différent fimctions and
 131

rôles in society than those of men, but their essential equailty as human

beings remalned unassalled"(Lemer 160). The tendency of these authors

to restore the goddess' origincd status suggests a power struggle between

patriarchal and matriarchal idéologies.^'

In these mythic texts, the reuse of the Epie of Gtigamesh and the

Sumerian poems has a dual effect. Firstly, they présent a positive image

of the goddess and of women. This offers a contemporary audience an

alternative to texts that offer only images of women in relation to men. tn

her article "When God was a Woman," Merlin Stone writes:

It is quite apparent that the myths and legends that grew

from, and were propagated by, a religion in which the deity

was female, and revered as wise, vahant, powerful, and just,

provided différent images of womanhood from those which

we are offered by the male-oriented religions of today. (Stone,

"When God was a Woman" 123)

Secondly, simply by referring to an ancient text that has the goddess

playing a powerful rôle, the texts chcillenge dominant idéologies. By

showing a world ruled by a goddess, or by several, the intrcmsience of

monotheism cind patriarchy are destabilized, brought into question. It is

clecu- that the reuse of texts that offer an cdtemative vision créâtes a

contrast between différent visions of society. Being older than the

 132

hypotexts of most Western texts, including the Bible, the Epie ofGilgamesh

can provide a provocatlve image of society before monotheistic religions

and patriarchy are established. If monotheism was not always the norm, if

patricirchy did not always exist, then perhaps they are not the natural

order of things. In his book The Masks ofGod, Joseph Campbell suggests

that the myth of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:16) has had, over the last 2000

years, a major influence on "the structure of human beliefs and

conséquent course of civiUsation"(Campbell, Primitive 333). In her article

"Women and Religion," Patricia Doyle suggests that the "debate on women

and rehgion [isl the most important and radical question for our time and

the foreseeable future [because] religion concems the deepest and most

ultimate aspects of human hfe,individuaUy and collectively"(Doyle 15).

Many feminists see the rebirth of the goddess as a very positive sign. In

hght of this, Carol P. Christ writes: "As women struggle to create a new

culture in which woman's power, bodies, will, and bonds are celebrated, it

seems natural that the Goddess would re-emerge as a symbol of the

newfound beauty, strength, and power of women"(Christ 286). For

others, the image of the goddess provides an entry point tnto a dialogue

about rehgion, patriarchy euid power. Judy Hoch-Smith and Anita Spring

believe that "a horizontal, or comphmentary model of social organisation -

a situation that levels hierarchy - dépends on a basic restructuring of

rehgious metaphor"(Hoch-Smith and Spring 20). This retum to the

 133

goddess may also be related not just to the feminist movement, but also

the increased awareness of ecology during the 1960s and 1970s.

Knowledge of the constructedness of mythological pciradigms opens up a

bold avenir - one where true equality and harmony mlght be possible. A

large-scale mythotextual study such as this one, that brings a myth from

the past into dialogue with a number of contemporary texts, can lead to

questioning the présent and can also offer alternatives. Were this not

true, would there be authors that react against this newly emerging

ancient image of a powerful goddess? In the next chapter, we will see how

another group of authors also reuses the Epie ofGilgamesh to create

mythic texts, re-narrating the Epie to produce a very différent outcome.

 134

rv Mythic Authority

In the last chapter,"The Goddess Rlsing," we saw how the femlnist

movement of the 1960s and 1970s coincided with the reuse of the

Sumerlan poems about Gilgamesh and the Epie of Gilgamesh in a fashlon

that at least partially re-establishes the status of the goddess

Inanna/Ishtar that had been lost durlng the évolution of the material in

the Ancient Necir East. In The Création ofPatriarchy, Gerda Lerner tells us

that there "was a considérable time lag between the subordination of

women in patriarchal society and the declassing of the goddesses"(Lemer

141). In Mesopotamian culture, as we saw in "Subversive Scribes," the

transition from a goddess-centred panthéon to a henotheistic, male-

dominated rehgion was almost completed. This process of dethroning the

goddess is far from being unique to Mesopotamia, nor is it completely

over.®° hi her monumental study on transition between the goddess-

centred rehgions and the maie religions that foUowed, Merlin Stone writes:

Within the very structure of the contemporary maie rehgions

are the laws and attitudes originally designed to annihilate the

female rehgions, female sexucil autonomy and matrilineal

descent. ... It is surely time to examine and question how

deeply these attitudes have been assimilated into even the

most secular spheres of society today, insistently remaining

 135

as oppressive vestiges of a culture once thoroughiy permeated

and controlled by the word of the Church. (Stone, When God

228)

The contemporary texts to be dlscussed in this chapter bave been grouped

together because, contrcuy to those in "The Goddess Rising," these mythic

texts devcdue the goddess and women. Though the authors do not make

reference to the texts covered in the previous chapter, the dates of

pubhcation support the theory that they may be writing against a new

tendency to portray the goddess positively. Perhaps they were unaware of

these texts from the 1960s and 1970s are simply continuing in the same

vein as the scribes of the Ancient Near East. Either way, a discussion of

how they continue to dethrone the goddess and to reduce the status of

several of the other female characters will reveal some of the stratégies

employed by authors to achieve this goal. Additionally, the analysis could

help the reader to become more aware of how the authoritative aura of an

ancient myth can still influence a modem reader.

The rewriting of an ancient myth by a contemporary author is a

complex matter. The reuse of the Epie is compUcated by the effect the

myth can have on a modem reader. Roland Barthes Wcims us in his

Mythologies about how myths appear natural and ahistorical. This way of

making certain VcQues or idéologies appear normal is achieved through the

 136

use of interpellant speech which "au moment de m'atteindre, elle se

suspend, tourne sur elle-même et rattrape une généralité: elle se transit,

elle se blanchit, elle s'irmocente"(Barthes, Mythologies 198). Some of the

authors that reuse the Epie of Gtlgamesh capitahze not only on the

"naturalness" and the authority of reusing a myth, but also on the fact

that much of their audience is not very famihcir with the détails of this

pcirticulcU" epic. Some authors that employ patriîirchal stratégies, including

the dethroning and the declassing of the goddess, continue from where

the Babylonians £md Akkadians left off. As if this were not sufficient,

some of the contemporary authors insist on fulfilling Campbell's fourth

stage - and replace the goddess (cind often the entire Mesopotamian

panthéon) with a single maie deity. One wonders, especially with the

chapter "The Goddess Rising" in mind, if some of these authors might be

reacting to these pro-feminist texts, or at least to the feminist movement.

The ancient myth, now reworked into a modem text, remains as

powerful as ever. It almost seems as though the very âge of the long-lost

Epic mcikes it seem safe to assume that the vision it offers is in fact the

ways things bave always been. If this were not enough, some of the

authors manipulate the material(the Mesopotamian hypotexts) to

elaborate a more complété vision of patriarchal domination. This is the

case in the six texts we wiU discuss in this chapter. We wiU see how David

Feny's Gtlgamesh:A New Rendering in English Verse(1992)takes full

 137

advantage of scholcirly disagreements in the translations and

interprétations of the ancient epic. We will focus of the changes that

directly contribute to the dethroning of the goddess. He aiso excises parts

of the hypotexts, leaving gaps open for interprétation. His contemporary,

Robert Silverberg, does just the opposite. In Gilgamesh the King(1984)

the ancient king speaks to the reader directly as the Epic is presented as

his autobiography. The author makes creative use of other texts from or

on ancient Mesopotcimia, adding a considérable amount of material to the

Babylonian and Akkadicin versions. There are also quite a number of

variations in the reteUing of certain events and stories. Once we have

clearly estabhshed the changes he has made, we will focus on how these

changes affect the rôles of the king, the goddess and Lugalbanda, the

spirit of the king's father. Much like Ferry, Ludmilla Zeman also leaves out

a considérable amount of material when retelling the Epic. Her trilogy for

children, comprised of Gilgamesh the King (1992), Ishtar's Revenge(1993)

and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh(1994), makes considérable changes to

the Epic. Not only has the order of events been altered, Zeman takes quite

a few liberties with characters and character traits. We will explore the

stratégies she employs to complété the dethroning of the goddess to move

towards a single maie god. Alain Gagnon's novelised version of the Epic,

simply titled Gilgamesh (1986), appears to présent a unilinecir version;

however, doser analysis reveals an attempt to replace the entire

 138

Mesopotamlan panthéon with a single maie god. We wlll highlight the

altérations he makes to the hypotexts that resuit in the transformation. In

ail of these texts, the aura of the Epie lends a certain weight to the modem

texts, giving them authority, and making certain values appear natural and

universal. An analysis of the différences between the hypotexts and

hypertexts reveals that these writers have made significant changes,

particularly in their représentations of the goddess Ishtar and of other

female characters. In these modem texts, female subordination (the

dethroning of the goddess and the declassing of women in général) gives

rise to patriarchal veilues. Maies take the centre, women and other

feminized groups are marginalized. In two of the texts zmalysed in this

section, the contemporary author marries parts of the Epie of Gilgamesh

with elements from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. In her article,"When

God Was a Woman," Merlin Stone writes:"From [mythsl, we leam what is

socially acceptable in the society from which they come. They define good

and bad, right and wrong, what is natural and unnatural among the people

who hold the myths as meaningful"(123). These next six texts, though

superficially very similar to their hypotexts, présent a somewhat altered

View of the goddess cmd other female characters. Written in the 1980s and

1990s, these texts have reused the Epie of Gilgamesh as a hypotext in their

retellings, and yet, the overall effect is radically différent from the
 139

retellings discussed in the prevlous chapter. What mlght they reveal about

the culture that produced them? What changed in such a short period?

MaMng Use of Omissions and Disagreements - Ferry's Gilgamesh

Ferry's Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse, pubhshed in

1992 and no doubt one of the most beautifully written versions "of him

who knew the most of aU men know"(Ferry 3), rehes on translations by E.

A. Speiser, Stéphanie Dalley, Maureen Kovacs, Robert Temple, N. K.

Sandars and John Gardner with John Maier, as weU as Herbert Mason's free

version and ideas from Alexander Tigay's study of the évolution of the

Epie." Préfiguration is clearly established from the beginning - the title

assures this. Additionally, the material is presented in the same order and

with the same divisions as the standard version. According to WiUiam

Moran, who wrote the "Introduction" to Ferry's book, this work "is not a

translation of a Sumerian original. It is, rather, a highly sélective and

creative adaptation and transformation of what he finds in ecirUer works"

(Ferry x). It would have been much more accurate, nonetheless, to

substitute "Sumerian" with "Babylonicm" and or "Akkadian," especially

since Ferry's rendering is even more aggressively written against the

Sumerian poems than are the later Babylonian and Akkadian Epies.

Clearly referring to a single myth, Ferry's version is most related to the

 140

stcindard version of tlie Epie of Gilgamesh by Sin-leqe-unninnl(1300-1200

BC). He also borrows from Speiser's Old Babylonian version, particularly

throughout parts of Tablets II, III, X and XII, as well as other translations

of a Hittite tablet at the beginning of Tablet Vll.*^ His version, clearly

unilinecir, bas a mythological setting. Written in imrhymed iambic

pentameter, with many repeated epithets. Ferry's text changes the style

(transtylisation), the meter (transmétriser) and lightly condenses

{réduction/condensation) the translations that served as hypotexts." The

resuit is a style that slows the pace and heightens the emotional impact.

Its rhythm and répétitions recall oral storytelllng styles.

From the very beginning of his story. Ferry confronts the dual

nature of he who is king, with ail his strength, his achievements, his power

and his insatiable sexual appetite;

There was no withstanding the aura or power of the Wild

Ox Gilgamesh. Neither the father's son

nor the wife of the noble; neither the mother's daughter

nor the warrior's bride was safe. The old men said:

"Is this the shepherd of the people? Is this

the wise shepherd, protector of the people?"(Ferry 4)

Unlike the hypotexts, where Gilgamesh's tyraimy includes but is not

limited to his sexual exploits, Ferry simplifies, thus giving the reader a less
 141

tyrannical version of the king. In most translations, a gap leaves the

passage open to interprétation - that the complaints are also related to his

incessant war games or religions rituals: "The onslaught of his weapons

verily has no equal. By the drum are aroused [his] companions"(Speiser

73). In his "Notes," Ferry admits that the "gaps have provided both

problems and opportunities for [him]" and that there are places where he

"exploited schol£n"ly disagreements"(Ferry 94). The author does this again

in the third section of Tablet II where Gilgamesh and Enkidu meet for the

first time. In most translations it is clear that Ehkidu blocks Gilgamesh's

passage to the wedding chamber - what is unclear is whether the bride

belongs to someone else. Is Gilgamesh set on practising noce primus or is

he meeting with the goddess Ishtar to perform Hieros Gamos, a yearly

ritucd whereby the city deity and the city leader mate to ensure the fertility

of the land. In Ferry's text, the situation is clear; ""The wedding feast of

the goddess oflove is ready."/ Enkidu stood, guardian on the threshold /

of the marital chamber, to block the way of the king ..."(Ferry 14,

emphasis added). Far from leaving the situation ambiguous. Ferry makes

it clear from the beginning that Enkidu is interfering with the king's rôle in

a sacred ritual to be performed with Ishtar {Hieros Gamos). Just as the

temple prostitute had foretold the coming of Enkidu, Ninsun repeats to

her son Gilgamesh during a meeting of the three, "Enkidu, the companion,

will not forsake you"(Ferry 15-6). Though the scene is drawn with but few
 142

words, it appears to be similar to a wedding ceremony, for afterwards the

companions embrace, kiss and take each other's hand. Before they leave

to confront Huwawa, Ninsun adopts Enkidu and places a sacred pendant

aroimd bis neck (Ferry 20). These scenes, along with other passages taken

from Ferry's retelling*^ explain crltic T. Sleigh's comment that "we can't

help reading their affection through the polarized lens of our own notions

of sexual différence"(Sleigh 15). Whether or not the relationship between

the two men is homosexual is not the point, what is most important is that

together they reject the traditions of their epoch. Just as in the

Babylonian and Akkadian Epies, Gilgamesh does not play bis rôle in

reUgious cérémonies and as we will see, the two companions

systematically go against the goddess.

When Gilgamesh tells bis mother about bis upcoming voyage to the

Cedar Forest, she complains to Shamash,the sun god:"O Shamash, my

son Gilgamesh is going to the Forest on your errand, to kill the démon

hateful to the sun god." This makes it clear that Huwawa,guardian of the

"throne of Irnini,*^ forbidden dwelling place of immortal gods"(Ferry 25),

and Shamash are in opposition. The scene where the two confront the

guardian is much hke the hypotexts - Huwawa, here described as a devil,

offers to become Gilgamesh's servant and the jealous Enkidu tnsists upon

killing him immediately. Where this version differs from some, but not ail

translations, is that both companions kill him, not just Enkidu. What they
 143

have done then, is entered a holy place, killed the goddess' servant and

stolen some of her precious wood. By making the forest guardian into an

evil créature, Ferry mcikes two points: first, that as one of the goddess'

créatures, she is associated with evil, and second, that is killing him, the

companions are doing mankind a service. At the end of the section, there

is no mention of the god Enlil's rage(as described in Sandar's and

Krcimer's translations). The companions cU"e pleased with their defilement

of the goddess Ishtar's domain, and in this hypertext, none of the other

gods seem the least bit concerned. Ishtar, who could have been affronted

by Gilgamesh and Enkidu's actions, nonetheless falls in love with

Gilgamesh. She proposes marriage along with ail of the wealth she has to

offer. As in the Vculous translations of the stcindard version, Gilgamesh's

insults towards Ishtar are cruel, his rejection of her offer of marriage is

direct. For once. Ferry leaves out none of the material found in the

hypotexts - Ishtar is first compared to misérable conditions, and then her

cruelty to previous lovers is hsted in great détail:

Who were your lovers cind bridegrooms? Tcimmuz the slain,

whose festivcil wailing is heard, year after year,

under your sign. He was the first who suffered.

The lovely shepherd bird whom Ishtar loved,

whose wing you broke and now wing-broken cries,

lost in the darkness on the forest floor...(Ferry 30)

 144

He goes on listing her prevlous levers, cind the terrible things she had

done to them. Wben he speaks of Ishullanu, he recounts both known

versions of the story: the one where he is turned into a frog and the one

where he is tumed "into a mole whose blind foot pushes - over and over

again against the loam - in the darkness of the tuimel, baffled and silent,

forever"(Ferry 32).*® This kind of extension, typical in Ferry's text, makes

Ishtar seem even crueler than in the Babylonian cind Akkadian Epies. The

enraged Ishtar insists that her father Anu grant her the Bull of Heaven to

punish Gilgamesh, and here even Anu insults the goddess: "Why do you

rage? Was it not you who longed /for the semen of Gilgamesh? Was it

not you / who desired his body? Why then do you rage? / He has found

out about your foulness"(Ferry 32). This passage, especially when

compared to the hypotexts, clearly shows Ferry's tendency to criticize the

goddess' sexuality more than the Babylonian and standard versions.

Speiser formulâtes; "Didst thou not quarrel with king Gilgcimesh?/ And

so Gilgamesh has recounted thy stinking deeds,/ Thy stench and [thy]

foulness"(Speiser 84). like Speiser's, Kovac's translation is not as explicit,

neither does it specifically criticize Ishtar's sexual nature: "What is the

matter? Was it not you who provoked King Gilgamesh? / So Gilgamesh

recounted despicable deeds about you,/ Despicable deeds and curses"

(Kovacs 54). When she sends the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh, the

companions prevail. Gilgamesh kills the Bull: "They tore out the great buU
 145

hecirt and offered the heart to Shamash, bowing before the god"(Ferry 34).

When Ishtar curses Gilgamesh, Enkidu is enraged:

He seized a haunch of the slaughtered Bull of Heaven

and tore it loose cind flung it toward the wall

on whlch the goddess stood, and sald to her;

"If I could reach you I would do to you

what you have seen me do to the Bull of Heaven.

1 would festoon you with the guts of the Bull." (Ferry 35)

No longer member of the Assembly of the Gods, Ishtar's loss of status

means that she does not partlclpate in the décision to punish the

companions (Ferry 37). Though some versions of the ancient Epie and ail

of the Sumerian poems have Ishtar/Inanna on the Assembly, yet again

Ferry chooses to reuse and emphasise material that shows a goddess with

a diminished status.

The next section, which describes Enkidu's long illness, is faithful to

the hypotexts - here too he cruelly curses the temple prostitute, and here

too it is Shamash who tells him to take it back, to acknowledge her gifts to

him. hi his blessing of her, he wishes upon her ail that a temple woman

would desire. This example shows how, when the hypotexts depict the

female characters negatively, or the maie gods as powerful(or at least

influential), the material is altered httle.

 146

After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh quests for immortality. On his

journey, he meets with Siduri, the wise-woman who keeps a tavem in the

Gcirden of the Gods. Ferry mixes elements from the standardised version,

where she fears his coming, with those from the Old Babylonian version.

In this version, she dispenses a very truncated version of her wisdom

speech (Ferry 57), This is also cin important point because Siduri, who is

affiliated with Ishtar's cuit, is shown to be fearful. Again, Ferry, who has

chosen to emphasise the powerless Siduri from the later versions of the

Epie instead of the wise, advice-giving Siduri of the earUer versions. In this

version of Siduri*s speech, there is no mention of children or of a wife, as

found in the Old Babylonian version (see quotation on pages 10-11);

Who is the mortal who can hve forever?

The hfe of man is short. Only the gods

Ccm hve forever. Therefore put on new clothes,

a clean robe and a cloak tied with a sash,

and wash the filth of the joumey from your body.

Bat and drink your fill of the food and drink

men eat and drink. Let there be pleasure and dancing.

(Ferry 57)

We might come to the conclusion here that living well is important, but

the omission of the concept of finding pleasure in a wife and children,

 147

with the possibility of a klnd of immortality through descendants, is

interestlng. The omission of material about the importcince of the fcimily,

found in ail of Ferry's cited hypotexts, points to a devaluing of one of the

most signlficant values of the Mesopotamian era. After Gilgamesh reaches

the dwelling place of Utnapishtim and tells him of his friend, of his loss,

and of his desire to achieve immortality, Utnapishtim too tells him of the

fate of ail mortals:

The simple man and the ruler resemble each other.

The face of the one will darken like that of the other.

The Annunaki®'' gathered in assembly;

Mcimmetum**, Mother Goddess, she was with them.

There they established that there is life and death.(Ferry 64)

Ferry usually ignores that there were goddesses in the Assembly of the

Gods, however, when there is blâme to lay, he suddenly remembers! This

is also the case when Utnapishtim tells the story of the great Flood - and

in this version, Ishtar,

The sweet-voiced lady cried: "The days that were

have now become as featureless as clay

because of what I said when I went to the gods

in heaven, bringing calamity down on those

 148

whom now the sea engulfs and overwhelms,

my chiidren who are now the children of fish." (Ferry 71)

As in the Babylonlcin and the standard versions, Ishtar accepts here the

blâme for the Flood, even though, according to these same hypotexts, she

had nothing to do with its planning. Ferry makes her ultimately

responsible for the flood although in the Epie ofAtra-hasts, the hypotext

of the Babylonian and standard versions of the Epie of Gilgamesh, there is

no mention of Ishtar's being in any way involved with the Flood. In the

last two quotations it is made clear that Ferry only chooses to show the

goddesses as powerful when they are committing actions against

mankind.

After Gilgamesh fails Utnapishttm's test, the immortal one gives the

boatman instructions to wash and préparé Gilgamesh for his retum to

Uruk. In Ferry's version, there is much emphasis on Gilgamesh's beauty,

especially when compcired to the hypotexts: "There let him wash his body,

washing away the filth that hides his beauty. Manifest be the beauty of

Gilgamesh"(Ferry 78)compcired to "Let him wash off his grime in water as

clean as snow"(Speiser 96)or "bring him to the washing place"(Kovacs

105). These changes might support an earlier comment that Ferry wishes

to show ail that is maie ~ Gilgamesh in this case - more positively. The

ending of Tablet XI closely resembles the translations by Speiser and by

 149

Kovacs: "One league is the inner city, another league / is orchcirds; still

another the fields beyond;/ over there is the precinct of the temple./

Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar / measure Uruk, the city

of Gilgamesh"(Ferry 81-2). Instead of ending with "...the precinct

comprise Uruk"(Speiser 97) or "...of Uruk it encloses"(Kovacs 108),

however, Gilgamesh describes Uruk as his city. Coming just after mention

of the importance of the goddess' precinct, this line brings the opposition

between Ishtar and Gilgamesh to the fore.®® Of this struggle between the

goddess Ishtcir and the king Gilgamesh, Kane writes:

Gilgamesh, larger than life, is now reduced to the dimensions of

Uruk. And it is Ishtar, the goddess of love emd WcU", who bas

stood behind and participated in the story ail along. Gilgamesh's

bitter rebuff to Ishtcir's erotic proposition in tablet 6 leads

eventually to the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's failed quest.

Ferry's diction subtly suggests this final irony. (Kane 134-5)

Throughout Ferry's poem, the tension between the inévitable cycle of life

cmd death is maintained. Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu's actions

continually confront and attack Ishtar and that which she represents. But

with Enkidu's death and with the knowledge Gilgamesh bas acquired from

Shamash,from Siduri and from Utnapishtim, and with the complété

failure of his last quest, Gilgamesh rccdises that try as he might, some
 150

things cannot be changed. He takes no pleasure in the lot grcinted to

manklnd, except perhaps in the possibility of attaining fcune. But he finds

even fcime empty when he cornes face-to-face with his own mortality.

Ferry's new rendering of the ancient Epie adopts an attitude similar

to the Babyloniein and Akkadieui Epies. The eomparison between his poem

and its hypotexts reveals that Ishtar, onee eherished as Goddess of Heaven

and Earth, has lost more ground. Everything that she represents,

partieularly her rôle as Life-Giver, is downplayed or rejeeted. She is held

responsible for the Flood,just as the Mother Goddess is blamed for

making mankind mortal. Fenys continuai emphasis on Gilgamesh and

Enkidu's efforts to rebel or escape from Ishtar's power; however, does not

change the fact that Gilgamesh retums to Uruk after his last quest empty-

handed. Though it is not likely Ferry's intention, a possible interprétation

of his text is that there is nothing to be gained by confronting the goddess

and cdl that she represents. Gilgamesh, despite being a powerful ruler, is

nonetheless human and limited by the laws of nature. Perhaps Siduri's

advice to Gilgcimesh is a very significant key to understanding Ferry's

version. Standing on the walls of Uruk, he realises that Uruk is the

goddess' city and that it is within her world that he can find connection

with ail that is living. For ail the effort done to dévalué the goddess and

ail that she represents, Ferry's version suggests that if the goddess is
 151

dethroned and the fragile balance between opposites disrupted, the resuit

might be disastrous for the indivldual, who is, after ail, of the same world.

The One Who Speaks to Us Directly - Silverberg's Gilgamesh the King

Robert Silverberg, best known as a science fiction writer, published

Gilgamesh the King in 1984. Thls long and complex novel is written with

the ancient king, Gilgcimesh, as the narrator. Presented as an

autobiography, this story reworks several hypotexts as well as adds a

considérable amount of new material. In this retelUng, the king considers

himself progressive in his rejection of the goddess' annual rituals and in

his search for immortality. Though he appears to accept his eventual

death at the end of the novel, he "reconciles" with the goddess by kilhng

her hving représentative and by replacing her with one of his choosing!

In the novel's "Afterword," the author reveals his hypotexts - or at

least those he wants the reader to know that he has relied upon:

In the retelling of the story of Gilgamesh I have drawn freely

on the original epic, relying mainly on the two standard

English translations, that of Alexander Heidel(1946)and E A.

Speiser(1955). I have also incorporated into it the far older

Sumerian poems dealing with other aspects of the life of

 152

Gilgamesh, mciking use of the translations by Samuel Noah

Kramer (1955). (Silverberg 319)

These cire not the only texts he reuses or refers to in bis expanded and

extended retelling. There are at least five references to Inaima's descent

to the Nether World, events not covered in the texts conceming Gilgamesh

(Silverberg 16, 26, 34, 82, 96-7). These segments are clearly hypertexts of

either S. N. Kramer's Inanna's Descent to the Nether World("Sumerian

Myths" 52-9) or Diane Wolkstein and S. N. Kramer's Inanna: Queen of

Heaven and Earth, or both. In addition to the above-mentioned Uterary

texts, Silverberg bas cilso relied on a number of historical documents, such

as Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia and Saggs' Civilization Before Greece

and Rome,to provide material for bis extensive additions. This is clear in

bis descriptions of fimeral practices and of the development of writing,

trade and technology.

Not only does Silverberg use a notable number of hypotexts and

reference books, bis use of this matericd equates to a very elaborate

retelling. First, though he does conserve the cychcal structure of the

Akkadian Epie, bis novel does not begin and end at Uruk's exterior wall.

This story begins just before Lugalbanda's®" death and ends with

Gilgamesh looking back over bis life in préparation for bis own death. The

first third of the novel, an extension of the texts Silverberg cites as

 153

hypotexts, attempts to set up and explain the Epie. This extension, the

first eleven chapters of the novel, covers a period of at least a dozen years

and is almost pure invention. The first few chapters speak of

Lugalbanda's death and Gilgamesh's earliest dealings with hicinna and her

priestesses. The complex funerary rites described here seem at least

pcirtly based on comments by Kramer in the introduction to The Death of

Gilgamesh(Kramer,"Sumerian Myths" 50). The multiple references to the

goddess Inanna and to her descent to the Netherworld are much

emphasised in this first third of the novel. Partly based on the two texts

cited above, the goddess' cruelty towards her first husband, Dumuzi,

surfaces repeatedly. In four of the five passages where the story is

brought up, Inanna's sacrificing of her husband to gain freedom from the

Netherworld is central. In none of these passages is her reason for doing

this explained. On the other hand, our narrator has not mentioned that

Dumuzi did nothing to try to rescue his wife when she was in the

Netherworld, nor did he moum her loss.®' Also, by taking the dual nature

of the goddess out of context, and leaving out her creative side, she is

clearly portrayed in her most négative light. The section in which

Gilgamesh goes into exile in Kish where he lives as the king's adoptive son

for several years, is no doubt inspired by the Sumerian poem,"Gilgamesh

and Agga." The young prince leaves Uruk when Dumuzi, the King chosen

by the goddess after Lugalbanda's death, threatens his hfe. He is taught.

 154

cdong with the king's sons, ail that is necessary for a member of the court

and a future leader. He flghts at the head of Agga's army and even

marries one of Agga's daughters. Together, Agga and Inanna conspire to

put Gilgamesh on the throne when he is old enough to rule. This part of

the extension attempts to ejqjlain why Agga and his army besiege Uruk

when Gilgamesh does not submit to the domination of Kish. Silverberg's

version of the confrontation between the two armies transforms the

hypotexts considerably - in this version, the resolution comes after the

brutal dévastation of Kish's army and the humiliation of Agga, not

through the clever and mystical negotiations hinted at in the Sumericin

poem. In Chapter twenty-five, Silverberg intégrâtes some of the material

from Tablet XII of the Epie. Here, Enkidu's voyage to the underworld

précédés his death and is near the middle of the narrative as opposed to

added on at the end.

Much of the rest of this modem version follows the two main

hypotexts cited by Silverberg - though not without a certain number of

variations and extensions. Parts of the Sumerian poem,"Gilgamesh and

the Huluppu Tree," are woven into the narrative at the beginning of

Gilgamesh's reign, as an example of the ludicrous acts the king had to

perform to serve the goddess and the gods. Most of the material

conceming Gilgamesh's meeting with Ziusundra (the Sumerian

"Utnapishtim")is altered, including the flood story itself. Silverberg

 155

desacrilizes the story. He makes Ziusundra a mortal descendcint of the

original flood hero and reduces the Flood story into an account of how the

first Ziusundra sought higher ground (with his peuple) until the waters

receded. He explains that Ziusimdra had resettled on an isolated island

after he saw that the evil ways of his peuple continued. Silverberg adds

yet another extension at the very end of the novel. Here Gilgamesh

returns hastily from his quest when he finds out that the goddess has

declared him dead during his long, unexplained absence. The story dues

not end at the wall surrounding Uruk. Here hicinna has set a trap for the

king, whlch he barely manages to survive. He enters the city and kills

Inanna, replacing her with a more malléable priestess. The novel quickly

cornes to an end, with the king looking back over his hfe and offering his

vision of life to the reader.

The prosification, expansion and extension of the hypotexts can, in

part, be explained by the author's choice to présent the material as an

autobiography. He states in the "Afterword";

At ail times I have attempted to interpret the fcinciful and

fantastic events of these poems in a realistic way, that is, to

tell the story of GOgcimesh as though he were writing his own

memoirs, cind to that end I have introduced many

interprétations of my own devising which for better or worse

 156

are in no way to be asciibed to the scholars I bave named.

(Silverberg 319, emphasis added)

Throughout the novel, we see his world through Gilgamesh's eyes and are
aware of bis tbougbts, At no time during tbe narrative do we bave access

to any information tbat Gilgamesb bimself does not bave access to. Tbe

autbor's intention to retell tbe Epie realistically leads to tbe desacribzation

of tbe Epie and tbe related texts. Everytbing tbat is related to tbe goddess
is explained rationally. Tbis simplification reduces tbe sacred tbeistic

structure of tbe ancient city into a simple power struggle between two

individuals - Gilgamesb, tbe good king wbo serves bis people and Inanna,
tbe evil and manipulative représentative of tbe goddess.

From tbe beginning of tbis contemporary version, it is clear tbat

Inarma's Temple and everytbing associated witb it play an important rôle

in tbe narrator's bfe wben be says, on tbe first page of bis memoirs:

Witbin [Inanna's temple] precincts, one day in my cbildbood,

tbe beginnings of wisdom descended on me,and tbe sbape of

my bfe was sbaped, and I was set upon a course from wbicb

tbere bas been no tuming.(Silverberg 9)

It is at tbis temple tbat bis fatber is buried at tbe beginning of tbe epic
and it is bere too tbat,just before a sbort epbogue, tbe story ends witb
GUgamesb kbling tbe goddess. Wbat bappens in between is a long power
 157

struggle, a struggle that the narrator suggests had started long before his

own birth. He tells the reader: "Inanna did not use the language of the

Land, but the secret mystery-language of the goddess-worshippers [of]

those who follow the Old Way that was in the Land before my people came

down into it from the mountains"(Silverberg 14-5). The woman who

embodies the goddess in the first part of the novel is described as havlng

a very powerful presence - someone who makes Gilgcunesh very ill at ease

(Silverberg 14,15, 21, 24, 38). When the young priestess whom he had

met during hls father's funeral replaces the aged priestess, she too

becomes,"splendid and triomphant and terrifying"(Silverberg 55). The

king himself describes the situation succinctly when he tells us that, "In

Uruk, we [the king and the goddess] were like rival kings"(Silverberg 139).

After Gilgamesh and Enkidu return from the cedar forest, Inanna asks

Gilgamesh to marry her. Fearing a trap, he refuses her offer of marriage,

along with the gifts, status, prosperity and protection from the angered

gods(SUverberg 192). When he goes on to insuit her cruelly, she promises

to punlsh him (Silverberg 195). The next time they are to perform the

sacred marriage together, InEinna rejects the king and tells him that she

will set loose the Bull of Heaven. Silverberg manipulâtes the symbol of the

Bull of Heaven here: there is both a drought(symbohzed by the Bull) and a

physical bull, set free from the goddess' temple garden. The first "bull"

causes the people to plead with Inaima. She, in tum,sends them to their
 158

king for answers. The second bull terrorises citlzens and kills a young

boy before Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it, Enkldu offers the wailing Inanna

the bull's prlvate parts and insults her. Then the rain cornes. We hear

httle of Inanna until the questing Gilgamesh hastlly retums to Uruk after

hearing that she has declared him dead. Upon reaching the city's walls,

Inanna's priestesses forbid him from entering the city until he has been

through purification rites. In this unique addition where the goddess is

again made out as more négative than in the hypotexts, there is a meeting

between Gilgamesh and Abismiti, the Scime priestess that had initiated

him as a young man. Inanna has sent her to poison him, but unable to

carry out the goddess' will, she kills herself. In the aftermath, Gilgamesh

loses the Grow-Young-Again pearl that he had acquired before leaving

Dilmun, where he met with Ziusundra. The enraged king then enters the

city, and against ail customs, goes directly to Inarma. The now-masked

goddess tells him that everything she did, she did for the Goddess, and

for the city. Gilgamesh tells her that he forgives her,just before killing

her. Gilgamesh, having done away with the fragile balance between the

temple and the palace, then chooses her replacement. He himself takes

care of "the proper trciining of her so that she would understand the rôle

she must play in [hisl govemment"(Silverberg 315). Gilgamesh is not the

only one not to respect the goddess.

 159

Aside form Inaima, ail of the other female characters in thls novel

are drawn In a mostly positive light, particularly those that are helpful to

Gilgamesh. The king's mother Ninsun, who dedicates the rest of her life to

serving the god An as chief priestess, is always there to greet her son. She

also gives hlm advice and prays for his protection. Gilgamesh has his

mother made into a goddess after her death (Silverberg 317). Abismiti, the

priestess who initiâtes Gilgamesh into manhood, and who kiUs herself

instead of killing the king at the end of the novel, is fondly treated

throughout the text. Even Enkidu takes back his feverish curses to the

sacred prostitute, telhng Gilgamesh that, "I have been too harsh If it

weren't for the trapper and the woman, 1 would never have known you ...

let kings and princes and nobles love her"(Silverberg 221). Silverberg

portrays her as another of Inanna's victims. Gilgamesh's first wife, Ama-

sukkul(daughter of Agga, the King of Kish), who dies giving birth to

Gilgamesh's second officiai son, is left behind yet is fondly remembered

(SUverberg 86). tn this story, the tavem-keeper plays a larger rôle than in

the hypotexts; here she becomes Gilgamesh's lover. Though she remains

nameless, the tired and humbled king accepts her advice and is grateful

for her help in contacting the ferryman. The flood hero's wife is

completely absent from this retelling. The numerous and nameless

women - from the ones he meets in the street to the wives of noblemen -

are not poorly judged, but they have little effect other than to curb the
 160

king's insatiable appetite. Gilgamesh sums up his lack of meaningfui

relationshlps wlth women when he tells us that

ail of my life I have been tied in a strange unfathomable way

to that dark-souled woman the priestess Inanna, who could

never be my wife in the usual way of marriage but who left no

room in my heart for ordinary women.(Silverberg 71)

This text reveals two major contradictions, both of which involve the

goddess. Everything related to the goddess is desacrilized, robbing the

goddess of any supernatural powers. This could lead the reader to the

conclusion that the priestess representing her is nothing more than a

simple mortcil woman. On the other hand, the author adds over a dozen

references to Gilgamesh receiving celestial advice from the spirit of

Lugalbanda (SUverberg 21-2, 25,45, 51, 77, 84, 117-8, 126, 157, 180, 212,

280, 295). While the goddess is dethroned, Lugalbanda, the king's

deceased father, ascends to a near god-like state. By raising the status of

both of his parents, from mortal to divine, Gilgamesh improves his own

status. Another contradictory aspect of this story has to do with two very

direct statements by Gilgamesh about sexual intercourse. The first,"The

joinlng of flesh and spirit in that act is the thing that brings us close to the

gods"(Silverberg 37)and the second,"by embracing [Abismitil he became

like a man. Or it would be just as true to say that by embracing her he

 161

became a god"(Silverberg 147). Gilgamesh seems to be telling us that sex

brings us to a higher level, doser to godliness. No matter how hard

Gilgamesh tries to downplay what the goddess represents, he is at least

subconsciously aware of the power she represents.

Throughout Silverberg's novel, Gilgamesh describes and explains his

actions as well as other events in a way that solicits the reader's sympathy
- yet there remain numerous contradictions that the narrator neglects to

address. Despite attempts to undermine the power of the goddess Ishtar,

the considérable amount of effort required to challenge her could be

interpreted as evidence of her powerful status. In the conduding chapter

of his memoirs, the "wise old king" tells us with much authority that he
has dealt with the problems conceming the goddess, having killed and
replaced her. He quickly changes the subject cind dehvers his final

message that salvation and immortality lie in work:"So I toil and my

people toil. The temples, the canals, the dty walls, the pavements in the
streets - how can we ever cease rebuilding and repairing and restoring
them? It is the way"(Silverberg 316). He continues, "I bave made a name

for myself. Gilgamesh will not be forgotten. He will not be left to trail his

wings moumfully in the dust"(Silverberg 317). Because he has achieved

famé through he deeds, he asserts that,"there is no death"(Silverberg

317). Though once défiant in the face of the goddess, at the end of his

memoirs the king now tells us that it is "in the performing of our tasks
 162

[that] we ail fulfil the commandments of the gods, which is the only

purpose in this life for which we were made"(Silverberg 316). It seems

clear that there has been a change in the balance of power; the once

powerful Ishtar is now merely an instrument of an increasingly powerful

govemment. The other gods maintain their status and mankind is

expected to serve them. Is it a coincidence that the way to serve them is

also beneficicd to the state?

Gilgamesh in the Garden of Eden - Zeman's Trilogy for Children

In Ludmilla Zeman's trilogy, Gilgamesh the King(1992), The Revenge

ofIshtar(1993), and The Lxist Quest of Gilgamesh(1994), the author goes

much further than simply breaking down the Epie into three semi-

independent parts. Written for children, the books are richly illustrated by

Zeman herself. The trilogy is a prosified version that both transforms and

excises parts from the Epie considerably. Having been prepared for a

young audience, it seems normal at first that certain elements have been

left out of Zeman's retelling. Omitted is not the violence, however, but

almost everything that has to do with most of the female characters. The

most notable transformations involve the goddess Ishtar and the Sun God.

These changes, along with a few scenes inspired from the Bible, resuit in a

Christianised rewriting.
 163

Though Zeman makes no effort to specify hypotexts, she does state

in the Epilogue of Gilgamesh the King that the earliest stories about

Gilgamesh are 5000 years old and that the story was rewrltten by

Sumerians and other Mesopotamians,includlng the Akkadians,

Babylonians and Assyrians.®^ In ternis of her inspiration for the

illustrations, we are provided wlth more information. The front jacket

cover of Gilgamesh the King asserts that "Zemem distilled the essence of

the opening of the epic" and that "she has based her spectacular

illustrations on the varions artefacts, bas rehefs and tablets found in Syria,

Iraq and eastem Turkey - ancient Mesopotamia." In the Epilogue of the

Last Quest of Gilgamesh, we are told that "the 19"'-century artist Gustave

Doré was inspired by [classical literature and médiéval art] to illustrate

Dante's Divine Comedy. Ludmilla Zeman has borrowed back from Doré."

The illustrations add an important element to the story, emphasising

certain passages, elaborating on others.

In the first sentence of Gilgamesh the King, Zeman présents us with

a king who "was sent by the Sun God to rule over the city of Uruk"(Zeman,

Gilgamesh 1). The author does not incorporate the original cyclical

structure of the Epic, and from the very beginning, has given the Sun God

an important rôle. Throughout the trilogy, the author makes small

changes that are not even suggested in the Epies or in the historical

material about Mesopotamia. Most of these changes resuit in the reader

 164

gaining sympathy for Gilgamesh while learning to despise the goddess

Ishtar. Gilgamesh's acts of cruelty towards his people and towards Ishtar

are explcdned thus;"He had everythlng but friends. He was always alone.

Because of this he grew bitter and cruel"(Zeman, Gilgamesh 1). His

attacking and killing of Humbaba is clearly justlfied, as in this version the

latter is clearly a monster and has attacked the city of Uruk and after

having killed Shamhat(the woman that had brought Enkidu and

Gilgamesh together). Though the goddess Ishtar does not appear until

cifter the killing of Humbaba (half-way through the second book in the

trilogy), the reader understands Gilgamesh's disdain towards her as she

does nothing but take revenge on Gilgamesh after he refuses her marriage

offer.

The goddess, who plays an ambiguous rôle in the ancient Epie, is

here completely deprived of her positive qualities. In the scene where

Ishtar proposes to Gilgamesh, she tells him: "It was I who sent the winds

to help you. Come with me and be my husband. ... The kings of the

earth will bow down and kiss your feet"(Zeman, The Revenge 9). Though

her words seem benevolent, the illustration of the claw-footed goddess

and Gilgamesh's harsh words,"You do not tempt me with your riches or

power"(Zemcm, The Revenge 10), easily lead the reader to beheve that

Gilgamesh is only resisting some form of devilish trickery, Another scene

where Zeman portrays Ishtar negatively is when Ishtar seeks her revenge
 165

on the king by flying into the city riding the Bull of Heaven. Zeman's vivid

illustration shows the Bull dominating its vlctims, surrounded by the

débris of recently destroyed buildings(Zeman, The Revenge 15). When the

heroes prevail, Enkidu throws the Bull's tail at the Goddess. "For a second

time," Zeman writes, "Gilgamesh had gone against her. Now he would be a

greater hero than ever"(Zeman, The Revenge 16). This statement makes it

clear that there are two sides. On the one side, there is the heroic king

and on the other, there is the temptress and destroyer, Ishtar. To

emphasise the goddess' evil nature, ail of the drawings of Ishtar during

this épisode show the goddess with clawed hands and feet, bat-wings and

medusa-like hair, against hellishly coloured backgrounds. The scenes that

feature Gilgamesh and Enkidu, on the other hand, are predominately

coloured in blues, green and gold. As Zeman bas practically eliminated

the Mesopotamian panthéon, it has to be Ishtar, and not the Assembly of

the Gods, who sends a terrible illness upon Enkidu. Ishtar's final

appecU"ance takes place on Gilgamesh's retum from his final quest. She is

disguised as a serpent cind stecds the plcint that grants eternal youth from

Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh tells her, who now has the body of a huge serpent

with the goddess' head (and a fanged smile), "IshtcU", you wicked one

You killed my friend Enkidu. Now you have killed hope"(Zeman, Last

Quest 20). This modification to the Epie, which créâtes a link between the

goddess and the serpent, points to Genesis (3:1-14) as another hypotext.

 166

Other female figures from the ancient Epie are either left out or play

reduced rôles, except for a single female character, the woman who

initiâtes Enkidu. Ninsun, Gilgcimesh's mother, is completely absent from

this retelling as is Umapishtim's wife, who is mentioned only once in

reference to the Flood story. The goddess who created Enkidu in most

hypotexts does not exist in Zeman's version; here it is the Sun God who

has created Enkidu. The wine maiden Siduri is little changed from the

Akkadian epic. As in the ancient Epie, she fears Gilgamesh at first, but

then helps him and gives him some advice. Her wisdom speech is

shortened drastically and leaves out aU référencés to the importance of

family: "Give up the search. Stay with me. I am Siduri. I make wine for

the Gods. Drink, dance and be happy"(Zeman, Last Quest 7). Zeman's

approach of eliminating, reducing or replacing the rôles played by the

female characters in the hypotexts leads to cm increasingly male-centred

text.

In a unique transformation, the temple priestess from ancient texts,

here named Shcunhat, is transformed from an ambiguous to a clearly

positive figure! To achieve this, Zeman's strategy first tnvolves erasing

traces of the goddess cuit or of prostitution from Shamhat's rôle. In this

trilogy, she is a singer and musician. She is sent out to lure Enkidu "wlth

her songs and charms"(Zeman, Gilgamesh 7). After their initial meeting,

"Shamhat taught him to speak and to sing and she fell in love with him"
 167

(Zeman, Gilgamesh 10). After the meeting of Gilgcimesh and Enkidu, the

three become inséparable:"On quiet evenlngs Shamhat liked to go eut on

the river with Enkidu and listen while he cind Gilgamesh planned how they

might make the city a happier place"(Zeman, Gilgamesh 21). Unlike in

the ancient epics, Shamhat does not disappear once her task of bringing

Enkidu to Uruk is accomplished. At the beginning of the second book,

Zeman writes: "Everyone loved Shamhat. She had brought Enkidu to Uruk

and peace to the city. People passing outside the palace stopped to hsten

to her voice and were grateful"(Zeman, The Revenge 1). When Shamhat's

ghost(as a bird-hke spirit or angel) comes back to accompany Enkidu's

ghost to the Underworld he protests:"Why did you bring me to this city to

die? I was happy in the forest before I met you"(Zeman, The Revenge 20).

She herself cmswers, reminding him of ail that his coming to the city gave

him. At the beginning of the third book, the exhausted Gilgamesh is

awoken by the spirit of Shamhat who urges him on, telling him where to

follow the path of the Sim God. Shamhat is the only character whom

Zeman does not eltminate or reduce, but her rôle is nonetheless greatly

altered. With ail associations with the goddess removed, she is positively

viewed for bringing the heroes together and for entert2dning the men with

her songs and music. Her death and résurrection as an angel" add an

entirely new element to the story, adding another connection to the

Christian tradition.
 168

There are numerous other éléments that point to the Bible as

another hypotext. First, Zeman moves towards monotheism by having the

Sun God replace the rôle of the entire panthéon, including the goddess.

Gilgamesh is chosen to rule Uruk by the Sun God, and not the goddess

Ishtar. It is also to the Sun God, and not the Assembly, that the people

pray to when they need relief from the tyrannical king(Zeman, Gilgamesh

4). In addition, it is he, and not the goddess Aruru, who créâtes Enkidu

and gives him hfe(Zeman, Gilgamesh 5). Later when Gilgamesh seeks out

Utnapishtim, he follows the path of the Sun God (Zeman, Last Quest 3)that

eventually leads to the Sun God's fantastic garden(and not the Garden of

the gods). Second, when Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that the gods sent

the Flood because "the people became evil"(Zeman, Last Quest 14), we cire

reminded of the reason behind the biblical flood.®^ Third, Zeman créâtes a

world where angels coexist with humans, a situation explored in many

Christian writings. With both Shamhat and Enkidu being transformed into

angel-like birds after their death, Zeman bas clearly broken away from the

Mesopotamian texts. The Epilogue of Gilgamesh the King states:"Some of

the stories in the Old Testciment are said to share similar origins to the

epic of Gilgamesh. Mesopotamia is believed to be the setting for the

Garden of Eden and the birthplace of Abrahcim." Combined with the scene

where the Serpent-Goddess eats the plant that grants youth, this no doubt
 169

leads more than one reader to the conclusion that Zeman's version has the

Bible as a secondary hypotext.

With ail of the transformations, Zeman's re-creation of the Epie does

not respect two of the most important elements of the Akkadian Epie,

neither the fragile balance between the goddess Ishtar and Gilgamesh, nor

the cychcal structure of the Epie that reinforces the importance of that

balance. Though a little more difficult to deal with, from Gilgamesh's

point-of-view, the goddess Ishtar is just another obstacle. By confronting

her, not once but twice, Gilgcimesh becomes "a greater hero than ever"

(Zeman, The Revenge 16). Though Zeman does attempt to reuse the

cyclical structure of the ancient Epie, the framing structure it limited only

to the thtrd book in the trilogy. It reinforces the dominant rôle of the king

at the expense of the goddess. The opening cind closing cover of The Last

Quest of Gilgamesh each contain drawn reproductions of a bas-rehef of

Gilgamesh'^ and an illustration of a clay-like tablet with English writing.

The first tablet states, "Gilgamesh, the powerful king of the ancient city of

Uruk, set out on his last quest: to find the secret of immortahty. The

search took him on a long and difficult joumey." The tablet at the end of

the book says,"And so King Gilgamesh reigned in Uruk much loved by his

people until he died. But after 5,000 years his name still Uves because of

his courage cind great deeds." Gilgamesh achieves immortahty, not by

leaving behind children, but because of "the city[he] built, the courage [he]
 170

showed, the good [he has] done" (Zeman, Last Quest 21). He is

recommended for the building of a city that nearly destroyed his people,
for confronting (and sometimes killing) numerous opponents(including
Ishtar). The tablets only speak of Gilgamesh and say nothing of the

goddess.

Though presented as though it was a retelling of the ancient epic for

children, Zeman's trilogy manipulâtes the original material in a number of

ways. First, she displaces the féminine while valorizing the maie. The

goddess is completely dethroned. The other female characters, with the

exception of Shamhat, are reduced or eliminated. Shamhat, nonetheless,

plays only a supporting rôle. On the other hcuid, Zeman does everything
to have the reader sympathise with Gilgamesh and Enkidu. She also

expands the rôle of the Sun God, having him replace the entire

Mesopotamian panthéon. This change towards monotheism is but one

part of her général move towards Christianising the Epic of Gilgamesh It

is almost as though Zeman sought to continue on the evolutionary path
set up in Ancient Mesopotamia. Her version complétés the trend by

ehminating the goddess and setting a single maie god in her place.
 171

The Goddess is Dead; Long live the God - Gagnon's Gilgamesh

Alain Gagnon's Gilgamesh, presented as a short novel, is described

as a retelling of the Epie of Gilgamesh: "j'ai tenté, peut-être en vain, de te

répéter les paroles de l'ange qui tait son nom"(Gagnon, Avant-Propos).

This version, without any notes or references as to its hypotext(s) except
for a single reference to Mesopotamia in the Foreword, clearly re-narrates

the Bahylonian and Akkadian Epies. Closely resembUng the Ninivite

version, this story recounts cdl the major épisodes except for the "Death of

Gilgamesh"(Tablet XII). From the Bahylonian version, it borrows part of

Siduri's vvisdom speech. Another excellent example of prosification, this

four-chapter novel does not integrate the poetic devices common to the

translations, aside from the repeating of the occasional segment, which

emphasises the passage in question.

As in the case of the other texts analysed in this chapter, we will

compare this text to its hypotexts, paying particular attention to the

portrayals of the goddess cmd other female characters. With the exception
of the tavern-keeper, this version systematically ehminates or reduces the

rôles played by female characters. In the case of the woman that initiâtes

Enkidu, we wiU look at the insults Enkidu directs at her that meike her cin

even less appealing character than she is in the Ninivite Epie. The goddess
Ishtar is also further dethroned. We will see how Gagnon leaves only her
 172

négative attributes intact. Finally, we will «dso look at how Gagnon tries to

replace Ishtar with another god.

The épisode with the tavem-keeper is the only encounter that

Gilgamesh bas with a female character that could be considered positive.

In this version, Gilgamesh leaves Unik and wanders aimlessly. The

condensed voyage that leads to the tavern-keeper includes none of the

challenges of the Epic's quest, such as the scorpion couple or the dark

turmel that separates day from night. Though she is afraid at first glance,

the unnamed tavem-keeper becomes Gilgamesh's lover. Tciking pity on

him, she shares her wisdom with him and when he insists on continuing

his aimless quest, she tells him about Urshanabi and Utnapishtim. As in

the Epie, Gilgamesh goes on to meet with Utnapishtim, who tells him the

story of the Elood, and soon forgets about the tavem-keeper.

Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother and one of Ishtar's priestesses in the

hypotexts, does not even exist in this version.®® Where Gilgamesh sees his

mother for comfort and to have her decipher his dreams at the beginning

of the ancient Epie, here it is a nameless servant-woman that acts as seer,

interpreting his dreams and foretelling Enkidu's arrivai.

The relationship between Enkidu and the temple priestess described

as a prostitute in this retelling is also altered in Gagnon's version.

Enkidu's initiator, with her "sciences d'Ishtar"(Gagnon 15)cmd "toutes les

 173

caresses que lui avaient apprises les temples"(Gagnon 16)is cruelly

cursed by Enkidu immediately after his initiation:

Maudite sois-tu, femelle, à paroles de miel,je n'ai plus ni toit

ni compagnons, la solitude sera désormais mon lot et les

milliers de questions que tes mots ont entraînées, se

précipitent sous mon crâne et me rendent insensé, car plus

rien n'a de sens et je ne reconnais plus rien. (Gagnon 18)

Though still very early on in the story, already two things cire clear: the

female characters are either eliminated or described in a much more

négative light, and there are parallels drawn between this version and the

Old Testament, beginning with a Fall(Genesis 3). After accepting the

blcime, the prostitute nonetheless consoles him and préparés him for his

meeting with Gilgamesh. Later in Gagnon's story, after Enkidu is gravely

injured riding one of Huwawa's horses(an altération), he curses the cedar

door cmd the himter, but none so virulently as he curses the prostitute

who had initiated him:

Et toi, chienne des temples, aux mamelons teints de pourpre,

au fruit rouge et humide entre les jambes, puissent tes colhers

scintillants t'étrangler, et ta voix s'éteindre,.... Je te maudis,

toi, femme,la plus coupable entre tous!(Gagnon 40)

 174

Shamash tells him not to blâme her, after ail she was but a pawn of the

gods, but Enkidu never takes back the curse, nor does he bless her, as he

does in the ancient Epie. An ambiguous character in the Mesopotamian

epics, Gagnon's transforms the temple woman into a devions prostitute.

This is nothing comp£U"ed to the way Gagnon has the goddess treated

in the text. Each time her name is mentioned, there is either an ironie tone

or there are insults attaehed: .. Ishtar, la divine putain au regard de

serpent qui faseine"(Gagnon 44), "attisèrent la lubrieité d'Ishtar, la

ehienne.. (Gagnon 44)and "Ishtar la laseive"(Gagnon 57). These insults

are minor when eompared to how she is portrayed and how she is treated

in the story. Firstly, as with the prostitute, everything saered surrounding

the Ishtar eult has been ehminated, starting with the saered marriage.

There is no mention of Hieros Gamos or noce primas in this retelling.

Ishtar enters the seene crfter Gilgamesh and his war party have killed or

taken as hostages ciU of Huwawa's troops and his women,and have bumed

down his two eities and the Cedar Forest:

Surgissemt de nulle part et ayant pris forme de femme à

fouetter le sang des ehevaux et des hommes, elle se dressa

dans le désert et s'adressa à lui de sa voix de miel: "Viens

vers moi, Gilgamesh ... et sois mon amant..."(Gagnon 28-9)

 175

Gagnon leaves out none of the détails in Gilgamesh's rejection of Ishtcir's

proposai from the hypotext: "Me crois-tu assez fou pour t'épouser? Tu

n'es qu'un brasier qui s'éteint lorsque descend la nuit du désert,,,, Une

sandale qui blesse le pied du marcheur.... À quel amant as-tu été fidèle?
Lequel de tes jeunes pâtres t'a plu pour toujours?" (Gagnon 29-30).

Gilgamesb then enumerates ail ber past lovers and bow sbe bas mistreated

eacb one of tbem. As in the Epie, ber fatber grants ber tbe Bull of Heaven

so tbat sbe can punisb Gilgamesb. Here, even tbe Bull of Heaven is drawn

as more evil, more destructive tban in tbe Mesopotamian Epie. After tbe

companions kill tbe Bull of Heaven,"Enkidu empoigna la verge raidie dans

la mort du Taureau et la lança à travers le visage de la déesse, en ricanant:

"Voilà de quoi te satisfaire et retrouver la joie.. (Gagnon 35). His

insults, tbe most explicit of any translation or re-narration, cause Isbtar to

retreat witb ber followers. Tbeir lamentations, bowever, are oversbadowed

by tbe festivities organized by Gilgamesb (to celebrate tbe killing of tbe

Bull of Heaven). Anotber example of bow Gagnon alters tbe hypotext in a

minor way to significantly transform perceptions of tbe goddess, is bow be

makes ber directly responsible for tbe deatb of Enkidu and tbe subséquent

suffering of Gilgamesb. Unlike in tbe Epie, Isbtar is not only a member of

tbe Assembly, bere sbe also asks tbe otber gods to kill Enkidu in order to

make Gilgamesb suffer(Gagnon 36-7). Wben Enkidu awakens tbe next

moming, be recounts bis dream about a meeting of tbe Assembly of tbe

 176

Gods to Gilgamesh. The next chapter begins with Ishtar and her followers

being commanded by the king to abandon their mourning the Bull of

Heaven and to grieve Enkidu instead. As this would not bave been possible

in the ancient texts as Gilgamesh served Ishtar, Gagnon's version inverts

the usual power structure. In a later épisode where Utnapishtim tells

Gilgamesh how he attained immortality, Ishtar is among the gods he lists

as having organized the Flood. When Utnapishtim explains that he had

saved mankind after being forewamed by the god Ea, his brief mention of

Ishtar assigns blâme; "Sans prendre soin des propos hypocrites de la

grande déesse - n'était-ce pas elle qui avait fléchi la volonté de son père et

décidé ce dernier à ouvrir les vannes du ciel?" (Gagnon 69). At the end of

the Babylonian and Akkadian Epies, where Gilgamesh usually points to the

varions parts of the city, Ishtar's Temple and its district are shown to be

important. Here, Gilgamesh's description, given to Urshanabi before they

arrive in Uruk, says nothing about the goddess or the temple precinct. The

Patroness of Uruk, the once loved Goddess of Love and War, has been

completely dethroned in this version. If she has been dethroned, who has

taken her seat?

Gagnon's prologue ends with a quote that recalls the Bible,

"Souviens-toi, ô homme,que tu es lumière et que tu redeviendras

lumière."®'' The intertextual reference préfigurés the intégration of

elements from the Bible in his version. As mentioned above, Enkidu's

 177

cursing the prostitute for his new awareness is clearly parallel to the Fall

that follows Eve's sharing of the apple with Adam (Genesis 3). As writes

Bosshard of the Epie, "La condamnation de la [courtisane] par qui le

malheur arrive ressemble étrangement à l'accusation d'Ève pour avoir été

la 'première pécheresse' et 'séductrice de l'homme'"(Bosshard 153-4).

UnUke the translations of the Epie, Gagnon's version further reinforces this

point as Enkidu curses her immediately after his initiation as well as on hls

deathbed. Another interesting parallel is that Gilgamesh "qui n'ai jamais

connu de mère"(Gagnon 50), is made from clay by the hand of a god,just

as is Adam. There is also a reference to a greater god, one that is entirely

différent from those of the Mesopotamian panthéon. This knowledge

comes to Gilgamesh in a dream where Shamash tells him: "Nous ne

sommes que les ombres de vos rêves. Mais il est un dieu dont vous,

humains, êtes le rêve et la soif; lui seul peut accorder cette immortalité qui

vous fait tous frémir .... Plonge en toi, Gilgamesh" (Gagnon 80). Shamash

continues, describing the local gods as httle more than the imaginings of

men. He encourages Gilgamesh to look within himself and tells him "que

tes mains travciillent la pierre et le bois, que tout outil devieime objet de

culte Il y a tant à faire au dehors et en dedans ..."(Gagnon 81). Then

he and ail the other Mesopotamian gods disappeen forever from

Gilgamesh's life. When Gilgamesh awakens the next morning he is a

transformed mcin. His travelling companion, Umashabi, who does not

 178

imderstand Gilgamesh's sudden change from a mood of despair to one of

joy, tells hlm:"Trente-trois ans après t'avoir accordé la vie hors d'un

monticule de glaise, les dieux viennent de te gratifier de démence"(Gagnon

82). As nowhere in the translations of the Epie, nor in the historical

material about Gilgcimesh, there is a reference to his âge when these events

apparently took place, the mention of Gilgamesh's âge is Gagnon's

invention. The association with Christ's âge when he is crucified and

resurrected seems too obvions, especially when a few Unes later the Epie

ends with references to spring, the season of Christ's résurrection:

Demain nous arpenterons les remparts, Urshanibi, nous

tâterons chaque brique, plongerons dans les canaux, en

éprouverons l'étanchéité, et verrons si en toutes choses les

Sept Sages ont excellé. Peut-être avons-nous encore à y faire,

avant cette saison où les oiseaux reviennent. (Gagnon 82)®®

In this context, it is not surprising that neither Ishtar, nor any of the other

Mesopotamian gods, is mentioned at the end of the novel.

Though similar enough to the Epie to appear as a simple re

narration, an analysis of the transformations of the Epie and the

intertextual references to the Old Testament make it clear that Gagnon is

telling a différent story. The tavem-keeper, the only female character with

no direct ties to the goddess in the hypotexts, though considered

 179

positively by Gilgamesh, is nonetheless ncimeless cind is quickly forgotten

once he meets with Utnapishtim. The dethroning of the goddess with

insults and the replacement of all sacred elements with incidents that

draw her as a cruel and thoughtless whore leave her with nothing but

négative attributes. With the élimination of Ninsun, mother and priestess,

along with identification of the courtesan with Eve, the decentring of

female power is complété. This does not lead to the hopelessness of the

Akkadian Epie as Gagnon replaces the female principle, centred on the

goddess, with a new order centred on a new, more important god. Though

the ending of the novel is positive, Urshanabi's comments might lead

some readers to question Gilgamesh's rebirth.

Transfonnations of a Myth

Though we often perceive myths as fixed, they are in fact very

résilient and at the same time malléable. This is, at least in part, why so

many writers throughout the âges have referred intertextually to myths.

Victor-Laurent Tremblay affirms this dual nature in his article "Sens du

mythe et approches httéraires";

En fait, si le mythe s'est si facilement plié à toutes sortes

d'interprétations, c'est que, comme souhgnent Lévi-Strauss,

Gilbert Durand et René Girard, celui-ci est le concept

 180

malléable et multiforme par excellence: il vit d'inversion, de

substitutions, d'ajouts, d'emprunts, de retraits, de

multiplications, de divisions, d'innombrables métcimorphoses

donc, à travers les cultures et les époques de l'humanité.

(Tremblay 133)

Intertextuality is defined as "une relation de coprésence entre deux ou

plusieurs textes, c'est-à-dire, eidétiquement et le plus souvent, par la

présence effective d'un texte dans un autre"(Genette, Palimpsestes 8).

Mythotextuality more specifically combines intertextuality with the use of

a myth as a hypotext. In our study, we bave discussed how the Sumerian

poems about Gilgamesh cind the Epie of Gilgamesh serve as hypotexts.

The most fruitful endeavour lies in uncovering the variations made by the

modem writers and the effect that those changes have on the reader.

A close intertextual reading of the modem texts reveals that the

authors have made a considérable number of changes to their hypotexts.

These altérations, almost without exception, involve the représentations of

the goddess and other female characters. Another important trend we

have noticed in these texts is that once the female centre is displaced, the

maie takes over. To be more spécifie, with the goddess dethroned, and

often other female characters marginalized, a maie god often becomes the

primauy deity. Though Ferry, Zemcin and Gagnon omit some of the détail
 181

of their hypotexts, none of them leave out any of the négative descriptions

of the goddess Ishtar. In fact, all of the texts in this section put extra

emphasis on her négative attributes while downplaying the complexity of

the goddess' rôle. In Ferry's new rendering, the conflict between Ishtar

and the king is made clear. The actions of both Gilgamesh and bis

companion Enkidu involve some kind of attack on or rejection of the

goddess cind what she represents. Silverberg, who adds considerably to

the ancient epic, desacralizes every aspect of Ishtar and her cuit. By

making her into a mortal représentative of the goddess and describing her

as power-hungry and manipulative, the reader is not surprised by

Gilgamesh's attempts to overthrow her. In bis retelling, the king's father

becomes a godly figure and Gilgamesh, who had rejected bis rôle in the

goddess' rituals, happily accepts to serve the gods. The conclusion puts

much emphasis on the importance of work to serving the gods. Zeman is

even more drastic as she draws parallels between Ishtar and Eve. In this

story, Ishtar is not only portrayed as evil, but she is also held directly

responsible for Enkidu's death and Gilgamesh's loss of the Plant of Youth.

Zeman also replaces the Goddess, having put the Sun God in a dominant

position from the beginning of her trilogy. In Gagnon's novel, Gilgamesh

and Enkidu treat Ishtar and the temple prostitute cruelly. The goddess'

power, not to mention that of the entire Mesopotamian panthéon, is

completely eliminated since at the end of this version, only one true god
 182

remains. Likewlse, Gagnon replaces the rôle of the goddess, and guided by

Shamash, Gilgamesh flnds the one great god. The texts hy Zeman and

Gagnon also de-emphasise the rôles played hy other female characters,

such as Gilgamesh's mother or the creatlon-goddess Aruru. Though the

texts were written for différent audiences, they ail attempt to decentre the

goddess and ail that she represents. The texts hy Zeman and Gagnon are

henotheistic cmd move towards monotheism, nearly completing

Camphell's fourth step - having a single maie god completely replace the

goddess as well as ail the other gods and goddesses. In her study of

popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s, social researcher Susan Faludi

reveals in Backlash(1991)the Scime trend in films and on the télévision.

She writes that the heroines of the 1970s films "raised their voices ...

they wlshed to transform themselves [and] the world around them"

(Faludi, Backlash 125). She then gives examples of how "the 80s hacklash

cinéma emhraces the Pygmahan tradition - men redefining women, men

reclaiming women as their possessions and property(Faludi, Backlash

136). Another finding, very similar to ours, involves the tendency to

valorize male/patemal characters, at the expense of female/matemal

characters:

In the esccilating violence of an endless stream of war and

action movies ... women are reduced to mute and incidental

characters or hanished altogether And maie characters, in

 183

another whole set of films retreat even further, to

hallucinatory all-male ffintasies of patemal renewal. [In

several films,] mother dies or disappears from the scene,

leaving father ... and son to form a spiritually restorative

bond.(Faludi, Backlash 138)

Why do the contemporary texts that reuse the Mesopotamian material go

through such great efforts to dethrone the goddess cuad reduce the rôle of

female characters while valorizing maies and maie gods? It is almost as

though these texts wish to justify the birth of monotheistic patriarchcQ

reUgions that came after the writing of the Epie ofGilgamesh. But then

why would they choose to reuse the Epie and not another myth with a

single maie god? My theory is that as the translations of the

Mesopotamian became more widely known and as a group of writers from

the 1960s and 1970s reused the material in a way favourable to the

goddess, another contemporary group of authors felt the need to reuse

the Epie to support a more mainstream view. By reusing the Epie of

Gtigamesh instead of any other myth, these authors could offer an

alternative view of the same story. Using the authority of the ancient

myth, the contemporciry authors discussed in this chapter could re-

establish the direction taken by the Mesopotamian scribes. By going a

step further, the goddess is completely decentred and in most of the texts,

a maie deity replaces her(and the Assembly of the Gods). Carol Christ
 184

Wca-ns that when women are thus no longer represented in the heavenly

realm "religions symbol Systems focused around exclusively maie images

of divinity create the impression that female power can never be fully

legitimate or wholly beneficent"(Christ 275). The dethroning of the

goddess and the placing of a single maie god in her central position helps

to reinforce the status quo - or does it?

In every one of these mythic texts, there are questions left

unanswered, contradictions left unresolved. At the end of Ferry's poem,

are we to beheve that Gilgamesh, despite ail his efforts to escape his rôle,

must retum to serve Ishtar as her consort? The ending seems to wam of

the futility of going against the life-death cycle represented by the

goddess. Silverberg's Gilgamesh, despite ail efforts to dethrone the

powerful Inanna, humbly tells us at the end of his memoirs - though with

much authority - how he and ail his people must serve the gods. He

seems to be saying that work is the best way to serve the gods. Is

salvation to be found only in submission? Zeman's king rejoices at the

end of The Last Quest of Gilgamesh, for he has found famé for having built

such a city; unfortunately, it cost the lives of many slaves. But if they have

access to the same after-life as both Enkidu and Shamhat do in this

hypertext, then their suffering on Earth does not matter, does it? In

Gagnon's text, Gilgamesh's travelling companion thinks that Gilgamesh

has gone mad during the night, after having found the one true god. Why
 185

should one god be better than having a pcintheon? Despite an attempt to

explain internai contradictions wlthin the texts under study, many

unresolved inconsistencies remain. Susan Faludi's latest book, Stiffed

(1999), offers a possible reason for such contradictory conclusions. In her

study of the American man, she notes that where feminists attacked the

patriarchy, men have no cleeu^ly defined enemy to blâme for their reduced

status (Faludi, Stiffed 604). Perhaps these texts reveal the ambivalent

status of men in American and Canadian society and their search for

someone to blâme. At least the close comparative reading does bring up

questions, questions that lead to further analysis.

Though there is no doubt that in the past the use of certain texts

(myths, religions texts, codes of law) helped estabhsh and reinforce

patriarchy, are we not more perceptive to the power stratégies at work

within texts? Mythotextual analysis can help the modem reader isolate

the transformations the myth has gone through and thus reveal some of

the political stratégies at work. Foucault's goal of showing that centres

are constmcted is achieved. When we find ont that a certain value or

ideology has not always existed, that it is not natural, then the innocence

of ail myths is questioned.

 186

V Mythotextual Dialogues

Texte veut dire Tissu; mais alors que jusqu'ici on a toujours

pris ce tissu pour un produit, un voile tout fait, derrière

lequel se tient, plus ou moins caché, le sens (la vérité), nous

accentuons maintenant, dans le tissu, l'idée générative que le

texte se fait, se travaille à travers un entrelacs perpétuel.

(Barthes, Plaisirs 100-1)

In the last two chapters, we discussed mythic texts that reuse the

Epie of Gilgamesh in a fairly straightforward fashion. Not only the setting

but the names cmd, in many cases, the rôles of the characters remained

unchanged from that of the hypotext, The texts covered in "The Goddess

Rising" portray women and the goddess with much of their status restored

when compared to the later Mesopotamian Epies whereas the texts

discussed in "Mythic Authority" show how the modem writers reused

material in a marmer that serves patriarchal ideology. In both cases, the

reuse stratégies employed cire in fact very similar, even if the outcomes are

very différent. In this chapter, we will look at mythological texts that do

not re-narrate or rewrite the Epia of Gilgamesh. Instead, we will focus on

modem texts that cire in dialogue with the ancient Epie. Unhke the mythic

texts discussed in the previous two chapters, the mythological texts

discussed in this chapter reuse the Mesopotamian material in a variety of

 187

ways - as a story withln a story, as an élément used to create a dialogue,

and as a structural element.

The last two chapters have provlded numerous examples of texts

that refer intertextually to versions of the Epie of Gilgamesh - and in the

majority of cases, the Epie is the only hypotext. Though a comparative

study of these texts, especially in relation to the Epie, is very revealing,

there are other types of mythotextuahty worthy of our considération.

These next texts, set in the twentieth century or later, reuse the Epie in a

meirmer quite différent from the texts discussed in chapters three and

four. What they do is integrate certain elements from the Epie, as well as

material from a wide variety of other sources(such as hterary texts from

the past and présent, historical information, scientific discoveries and

music), tnto a complex text. This type of intertextueiUty opens up the text

to a larger context. In his study Mythologie et intertextualité, Eigeldinger

says that intertextuahty finds

sa légitimation, sa véritable fin dans l'étude de la pratique,

dans son insertion à l'intérieur de l'espace du texte httéraire.

Elle instaure un échange, un dialogue entre deux ou plusieurs

textes, elle est une greffe opérée sur le grand arbre ou le vaste

corps de l'écriture.(Eigeldinger 9)
 188

Thls is only possible wlth the active participation of the reader, a reader

open to an intertextual reading and who bas prior experience with other

texts. As Kristeva points ont in Sèméiôtikè, the text needs a reader to

truly exist, and the original meaning of lire("read" in French) clearly

encompasses this;

Le verbe "lire" avait, pour les Anciens, une signification qui

mérite d'être rappelée et mise en valeur en vue d'une

compréhension de la pratique littéraire. "Lire" éteiit aussi

"ramasser," "cueillir," "épier," "reconnaître les traces,"

"prendre," "voler." "lire" dénote, donc, une participation

agressive, une active appropriation de l'autre. (Kristeva,

Sèméiôtikè 120)

The writer and reader are then accomplices. Just as the writer cannot

always predict how his/her text will be understood, the reader cannot

know exactly what the author wanted to say. What the reader discovers

about the text is dépendent,in part, on the reader's prior expériences,

both in hfe and with literature.

In these next texts, the reuse pattern is by no meeins linear. In some

cases, the estabhshment of the Epie as a hypotext is far from

straightforward. Most of these texts seem to rely upon a number of

hypotexts, both modem and ancient, some hterary, some not. AU but one
 189

of these texts, ail of which are set in the twentleth century or later, feature

characters that do net have the same names as those in the Epie.

Additionally, these characters sometimes combine aspects of more than

one character from the Epie (condensation), or, vice versa, a single

chciracter from the Epie is fragmented in the modem text(fragmentation).

What they do shcire is that, in each case, there is a dialogue between the

ancient zmd the modem text. Though the authors of the texts discussed in

this chapter have not always prepared the reader for an intertextual cind

postmodern reading, having read the Epie of Gilgamesh beforehand

créâtes a dialogue.

The texts to be analysed in this chapter feature reuse pattems that

are complex and often subtle. Unlike anything we have seen in the

previous two chapters, these texts do not deliver a clear message to the

reader, but instead require that the reader participate in the uncovering of

the meaning of the texts. The first of the texts to be discussed is actually

an épisode from the télévision program Star Tretc The New Génération. In

this particular épisode,"Dcirmok"(1991), a scene from the Epie of

Gilgamesh is used to help Captain Picard communicate with the captain of

another ship from another part of the galaxy. Another science fiction text

that reuses elements of the Epie is Cari Sagan's Contact(1985). Made into

a film, there are a handful of dues in the novel that acknowledge a link

with the ancient Epie. We will explore how certain aspects of Gilgamesh's
 190

personallty are fragmented between two characters, creating a kind of

dialogue. John Gardner's The Sunlight Dialogues(1972)intégrâtes aspects

of the Epie as well as historical data, mostly from Oppenheim's Ancient

Mesopotamia:Portrait of a Dead Ctvilization(1964). The text features four

important dialogues between characters that resemble Gilgamesh and

Enkldu. In each of these, the values of modem North American society are

compared to the values of ancient Babylon. We will also look at In the Skin

ofa Lion(1987)and its sequel The English Patient(1992), both by Michael

Ondaatje. The first novel, which clearly uses the Epie as a hypotext, reuses

aspects of the major chciracters and features a number of similar scenes.

The meticulous but also playful way Ondaatje fragments and condenses

the characters of the Epie créâtes a many-voiced postmodem novel that

resists a single monologic vision of Toronto between the two world wars.

The sequel, set during World War II, features four characters from In the

Skin ofa Lion Again, the multiple points of view from which the story is

told leave many questions unanswered. Though the novel retains httle in

the way of direct reuse of the ancient Epie, it dicdogues with the Epie and

other hypotexts. Both of these novels put what would normally be

considered margincd characters at the centre. The texts covered in this

chapter open up a dialogue that demands that readers not just read what

is in front of them, but also think about the intertextual echoes that are an

essential part of these postmodem texts. For each of these works, we wiU
 191

attempt first to establish the link between it and the Epie before

discussing some of the more interesting ideas that are bom of thls

dialogue.

Communication through Myth in "Darmok"(Star Trek: The Next

Génération)

Star Trek: The Next Génération is a futuristic télévision sériés that

often takes advantage of the temporal distance science fiction offers to

présent topics that might be otherwise too controversial for a mainstream

audience. Joe Menosky wrote "Darmok," the épisode/ teleplay we are

going to look at. A partial and condensed version of the Epie of GUgamesh

is integrated into a larger story that is set several centuries in the future.®^

Thls mythic text juxtaposes a part of the Epie with pcU'aUel events

involving a set of characters from the future. We will study how the use of

several fragments of the Epie within a larger story can lead to a dynamic

story about communication.

A starship crew, sent out by the Fédération (an Earth-based

organisation) to explore the galaxy, encounters another starship manned

by members of a people called the Tamaricuis, who inhabit a httle-explored

area of the Universe. Though the Fédération has met with this people

seven times in the past, no diplomatie relations had been undertaken

 192

because the Tamaricin language seemed incompréhensible to those in the

Fédération, During a meeting with his crew, Captain Picard tells them that

"In my experience, communication is a matter of patience, imagination."

When attempts at communication fail between the two starship captains,

both of them are suddenly trcinsported down to the surface of a nearby

planet, El-Adrel IV, by the Tamarians. While the crew of the Enterprise,

still onboard the spaceship, tries to retrieve their captain and to decipher

the Tamarian language, the two captains seem to be alone on the planet's

surface. The Tamaricin captain offers Picard a knife. Believing that the

other is proposing that they fight one another, Picard refuses to take the

weapon. Though they are still mistrustful of each other, they continue to

try to understand each other. In the meantime, two members of the

Enterprise's staff. Data and Lt. Diana Troy, are trying to decipher the

Tamarian language. Their video recording of the Tamarian encounter

along with information provided by their database leads Data to say,

"They seem to communicate through narrative imagery[and through]

references to the individuals and places which appear in their mytho-

historical accounts." Lt. Troy adds,"Imagery is everything to the

Tamarians. It embodies their emotional states, their very thought

processes. Ifs how they think"(Menosky).^'*' When another crewmember

asks then why they cannot speak with them, Data continues:"The

situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language but

 193

not the vocabulary." Meanwhile, on the planet, there has been a further

tum of events. The two captains realise that a mysterious, horned

créature is huntlng them. The Tamarian captain, Dathon, again offers the

knlfe to Piccird. Thls time Picard accepts, and they fight together against

the créature. Dathon, still speaklng in an unusual way, tells Captain Picard

the story of "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." Picard makes a breakthrough

- he reaUses that the other culture speaks through metaphor: "That's how

you communicate,isn't it?" says Picard,"By citing examples, by metaphor"

(Menosky). The Tamarian phrase often repeated by the Tamarian captain

refers to a mythological hunter, Darmok, and his companion Jalad. Each

of the characters had arrived separately, as strangers, on the island of

Tanagra. Together, the two men had fought against a beast,just as

Gilgcimesh and Enkidu fight together against the Bull of Heaven and Picard

and Dathon have fought against the mysterious beast on H-AdreL In their

Star Trek Encyclopedia(1999), Michael and Denise Okuda point ont that

"In the Tamarian metaphorical Icmguage, the phrase indicated an attempt

to understand cinother by sharing a common experience"(Okuda and

Okuda 99). This is exactly what happens here - two people meet, get over

their différences and through the shared experience of confronting a

common adversary, they become friends. The situation on El-Adrel IV

deteriorates further. The beast returns to attack the men once again.

Dathon struggles to hold back the beast and Picard stabs it; however, the
 194

monster gravely injures Dathon. Sitting together after the beast flees,

Picard tells Dathon:

You hoped that something like this would happen, didn't

you? You knew that there was a dangerous créature on the

planet. And you knew from the taie of Darmok that a danger

shared might bring two people together. Darmok and Jcdad

at Tanagra. You and me, here, at El-Adrel.(Menosky)

Whlle Dathon hes dying, Picard shares a story from Earth with him. "It is

a story, a very ancient one from Earth," Picard tells him before he recoimts

some of the main scenes of the Epie of Gilgamesh. He starts by speaking

of Gilgamesh's tyraimy, the making of Enkidu, and the meeting between

Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Gilgamesh, a king, at Uruk. He tormented his subjects

They cried out loud,"Send us a companion for our king,

spare us from his madness." Enkidu, a wildman,from the

forest, entered the city. They fought in the temple; they

fought in the streets. Gilgamesh defeated Enkidu. They

became great friends. (Menosky)

Next, he tells him about the companions' confrontation with the Bull of

Heaven: "Enkidu caught the Bull by the tail; Gilgamesh struck him with

his sword." The companions are punished for their actions: "Enkidu
 195

fell to the ground, struck down by the gods. Gilgamesh wept bitter tears,

saying 'he who was my companlon, through adventure and hardship, is

gone forever'"(Menosky). The two captains bave not only shared an

adventure; they bave also communicated tbrougb tbe telling of eacb

otber's stories. Datbon understands Picard's story and tben be dies.

Picard, sadly says,"I understand your sacrifice, Captain"(Menosky).

Datbon's story is about tbe coming togetber of strangers and bow,in

sbaring a bardsbip, tbey become friends. Picard's retelling of parts of tbe

Epie of Gilgamesh, teUs not only of tbe becoming of friends tbrougb co

opération, but also of tbe pain of losing a friend. Not only does tbis text

integrate a condensed retelling of tbe Epie of Gilgamesh; tbe plot of tbe

épisode also sbares a few major points witb tbat of tbe Epie.

Picard must explain, tbrougb metapbor of course, to tbe crew of tbe

Tamarian star sbip wbat bad bappened on El-Adrel IV in order to avoid a

war. Captain Picard sums up wbat bad bappened wben be tells tbe second

in command of tbe Tamarian sbip,"Picard and Datbon at El-Adrel." Wben

everytblng is settled, we see Picard in bis quarters wbere be is reading a

book. Upon entering, tbe second-in-command asks bim if be is reading

from tbe Greeks. Picard answers: "Homerie Hymns,^°^

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one of the root metaphors of our own culture." When the officer asks if

he is preparing for their next encounter with the Tamarians, Picard tells

him:

More familiarity Iwithl our own mythology might help us relate

to theirs. The Tamarian was willing to risk ail just for the hope

of communication, connection. Now the doors are open

between our peuples. That commitment meant more to him

than his own life. (Menosky)

The reference to Homer at the end of the épisode seems at first thought

quite out of place, but then perhaps the point is that any myth can foster

communication. Within the narrative, there are the stories of Darmok and

Jalad, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and Piccird and Dathon. In each case, the

story is essentially about the coming together of strangers to fight agcdnst

a commun enemy.^"^ With the mention of a possible future meeting

between the Fédération and the Tamarians, the Captain may be trying to

enlarge his knowledge of his own myths to be better able to communicate

with Tamarians at their next encounter.

The dialogue between the events in this text and the retelhng of the

Epie by the character Picard is straightforward. The retelling helps

contextuahze what the two companions have gone through. It allows

Picard to communicate with the other person - to let him know that what
 197

they have gone through is signlficcint and that Dathon will be not only be

moumed but also remembered. Picard's retelling of the ancient Epie

reuses only some épisodes from the Epie in this futuristie text. For

example, none of the events surrounding the voyage to the Cedar Forest -

ineluding Gilgamesh's rejeetion of Ishtar - are ineluded in this version.

Nor are any of the épisodes mentioned that oeeur after Enkidu's death.

Menosky probably ineluded only the seenes from the Epie that

eorresponded direetly with seenes in the teleplay, not to dismiss the other

seenes of the Epie, but to put emphasis on the seenes ineluded. In doing

this, he points to the power that myths maintain over long periods of time

and great distanees, and espeeially, the power they have to help people

understand eaeh other. The dialogue shared by the two men is a sharing

of eaeh other's myths. Though the names of the people and plaees

involved may be différent, the stories themselves are not unique to a

partieular eulture or time. Menosky's assumption that beings from

différent planets cind solar Systems are of the same universe and therefore

are hke brothers, reinforces the notion that ail earthlings, despite our

différent languages and cultural héritage, can also get along. The value of

myths hes not only with how they recount expériences many of us share,

but they also offer a means of communication.

 198

"Love Ends their Long Loneliness" in Cari Sagan's Contact

Contact(1986), by Cari Sagan, is a science fiction novel set in the

présent eind near future. The film, Contact, is based on the film-script by

both Cari Sagan and Ann Druyan. Though the novel refers intertextually to

a number of texts, including the Epie ofGUgamesh, the film is very

différent in that there are little traces left of the link to the Epie. Far

from retelling the Epie, the references to the Epie in the novel nonetheless

create a dialogue between the two texts. Many of the ideas central to the

Epie are explored in Contact. We will delve into how Sagan présents

immortahty by concentrating on how he has fragmented the Gilgamesh

character and incorporated parts into two différent chciracters. We will

also look into the interesting relationship between communication and

transformation in Sagan's novel. We will further compare the quests

undertaken by Gilgamesh and EUie, and discuss why Elhe's quest is more

successful. One of the most interesting aspects of this novel is the image

of the wormholes that connect the différent planets and solar Systems,

much hke the strands of a social web that connects people together.

Multiple references to Foucault and ideas expressed by the characters,

when combined with the web-like image of the Universe, point to a

statement about the nature of power. We will explore how Sagan

incorporâtes intertextual references to the Epie of Gilgamesh as a means of

creating a dialogue between the past, présent and future.

 199

There are severcd elements of préfiguration that establish the Epie of

Gilgamesh as a hypotext. In terms of préfiguration ecirly on, the "Table of

Contents" hsts a chapter titled "Babylon" and another titled "Gilgamesh."

Within the text, there are few direct references in the first part of the

novel, but once we get to the thirteenth chapter, it is clear that Sagan is

more than familiar with the ancient Epie, as well as some of the historical

material about that period. It is in this chapter that Ellie, an astronomer,

first meets Hadden, a wealthy inventor-builder. He bas her meet him at cin

cimusement pcirk he owns named Babylon. Whether entering by the Ishtar

Gâte or the Enlil Gâte, eventually the tourists make it to the central

Ziggurat.^*^ Beyond direct references to Babylonian customs and to the

Epie, there is throughout the novel an ongoing dialogue with the

Mesopotamian material.

Sagan approaches the topic of immortahty in a unique way. He

fragments the Gilgamesh character to create a dialogue about the two

types of immortahty explored in the Epie of Gilgamesh. Both Ellie and

Hadden take on some of Gilgamesh's traits and actions. This fracturing of

the Epie's hero's rôle leads to the dialogue on immortahty. The first

mention of immortality occurs when Elhe again visits Hadden, this time on

a space station, built for retirées, orbiting Earth. When Hadden explains

the advcmtages of hving in space,"there was the faintest aroma of

immortality in the air"(Sagan 281). Like the ancient king Gilgamesh,

 200

Hadden is "engaged in an experlment on immortality"(Sagan 295). In

Chapter twenty-two, we find eut exactly what klnd of experiments Hadden

had in mind. Though Ellie hecirs after returning from her mission that

Hadden has died from a bee sting. The reader, on the other hand, lecirns

that Hadden has in fact left the space station only to be launched into

space in a small vessel, baptized GUgamesh, while still living. His plan is

to spend the next two years with hls favourite music, books and such.

Then, while still living, to have his body frozen in the hopes of eventually

being found by a more advanced civilisation of extraterrestrial beings. His

reason;

The more power you have, he found, the more you crave.

Power and time were connected, because ail men are equal in

death. That is why the ancient kings built monuments to

themselves. But the monuments become eroded, the royzil

accomplishments obliterated, the very names of the kings

forgotten. And most important, they themselves were dead as

doomails. No, this was more élégant, more beautiful, more

satisfying. (Sagan 397-8)

He seems to be in direct dialogue with the ancient king, understanding his

reasons for seeking physical immortahty. Hadden is confident in late

twentieth century technology, some of which he has helped design. He

 201

also has fciith in the reconnaissance abilities in other beings he bas little

knowledge cf. His fcdth and confidence lead him to believe that he will be

successful where Gilgcimesh failed. Recalling the cyclical structure of the

Epie where the story stcirts with the ending, we read about Hadden:

"Confident that in his end would be his beginning, he closed his eyes and

folded his arms experimentally across his chest, as the engines flared

again...and the burnished craft was sleekly set on its long journey to the

stars"(Sagan 399). Ellie, on the other hand, opts for another form of

immortahty. Though she too wishes to leave cin impact on the universe, it

is far from being her main goal. Instead she is, at least at first, on a

Personal quest. Even if her initial goal is to make contact with beings from

other worlds, ultimately, her quest leads to self-discovery, transformation

and a need to bring the message from her voyage to the entire population

of the planet. She also realises that ail humcin actions have conséquences:

She wondered if these gravitational perturbations ... would

have any long-term conséquence, changing the pattem of

subséquent planetary formation ....(or if] by symmetry, she

had snatched out of existence some other world that was

destined to form had she never hved. It was vaguely

burdensome, being responsible by your irmocent actions for

the fates of unknown worlds. (Sagan 336)

 202

Almost in response to Siduri's wisdom speech in the cincient Epie, Ellie

wants to become a parent, is seeking eut a long-term relationship and is

looking forward to some of the simpler pleasures of her life. Twice in the

novel she mentions a yearning for children: "For the second time in

twenty-four hours [she] wished that she had had a baby"(Sagan 354).

Near the end of the novel it is clear that both she cind Palmer Joss, a

minister and a close friend, are, despite appearances, eut of the Scime

cloth. Their boundless curiosity in ail that surrounds them and their trust

in each other lead them to seek each other out, despite earher

confrontations. Like Gilgcunesh and Enkidu, who also started out as

opponents, Elhe and Palmer come to see the world in much the same way.

He tells her that her "universe has room enough, and time enough,for the

God [he] believe[s] in"(Sagan 420), At the end of one of their meetings, he

asks her if she's ever been married or in love. After a négative response,

she asks him the same. He answers "Never ... But I have faith"(Sagan

421). Though "she decided not to pursue this ambiguity just yet,"(Sagan

421)there is a loophole towards a future together. Where Gilgamesh

chooses to ignore the wise-woman's words, Ellie takes the extraterrestrial's

words to heart. The being, disguised as her long lost father, had told her

that the earthlings' greatest qualities was their "feelings, memories,

instincts, learned behaviour, insights, madness, dreams, loves"(Sagan

360).
 203

Another major theme Sagan explores is that of trcinsformation. Just

as Gilgamesh was transformed by his expériences and his quests to the

ends of the Mesopotamian unlverse, Ellie also goes through some major

changes. Living a lonely and fairly secluded life, Ellie spends her time

searching for extraterrestrial life. The attempt to make contact with

beings from another planet leads to the building of the Machine. This

machine, also known as Machino, captures the interest of people from

ciround the globe. Ellie is transformed by her quest to help build the

machine and to use it to come into contact with other beings. Her

transformation could have been experienced by the général population

had the space travellers been allowed to share their experience with the

world afterwards. Though they are forced to remain quiet at first, Ellie

uses information the extraterrestrials have provided to help her find proof

of the team's meeting with extraterrestrials. At the end of the novel, we

find out that what she has found, what was there waiting to be found

since the beginning of the Universe, is evidence that some intelligent

entity created the Universe.'"' Her discovery, along with a detailed, dated

and notarized account of her experience will also be released. She, along

with Palmer Joss and her four travel companions, hopes that the world

will be able to benefit from the experience the Machine gave them. The

hope is that like EUie, they will come to realise that, "For small créatures

such as we the vastness is bearable only through love"(Sagan 428).

 204

Through Sagan's novel, the link between transformation and

communication is explored. It is Ellie's desire to communicate that leads

to her transformation; it is her transformation that leads to her wanting to

communicate what she bas leamed to the rest of the planet. Aside from

the obvions - Ellie trying to make contact with other beings - numerous

kinds of dialogues are explored. One of the five to go on the trip in the

Machine is Xi, the Chinese delegate. As cm archaeologist, he defied the

Cultural Revolution's attempt "to sever a 5,000 year continuons Chinese

cultural tradition ... he devoted his attention to the excavation of the

underground funerary city of Xicm"(Sagan 302). For him, archaeology

offers a bridge to the past, important in developing an identity, be it

Personal or national. Utsumi,leader of a Zen Buddhist monastery, tells

Ellie about a Japanese story titled "The Dream of the Ants." He tells her

that "the point of the story is this: To understand the language of the ants,

you must become an ant"(Sagan 308). He asks then his dirmer

companions why some people study ants. Ellie offers, "I guess an

entomologist would say it's to understand the ants and ant society.

Scientists take pleasure in understanding"(Sagan 308). Utsumi replies,

"That is only cmother way of saying that they love the ants"(Sagan 308).

This dialogue highlights the link between communication and love. The

Franz Kafka quote Ellie keeps by her desk points to her need to

communicate, no matter the risk: "Now the Sirens have a still more fatal
 205

weapon / than their song, namely their silence .../ Someone might

possibly have escaped from / their singing;/ but from their silence,

certainly never"(Sagan 47). Elhe's discovery that another culture is trying

to contact humans on Earth causes a stir around the planet. There are

many peuple and organisations, such as governments and religions sects

that do not want the scientists to build the Machine. Though some fear

that it might be a Trojan Horse of some kind, others cannot accept how it

might challenge current institutions and their power. On the other hand,

many feel doser to the rest of humanity:"Suddenly, distinctions that had

earher seemed transfixing - racial, rehgious, national, ethnie, linguistic,

économie, and cultural - began to seem a httle less pressing"(Sagan 263).

The narrator tries to show us how a shift in point of view can change une's

perception, can transform the world:

At a few hundred kilométrés altitude, the Earth fills half your

sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Mindanao to

Bombay, which your eye encompasses in a single glance, can

break your heart with its beauty.... The boundaries are

arbitrary. The planet is real. Spaceflight, therefore, is

subversive. (Sagan 279-80)

The novel portrays those with the most to lose as those most

résistant to change. Those most open to change and to transformation -

 206

actually actively seeking new information - are Ellie and Palmer. Both of

them, as well as Ellie's four travel companions, have gone through

expériences that could be compared to a rebirth. For Palmer, an earlier

near-death experience caused him to change bis life. Ellie, clearly

surprised, asks him; "You were clinlcally dead, then revived, and you

remember rising through the darkness into a bright light.., hke birth"

(Sagan 252). Ellie and her colleagues go through a similar experience:

"waves of contraction and expansion rippling down the tunnel.... A

great distance away, EUie made out a dim point of light, slowly growing in

intensity"(Sagem 323). For each one of them,"The experience itself was

centreil. Trcrnsformlng"(Sagan 404). Despite the fact that they were

unable to prove what had happened to them, Ellie admits,"she too had

found the ejqierience transforming. How could she not?"(Sagan 406).

These expériences strongly resemble Gilgamesh's voyage through a tunnel

that ends in the Garden of the Gods, where he finds Siduri, the wise

woman. Because of what Elhe has leamed from her extraterrestrial host at

the end of her joumey, she will be able to share her treasure with the rest

of humankind, succeeding where Gilgamesh failed. Just like the

companions in the Epie of Gilgamesh, both Ellie and Palmer defy authority

and hope to share their discoveries with others. Sagan has reused the Epie

as a means of creating a dialogue, but also as lesson. Where the Epie of

Gilgamesh ends with much being unresolved cmd the hero seemingly
 207

defeated, Sagan shows us that the Gilgcimeshian quest can lead to

accepting one's fate.'°® Even if Hadden's dream of immortallty could

become a reality, in contrast to Ellie's choices, bis goal seems very selfisb.

Elbe is transformed by ber quest tbrougb tbe wormboles and by tbe

discussion sbe bas witb tbe extraterrestrial being during ber joumey. Her

quest leads ber to a new connection witb otbers, to a sense of tbe wonder

of existence itself. Tbe knowledge sbe bas tbe privilège to gain is

accessible to only a few; ber desire to sbare it witb tbe wbole planet means

tbat sbe most go against tbose in power wbo feel tbreatened by sucb

knowledge. By making tbis information known,large numbers would

understand tbe implications of tbe Eartb as being but one of many

populated planets. Tbis réalisation could revolutionize tbe way people

perceive tbemselves - as planetary beings instead of members of a nation.

And tbougb tbis is very spéculative, tbe dialogue created between tbe

novel and tbe Epie can lead to a questioning of tbe development of society

over tbe last 5000 years. Had Gilgamesb gone back to bis people witb tbe

goal of sbciring tbe wisdom given to bim by Siduri, instead of trying to

bring back tbe flower-of-youtb, could tbis not of bave lead to a différent

kind of society tban tbe one we live in now?

Contact bravely confronts ideological struggles by juxtaposing

cbcu-acters tbat embody opposing positions. Hadden, a wealtby

businessman and inventor, seeks money, power and pbysical immortabty

 208

whereas the once-sceptical and introverted scientist Ellie, transformed by

her quest, accepts her place in the universe, and happily enjoys the

pleasures allotted to the Ilvlng whlle struggling to share her newly

acquired knowledge wlth the rest of the planet. This fragmentation of

Gilgamesh's two sides, in a modem science fiction novel, embraces the

ambiguity of the Epie. The relationship between Ellie and Palmer, which

resembles that of Gilgamesh and Enkidu in mciny ways, is based on

seeking some kind of truth. In a conversation with a friend, Ellie tells him:

I think the bureaucratie rehgions try to institutionahze your

perception of the numinous instead of providing the means so

you can perceive the numinous directly If sensing [thatl

the numinous is at the hecirt of religion, who's more religions

would you say - the people who follow the bureaucratie

rehgions or the people who teach themselves science? (Sagan

158)

This reveals not only the link between the divine and science, but also

illustrâtes how individuals must take personal responsibiUty for their own

transformations, Naomi Goldberg reached a similar conclusion in her

book Changing of the Godsr. "Jung beheved it was the process of

discovering the myth that gave the leader (Christ, Buddha, Mohammed)

their power. Without going through a similar process, a disciple could not
 209

experience the original myth"(Goldberg 52). Even the eccentric minister

Palmer reveals his affinity with these ideas when he tells Ellie at the end of

their first meeting,"Perhaps we are ail wayfarers on the road to truth"

(Sagan 177). Early on in the novel, when the news of the Message becomes

known worldwide,"EUie thought she conld see ... a dawning récognition

of the world as one thread in a vast cosmic tapestry"(Sagan 133). This

image fits beautifully with the events to follow, from the trip through the

wormhole to her wish to share her révélation with the entire the world. It

also is appropriate as it shows how nothing is simple nor hnear - the

borders between science and the divine, the past and the présent, between

communication and love ail become psirt of a magie carpet.

Gardner's The Sunlight Dialogues: A Se<irch for Freedom

The type of reuse strategy employed by John Gardner in The

Sunlight Dialogues(1972)is strikingly différent from those covered in

chapters three and four. Though there are similarities between certciin

characters from the Epie and those in the novel, the relationship is not

very direct. Gardner's novel is set far from Ancient Mesopotamia in terms

of both time and space. Also, the contemporary author uses multiple

hypotexts, including historical and relatively modem texts. Like some of

the other contemporary authors, such as Silverberg, Zeman and Bryson,

 210

Gardner makes use of Mesopotamian historiCcQ material as well as the Epie

of Gtlgamesh.^^^ This novel is set in Batavia, New York during the late

summer and fall of 1966. Narrated from multiple points of view, the text

carefully weaves multiple subplots together. More interestingly, however,

is Gardner's use of numerous hypotexts in a maimer that he himself

describes as the "collage technique." This technique brings "disparate

materials together in new ways, transforming the whole into a seamless

fabric, a vision, a story"(Gardner, Chicago 10). After we have established

the links between characters from The Sunlight Dialogues and the Epie of

Gilgamesh, we will discuss the relationship between the four main

dialogues and the two hypotexts. For the purpose of our study, we will

focus on only two of Gardner's hypotexts, the Epie of Gilgamesh and

Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia:Portrait ofa Dead Civilization(1964), a

work that explains the Epie and other Mesopotamian texts in a historical

context.

In the fourth chapter of Arches & Light: The Fiction ofjohn Gardner

(1983),"Paradise Lost: The Sunlight Dialogues," David Cowart discusses a

substantial number of authors and texts that are likely hypotexts. After

showing links between Gardner's novel and works by Faulkner, Malory,

Dante and Homer, Cowart dwells on how one of the two principle

characters, Taggcirt Hodge, can be identified as a Christ-figure (Cowart 68-

9). While discussing the significance of the dialogues between this

 211

character, who is also known as The Sunlight Man, and the other major

character, Police Chief Fred Clumly, Cowart acknowledges that they are

about conflicting views held by Babylonian and Hebrew idéologies.

Though he does not discuss hypotexts in bis analysis, bis footnotes

mention A. Léo Oppenbeim's Ancient Mesopotamia:Portrait ofa Dead

CMlization as a possible bypotext. It is Greg Morris, in bis book article "A

Babylonian in Batavia; Mesopotamian Literature and Lore in The Sunlight

Dialogues," wbo concentrâtes on tbe importance of Mesopotcimian texts in

Gardner's novel. Morris states:

It is tbe etemal perplexity conceming tbe gods' wbimsicabiess

and man's propensity for deatb - tbe entire content of tbe

Mesopotamian psycbology, in short - tbat Gardner found so

intriguingly presented in Tbe Epie of Gilgamesh and tben

amplified and explcdned in Oppenbeim's Ancient

Mesopotamia.(Morris 33)

Tbese two hypotexts play an important rôle in imderstanding Gardner's

complex novel. By using Oppenbeim's work as anotber bypotext, Gardner

adds an additional element to tbe dialogue. Oppenbeim's discussion of

concepts sucb as freedom, destiny, immortality and tbe obbgations of

buman beings add an interesting element to tbe tbree-way dialogue.

A détective story of sorts, tbe action revolves around Pobce Cbief

Fred Clumly and tbe Sunlight Man, wbo is later revealed to be Taggart
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Hodge. The latter is arrested after writlng "love" across a main street in

Batavia. Before getting arrested, the prisoner burnt ail bis identification

papers and Chief Clumly must try to figure out the man's identity. Before

he does, the Sunlight Man escapes and leaves hehind a trail of murders

and kidnappings. Despite the modem setting, the rôle played hy the

modern-day Police Chief recalls Gilgamesh's rôle as king in ancient Uruk.

Numerous times throughout the novel he is compared "to an old king"

(Gardner 18). He says of himself, "I am responsible for this town .... It's

like [being]a king"(Gardner 415)and even Taggart sees him as a king

(Gardner 321). Like Gilgamesh,"he had once felt indestructible"(Gardner

410) only to realise his mortality; going to meet Taggart a last time, he is

"merely mortal... a man"(Gardner 606). It is during this scene that,

dressed cill in black, he becomes the "Chief Investigator of the Dead"

(Gardner 606)just as Gilgamesh, according to a Sumericin poem,becomes

King of the Netherworld. At the end of the novel, after a speech he gives

about the death of Taggcirt and about justice, there is a breakthrough:

The silence grew and stmggled with itself and then, finally,

strained into sound ...it seemed as if the place was coming

down rattling around his ears but then he knew he was wrong,

it was bearing him up ... to where the hght was brighter than

sun-filled clouds, disanimated and holy.(Gardner 745)

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Having been transformed by and then lost bis new friend, the Sunlight

Man, Clumly expériences "luminosity," a klnd of Klng-God transformation

(Oppenheim, Ancient 176). Yet despite bis ascent to a higher level and his

tTcinsformation, his hopes for famé are mostly unrealized, for in contrast

with the Epie, the Chief does not achieve much fcime: "In Batavia, opinion

was divided, in fact, whether he's gone away somewhere or died"(Gardner

1). Though we wlll come back to this later, the Chiefs inaction, his not

making enough of an impact to be even remembered in his small town,

could be significant. By creating a link between the ancient king and an

ordinary man, Gardner brings the relevance to the ancient king's quest to

our own epoch, and to ail of us.

Ukewise, there are many similarities drawn between the wild-

looklng Taggart cuid Enkidu. Initially, the relationship between Taggart

and Clumly starts with a conflict, just as does the relationship between

Gilgamesh and Enkidu. With time a friendship develops. Taggart teUs his

adversary who has become a friend, "I want you to know, I feel friendly

toward you, Fred"(Gardner 634). Like Enkidu, Taggert plays the rôle of

the scapegoat, yet despite ail of his rage against his destiny, the "goat-

man"(Gardner 339-41)is sacrificed for Order. Finally, like Enkidu,

Taggart has lost everything he loved, his wife, his fcunily and at the end of

the novel, his hfe. Morris remarks that Taggert "is magician and priest

and diviner"(Morris 34). Just as Enkidu goes to Uruk with the hope of
 214

chcinging destinies, the Sunlight Man wlshes to challenge the way thlngs

are by challenging Clumly, a visible représentation of power.

The most obvious intertextual echoes in the novel relate to

Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia. Firstly, many of the chapter titles

corne from varions sources within Oppenheim's text, such as photo

captions("Lion Emerging From Cage," "Hunting Wild Asses,""Workmen in

a Quarry" and "Winged Figure Carrying Sacrificial Animal") or ont of the

text itself. "Mama," the title of Chapter 5 is the name of the Babylonian

création goddess(Oppenheim, Ancient 266)whereas "E silenttd" comes

from Oppenheim's discussion of the Epie of Gilgamesh(Oppenheim,

Ancient 258). "Like a robber, I shall proceed according to my will," used as

a chapter title and within the first dialogue, comes from one of the Narem-

Sin legends(Oppenheim, Ancient 227). Though these instances of

préfiguration help establish the link between Ancient Mesopotamia and

The Sunlight Dialogues, it is the reuse of Oppenheim's material in the four

dicilogues that take place between the PoUce Chief Clumly and the Sunlight

Man that is most significant. The four dialogues serve as the pillars that

hold up the story. Through the dialogues, Clumly leams, as does the

reader, about the contradictory values held by the Mesopotamians and by

Westerners(sometimes referred to as the Hebrews or Jews in the novel).

Though the words sound right coming from the eccentric prophet-like ex-

lawyer tumed criminal, the speeches are very similar to parts of

 215

Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia. With the first dialogue, "The

Dialogue on Wood and Stone"(Gardner 344-61), the Sunlight Man (Taggert

Hodge)becomes much like an advisor and teacher. Morris writes that

"Hodge is magician and priest and diviner; his purpose is to bring Clumly

doser to the proper state of divine kingship and to illuminate the dark

spots in Clumly 's world"(Morris 34). To emphasise Taggart's rôle, the

scene is set in a dark church, with Taggert at the pulpit. By doing this,

Gardner also emphasises the point that the Mesopotamian myths were as

important to the ancient Mesopotamians as the Bible is to our culture

today. This first lecture brings up historical information about the

Mesopotamians from Oppenheim's discussion of the (statues of) gods

(Oppenheim, Ancient 184-5), on the feeding of the gods(Oppenheim,

Ancient 188-9) and on the rôle of the king (Oppenheim, Ancient 221-3). A

compcirison between what Oppenheim writes and what the Sunhght Man

says reveal the Scime ideas in almost identiccJ words and similar

expressions:

The fact that the image was man-made constitutes a problem.

To one's mind readily come the tirades of Old Testament

prophets, pouring the acid of their dérision on the idol and its

maker. (Oppenheim, Ancient 185)

 216

Surely the people who worship them must be insane! No

wonder the Old Testament prophets pour out the acid of their

dérision on the idol and its maker. (Gardner 348)

The speech ends with the two discussing democracy - Clumly insists on

"Law and Order" whereas Taggart finds that such rules have "nothlng to

do with reality"(Gardner 359). Instead, he favours justice. The discussion

ends with an explosion Just as Clumly accuses Taggert of heing inseme,

and Taggart Clumly as heing a hore(Gardner 361). Their second

rendezvous, set in a circus tent on the railroad tracks outside of town,

leaves Clumly feeling like a fool. This lecture,"The Dialogue of Houses"

(Gardner 460-7), focuses on personal destiny and luck as well as the

greater destiny of the universe {simtu and istaru)}'^ These two

Mesopotamian concepts are central to Mesopotamian psychology

(Oppenheim, Ancient 200-4). Taggart tells Clumly that "Good luck is

nothing but heing in shape to act with the universe when the universe

says,"Now!" What is personal responsihility, then? The Bahylonian would

say it consists, first, in stuhhomly maintaining one's freedom to act"

(Gardner 463-4). Whereas Taggart keeps his eyes open for signs from the

gods in the hope of working towards the good of the universe, the pohce

chief acts within the framework of Law and Order, helieving that his

Personal fate can ciffect the course of the universe. These concepts are

hrought up again in the third discussion,"The Dialogue of the Dead"

 217

(Gardner 586-91), when Taggcirt tells Clumly about The Epie of Gilgamesh.

Taggart insists that:

In Babylon ... personal immortality is a mad goal. Death is a

reality. Any struggle whatever for personal fulfilment is

wrong-headed. Manklnd is walled in from the outset: the very

wall man builds around bis city to lock ont bis enemies are

tbe walls ciround bis tomb.(Gardner 587-8)

Tbougb tbis is Taggart's opinion about Gilgamesb's quest for immortality,

most ancient Mesopotamians probably sbared tbis view:

Tbe estabbsbing of tbe simtu refers typically to tbe spécifie

act tbrougb wbicb man is allotted - evidently at birtb ... - an

individual and definite sbare of fortune and misfortune. ...

Simtu tbus unités in one term tbe two dimensions of buman

existence: personabty as an endowment and deatb as a

fulfilment...(Oppenbeim, Ancient 202)

By bringing tbe material about Gilgamesb's quest for personal fulfilment

and immortality into tbe modem era, Gardner forces tbe reader to

reconsider modem values, particulcirly individualism cmd tbe need to

make a différence, to leave one's mark. Gardner's empbasis on tbe image

of tbe walled city, wbicb protects and entombs, is powerful as it points to

bow tbe very nature of civilisation is in some way flawed from tbe

beginning. By juxtaposing tbe values of tbe past witb tbose of tbe présent.
 218

the Sunlight Man's words are starting to make some sense to the police

chief. Clumly, who fell asleep during part of the first dialogue, and who

started getting interested towards the ends of the second, now does not

want Taggart to stop talking at the end of their third meeting. Taggart,

always the magician, again disappears abruptly during their conversation.

Their last discussion,"The Dialogue of Towers"(Gardner 696-701), takes

place at the Stony Hill farmstead - the same setting that opens the novel.

Surrounded by the thick buildings and fences of bis family's estate,

Taggcirt starts by talking about the towers of Babylon, only to switch to a

vivid description of a Mesopotamian city, with its thick white walls and

towering temples(Gardner 696-7). When he suggests to Clumly that such

towers were "Mad human pride"(Gardner 697), he wants his audience also

to reconsider how thousands of years later North American society is still

driven by the same desires as the Babylonians. Taggert then asks Clumly:

Could it mean this: from man's own inner mystery, the

destructive principle in his blood - the knowledge that he's

bom for death - his achievements ascend - his godly will, his

desire to become one with the universe, total reality, either by

merging with it or by controlling it?"(Gardner 697).

After Clumly agréés that this may be the case, Taggart then shares his

dismal vision of the future. He tells him that because civihsation tries to

do the impossible - control the universe - it is doomed. By bringing

 219

capitalism and Vietnam into the discussion, Gardner provides modem

examples of how our civilisation is still trying to control the world, to

impose its own importance, instead of merging with it. Not only do these

four dialogues document Clumly's philosophical/moral évolution, but they

also create a dialogue between idéologies of the past and présent. The

modem reader must accept that modem values and beliefs are not natural

but cultural artefacts: in Mesopotamia, for example, not to act was a

greater sin than to act 'badly.'

Gardner, who with John Maier later translated the Epie ofGUgamesh

(1985)into English, uses the Epie as a means of reconsidering social values

and idéologies. When Taggart summarises part of the Epie for Clumly, he

puts a lot of emphasis on Umk's walls: "The poet sets up two parallel

scenes - one at the beginning of the first tablet, the other at the end of the

eleventh tablet - as a frame which symbolically establishes the futility of

the quest"(Gardner 587). The discussion about the Epie leads the Sunhght

Man to ask Clumly,

Once one's said it, that one must act, one must ask oneself,

shall I act within the cultural order I do not believe in but with

which I am engaged by des of love or anyway des of fellow-

feehng, or shall I act within the cosmic order I do beheve in, at

least in principle, an order indiffèrent to man? (Gardner 588)

 220

The Sunlight Man's understanding of the Epie applies cdso to his own

predicament - should he do everything necessciry to remain free to act, or

should he turn himself in to the police for crimes committed? When

Taggart gives in to the cultural order he does not beheve in, he is shot and

killed. This sacrificial act could have been committed to provide Clumly

with proof that Law and Order do not equate with justice - or on a more

abstract level, that the culturcil order is not worthy of man's actions.

Mouming the loss of Taggart, trying to share his thoughts with the

community, he tells them:"We may be wrong about the whole thing. ...

[We might better understand] if we could look at ourselves through the

eyes of history"(Gardner 745). Clumly is trying to get his audience to see

past the hmited vision imposed by our culture, he is asking them to re

examine their assumptions. Clumly, who is soon forgotten, seems to have

chosen to act within the cosmic order - or perhaps, not to act at ail.

The way in which Gardner includes the four dialogues - dialogues

between characters with différent idéologies, dialogues between the

présent and the distant past - créâtes a situation fertile for re-evaluating

perspectives and idéologies. Though Gardner reuses the Epie and related

material completely differently than do the writers discussed in "The

Goddess Rising," he wrote The Sunlight Dialogues during the same period

and reuses the material to bring about awareness of other idéologies. The

reuse of elements from the Epie of Gilgamesh and of material from

 221

hlstorical documents, namely Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia, in a text

set in the turbulent 1960s, créâtes an interesting dialogue about freedom.

By looking at Gilgamesh's actions through the eyes of a Babylonian, we

come to two importcint conclusions. When Gilgamesh seeks power,famé

and immortcdity, bis desire to control the world leads to his being

deprived of true freedom. Since the rise of agriculture, of kings and of

walled cities, man has imprisoned himself. Just as the wildman Enkidu

had come to the city to change destinies, to release people from the

tyranny of the king, the Sunlight Man - representing here many of the

ideals of the hippie-movement - tries to alter the thinking of Clumly, a

représentative of power. This dialogue with humcinkind's earliest known

text reveals that the quest for freedom is nothing new: "According to the

Jews, a man is responsible for obeying laws, performing his dutles.

According to the Babylonians, the greatest responsibiUty is to remain

absolutely free"(Gardner 464).

Choruses and Soles in Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin ofa Lion

Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin ofa Lion(1987)and its sequel The

English Patient(1992)are excellent examples of how an ancient myth can

be reused in a postmodern text. Though the first of these two texts

contains a few clear examples of préfiguration that establish the Epie of

 222

Gilgamesh as a hypotext, cind the second text has no clear links to the

Epie, we will see that the Epie is nonetheless an important hypotext in

both texts. It is not, however, the only hypotext used by Ondaatje in his

two novels. John Berger's "The Moment of Critieism" and Joseph Conrad's

The Secret Agent'"^ are important intertexts in Ondaatje's In the Skin ofa

Lion, as is Herodotus' Historiés in The English Patient. Aside from work by

Gamlin, Greenstein, and Siemerling, there is httle or no mention of the

Epie in the critieism - most erities foeus on social issues and on

ethnieity.'^° These différent points of view are not at ail incompatible. In

these two novels, the latter of whieh was made into a film, we will explore

the marginahty of numerous characters. These views from the outside of

mainstream culture are enhanced as events throughout the narration are

presented from multiple points of view. With this sharing of the

storyteller's clocik, these texts resist a définitive or monologic meaning.

Though the link between the ancient Epie and In the Skin ofa Lion is

not always direct or linear, two référencés in addition to the title establish

the Epie as a hypotext before the narration begins. First, in his

acknowledgements, Ondaatje writes,"The lines for The Epie of Gilgamesh

cire from N. K. Sandars translation (Penguin, i960)." In the epigraph, the

link between the title of the novel and the Epie is made clear when we

read;
 223

The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when you have gone to

the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will

wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion.

The Epie of Gilgamesh"'

Immediately following this quotation, the author prepeires his reader for

cin intertextual reading by quoting John Berger;"Never again will a single

story be told as though it were the only one." The use of the Berger quote

also foreshadows Ondaatje's concem with those on the margins."^ In

addition to the above-mentioned examples of préfiguration outside the

text, the narration contains a two-sentence quote taken directly from N. IC

Sandars' translation of the Epie (Ondaatje, In the Skin ofa Lion 242;

Sandars 97). The elearly established link between the aneient Epie and the

novel early on sets the stage for a dialogie reading, one where the reader is

almost foreed to aeknowledge the eorrespondenees between the novel and

its major hypotext.

Set in early twentieth eentury Ontario and eovering a period of about

twenty years, the novel reuses elements from the Epie without retelhng the

Epie in the way that authors diseussed in ehapters three and four have.

Some of the elements of In the Skin ofa Lion, sueh as the large

eonstruetion projeets, the prohibitive laws against gatherings in foreign

languages and some of the eharaeters, sueh as Commissioner Harris,

 224

Ambrose Smcdl and Nicholas Temelcoff, are based on historical

information. Written in the third person, with fréquent shifts in point of

View, the narration is frcimed with a very similar beginning and ending.

This novel, as well as the film version of The English Patient, incorporâtes

the cyclical structure of the Epie. Despite being set in the twentieth

century, there are certain scenes in the text that recall the ancient Epie.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Ondaatje's reuse of the Epie relates

to the characters. Ondaatje's creative reuse of the Epie is enriched by

intertextual references to numerous other texts, the blurring of history

and fiction, changing points of view and rich symbolism.

Much like the Epie of Gilgamesh, In the Skin ofa Lion^" is framed by

a prologue that describes a scene that took place soon after the end of the

story. Before the story begins, we are told that "This is a story a young

girl gathers in a car during the early hours of the moming. .,. She listens

to the man as he picks up and brings together varions corners of the

story"(Ondaatje, ISL 1). We find ont later that the man telling the story is

Patrick, the main character, and the young womain is his adopted

daughter, Hana. Though there is the same number of tablets in the Epie as

there cire chapters in In the Skin ofa Lion, Ondaatje's novel is nothing like

a re-narration of the ancient Epie. There are, nonetheless, épisodes or

scenes that cire clearly inspired by the Epie. In "Coming of Enkidu" the

people complain of the king's tyranny, especially those suffering due to

 225

his huge building projects, and request that the gods create Enkidu. In

Ondaatje's "The Bridge" we meet the immigrant workers who built the city

of Toronto. This is where we first hear about Commissioner Harris, who is

responsible for the large-scale building projects. Though he resembles

Gilgcimesh in his dream of building projects and in that he will be

remembered by history, the similarities end there. It is also in this section

that a nun narrowly escapes death, and after being rescued by a bridge

worker starts a new hfe. Like Enkidu, she is symbolically created

ovemight. She becomes a pohtical activist, siding with the workers in

their fight for social justice. It is in the next section,"The Searcher," that

Patrick meets Clara, Smcdl's lover, and Alice, an actress(who later becomes

an activist). Just as Gilgamesh seeks ont Humbaba in "Forest Joumey,"

Patrick seeks ont Ambrose Small, the eccentric milhonaire. It is in the

section "Palace of Purification" that Patrick, now IMng and working with

immigrants,finds an old friend. During a performance one night, he

spontaneously joins an actor on stage - an actor playing the rôle of a

speechless victim of society. He discovers that the actor is Alice. As her

companion, he also becomes involved in her actions against workers'

oppression. The next section, "Remorse," is very similar to the second

part of the third tablet of the Epie,"The Death of Enkidu," except that

AUce never shows signs of regretting anything about her life before her

untimely death. The first Unes of the section,"He had wanted to know her
 226

when she was old" (Ondaatje, ISL 163), links Patrick and Gilgamesh in

their mourning for their lost companions. The passage quoted by

Ondaatje in his epigraph (mentioned earlier), and from which he dérivés

the title of the novel, cornes right after Enkidu's death in the Epie of

Gilgamesh (Sandars 96). Like Gilgamesh, Patrick goes on a quest after his

companion's death, but instead of seeking immortality, he seeks social

justice. He goes on a quest that leads to a confrontation between himself

and Commissioner Marris, between those that build and those that

oversee. Though the section titled "Caravaggio" has httle correspondence

with the Epie, it does introduce us to the thief Caravaggio, who will later

play the rôle of the ferryman during Patrick's last attempt at justice in

"Maritime Theatre." This last section brings ail the strands of the story

together, and is clearly in dialogue with elements from the Tablets Four

("Secirch for Everlasting Life), Five("The Story of the Flood") and Six("The

Retum")of Scmdars' Epie of Gilgamesh. In this last part of the novel,

Patrick is released from prison after having served for a terrorist attempt.

His second attempt resembles Gilgamesh's quest in that there is a long

tunnel and a boat trip involved. He carries with him a bomb that, as

explains Siemerhng,"aims more precisely at the demarkation line between

the cmonymous dead of history, and those who are granted immortality by

its 'monuments'"(Siemerling 167). When Patrick does get to his

destination, he too falls asleep, but not before hearing Marris' advice and
 227

not before telling Harris about the loss of bis companion. With Harris

stcinding over the sleeping terrorist - whose rôle in this section is similar

to Utnapishtim's in the Epie - Ondaatje quotes directly from Sandars' Epie

of Gilgamesh.

He lay down to sleep, until he was woken from ont of a dream.

He saw lions around him glorying in hfe; then he took his axe

in his hand, he drew his sword from his belt, and fell upon

them like an cirrow from the string.(Ondaatje, ISL 242;

Sandars 97)

In the Epie, the quote eomes during Gilgamesh's quest, before he meets

with Utnapishtim, the immortal survivor of the Flood. Ondaatje reuses the

passage in a seene that reealls Gilgamesh's meeting with Utnapishtim,

where he falls asleep and thus fails to aeeomplish his goal. Though we do

not know exaetly what happens to Patrick when he awakens, we can

assume that Harris sets him free. Like Gilgamesh, he has failed to achieve

immortality or to trcinscend the rules established by the gods, but also hke

Gilgamesh, he is made aware of what he does have. After his final attempt

at social justice, he and his daughter Hana are together in a car where the

whole story is to be revealed. Ondaatje intégrâtes multiple elements from

the Epie's structure, but none so well as the use of the framing Prologue

and ending.
 228

Some of the characters from In the Skin ofa Lion can clearly be

linked with those from the Epie whereas others only seem to hint at a

relationship. Most fascinatlng are Ondaatje's variations whereby

characters from the Epie are fragmented or condensed in the modem text.

Unlike the Epie where Gilgcimesh is clearly the protagonist, this "novel is

devoid of a main character ... the action is... distributed quite

generously among a wlde group of characters that form the book's

community"(Butterfield 166). Later we vvill see how even the rôle of

Gilgamesh is shared by two characters, Patrick Lewis and Commissioner

Harris. Some of the characters in In the Skin ofa Lion borrow elements

from more than one character from the ancient Epie. A careful look at

how Ondaatje reuses parts of some of the Epic's key characters,

Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Ishtar, can provide some interesting insights.

Like Gilgamesh, Patrick seems to have a very signlficant rôle as ail of

the characters are linked to him in one way or another. Like the ancient

hero, he sets out on two quests. His first quest involves trying to find

Ambrose Small. The second, undertaken while mouming the loss of his

companion Alice, involves taking up her cause. Like Gilgamesh, his

second joumey takes him through a long dark tunnel and across water. In

an unusual twist, Patrick the armed anarchist meets up with Harris, the

great builder who seems not to care about the suffering of the workers.

When Patrick asks Harris how many had died during the building of his
 229

Project, he cinswers that no records had been kept. The fragmented parts

of Gilgamesh's personality come face-to-face - and they talk together in

the dark. Harris starts by telling him:"You don't understand power. You

don't like power, you don't respect it, you don't want it to exist but you

move around it ail the tlme"(Ondaatje, ISL 236). A strange sort of bcdcince

Is struck as Harris reveals his virtual powerlessness and Patrick realises

his own power. Commissioner Harris combines, at once, elements of both

Gilgamesh's and Utnapishtlm's rôles in the ancient Epie. He watches over

the sleeping and injured Patrick, and though he could have him arrested,

he instead sends for a nurse. Harris' name Uves on, as he is remembered

for his large building projects. Patrick, on the other hand, would have been

remembered if he had dynamited the Waterworks.

Ahce Gull is another of Ondaatje's fascinating characters. Like

Enkidu, she seems to come into existence as an adult. During an evening

with Clara and Patrick, the narrator tells us that "Ahce plucks only détails

from the présent to celebrate. She reveals no past, remains sourceless,

like those statues of men with wrapped heads who symbohze

undiscovered rivers"(Ondaatje, ISL 74). Originally, she was a nun.

Nicholas Temelcoff had rescued her from certain death years earlier when

the wind had blown her off a bridge he was working on. He had brought

her to a friend's restaurcuit, where they had recuperated and where she

started her Ufe over. After her transformation,"What she will become she
 230

becomes in that minute before she is outside, before she steps into the

six-A.M. morning"(Ondaatje, ISL 41). We later dlscover that Ahce - like

Enkidu, wlth bis plan to change destlnles, has a "grand cause"(Ondaatje,

ISL 125). She becomes Patrick's compcinlon. Like Gilgamesh's companion

Enkidu, Ahce toc dies, leaving her companion to continue questing alone.

Gordon Gamlin sees not only the link between Alice and Enkidu, but also

between Alice and the Goddess Ishtar:

Throughout the Gilgamesh epic, Ishtcir and her servant control

Gilgamesh and Enkidu, much as Alice and Clara influence

Patrick and Nick. Alice's destructive naming which is to

destroy the power of the enemy(124)further recahs Ishtar's

morcilly equivocal power. As Alice inherits both Ishtar's

power to influence others, and Enkidu's tragic fate ...(Gamlin

74-5).

The rôle of Ishtar is also shared between two characters - Ahce and

Clara. They are associated with ritual and with the spiritual world. Alice's

performance at the Waterworks wordlessly re-enacts the struggle between

oppressor and oppressed. Both Ahce and ClEira, together, create a "spirit

drawing" of Patrick with "the head leaking purple or yehow - auras of

jealousy and desire"(Ondaatje, ISL 75). But Clara is more of an Ishtar

figure than Ahce is. She has a certain power over men. The first time
 231

Patrick meets her,"He was dazzled by her ... as if she without turning

had fired a gun over her shoulder and mortally wounded him. The 'rare

lover,' the 'perfect wornan'"(Ondaatje, ISL 61). Like the goddess of love,

she has had numerous lovers. After she leaves her iguana with Patrick, he

feels doomed, he feels that even Ambrose Small is doomed (Ondaatje, ISL

83), much like Ishtar's lovers were doomed. When Patrick finally meets

Small, he tells him; "'I want Clara. Something about her cast a spell on me

... I don't know what it is.' 'It's her unfinished nature,' Ambrose says

quietly" (Ondaatje, ISL 93). Though she does reject Patrick's marriage

proposai, when ail is said and done, it is Clara who calls Patrick and asks

him to come and get her when Ambrose dies(Ondaatje, ISL 217). Like the

goddess Ishtar, she is behind many of the events of the novel - for it is she

who introduces Patrick to Ahce, who gives him the iguana that leads to his

becoming pcirt of the community of immigrants and that wlll lead him to

Ambrose (albeit indirectly). She is implied in the prologue, and directly

referred to in the last part of the story; the entire story unfolds as Patrick

and his adoptive daughter drive up to Marmora to get her at her request.

Gamlin notes that "In many ways the novel's typically oral résistance to

closure is personified by Clara, who mcikes her influence felt throughout

the novel"(Gamlin 71),just as Ishtcir makes her influence felt in the Epie.

Though some of the other characters could also be linked to the ancient
 232

Epie, so too can they be with chîu'acters from some of Ondaatje's other

hypotexts.""

The narrator tells us that "Each person had their moment when they

assumed the skins of wild animais, when they took responsibility for the

story"(Ondaatje, ISL 157). When Patrick hears the story of "the powerful

matriarch [who]removed her large coat from which animal pelts dcingled

[cmdl passed it, along with her strength, to one of the minor characters"

(Ondaatje, ISL 157), Patrick reedises that there is a terrible space between

him and the community,"a gap of love"(Ondaatje, ISL 157). The

reahsation prompts him to change, to become involved, and to become

part of the story. A few years later, he is able to share the story with his

adopted daughter. He has become part of a complex community, and now

Hana too will be able to find her place among those who have become part

of his life. Not only do the characters share the telling between

themselves - men and women,rich and poor, oppressors cmd oppressed,

members of old famihes and the recently arrived - but the readers too

must bring part of themselves to the reading. In his article on In the Skin

ofa Lion, Greenstein notes that by "subverting Aristotelian hiérarchies,

this postmodem énonciation reverses didacticism insofar as it demands an

unlearning of traditional stratégies of reading"(Greenstein 128). He

answers a question he himself had asked earher in his article - Who is in

 233

the driver's seat? We ail are. Patrick too realises that he is part of

something much larger than he is:

His own life was no longer a single story but part of a mural,

which was a falling together of accomplices. Patrick saw a

wondrous night web - ail of these fragments of a humcin

order, something ungovemed by the family he was bom into

or the headlines of the day. (Ondaatje, ISL 145)

The reahsation of his rôle, his power, becomes strikingly évident when he

meets his other half, the Commissioner Harris, who tells him: "You must

realize [thatl you are like these places, Patrick. You're as much of the

fabric as the alderman and the millionaires .... You're a lost heir.... You

reject power. And this is how the bland fools...become spokesmen for

the âge"(Ondaatje, ISL 238). Patrick, who had taken.up Alice's quest for

social justice, recognises his power and he realises that Harris, with his

dreams and visions, is his twin. Ondaatje uses several images, Temelcoffs

spider-like spinning and weaving of the bridge's structure (Ondaatje, ISL

34-5), the jazz band's choruses cind solos, the mural and the night web

(Ondaatje, ISL 144-5) as analogies to show how his characters are

important parts of a complex society. In her article "Ex-Centric," Linda

Hutcheon writes: "The silenced ex-centrics on the margins of history - be

they women, workers, immigrcints(or writers?)- must take the

 234

responsibility and accept the power to change the perspective of the

centre. Thls is the power given voice in In the Skin ofa Lion"(Hutcheon

134). Just as Gilgciniesh, clothed in a hon skin, sets eut to question, even

challenge, the immortals of his world, the différent characters in

Ondaatje's story take their tums hy telling their versions of events, events

often forgotten by officiai culture. In the process of sharing the

storyteller's cloak, a vast web cornes together that hnks everyone together.

Each individual must take responsibility for peirt of the story, and in doing

so, reahses his own power. There is a definite paradigm shift away from

"us and them" and towards "we." No clear answers are provided, but

différent versions of events create a space where a dialogue between

differing points of view can exist.

Communal Historiés in Ondaatje's The English Patient

Love...is the buming point of hfe and since ail is sorrowful,

so is love. And the stronger the love, the more the pain - that

love bears ail things. Love itself is a pain ... the pain of being

truly alive.(Campbell, Love and the Goddess)

During an interview about In the Skin ofa Lion with Barbara Turner

in 1987, Michael Ondaatje tells her that after having "lived with these

characters for so long [he has] no idea what's coming next. But it won't
 235

involve these people"(Turner 22). Yet hls next novel, The English Patient

(1996), as well as the film version where he coUaborated with Anthony

Minghella during the préparation of the script and the shooting, tnvolves

many of characters from In the Skin ofa Lion}^^ The novel has Hana,

Patrick's daughter, as one of the main characters. Partway through the

novel, her father's friend Caravaggio appears. Patrick and Clcira are also

part of this novel, but we find ont about them through the words and

memories of Hana and Caravaggio. Though not exactly a sequel in the

traditional sense, Ondaatje suggests one of the links between the two

Works when he tells Willem Dafoe in an interview:

There's a scene in In the Skin ofa Lion where Ambrose dies,

it's only about half a paragraph long, and perhaps that is

reciUy the germ for The English Patienfs plot in one half page.

I just recently reahzed that each book is a re-writing of what

you didn't quite get to in the previous book. (Dafoe 20)

Though Ambrose Small played a minor rôle in In the Skin ofa Lion,

originally Ondaatje had started the novel with Small as the main character.

The passage he refers to above is probably the following:

Ambrose spoke slowly, the uninterested words came from his

dark, half-naked shape as if ail this was just the emptying of

pads to be free of bfillast.... The only clarity for him now was

this bare room where Clara brought him food. He had

 236

imploded, had become a Gothic child suddenly fuU of a

language which was aimed nowhere, only out of his body.

Bitten flesh and manicures and greyhounds and sex and safe-

combinations zmd knowledge of suicides.(Ondaatje, ISL 214)

The death of a character in one novel leads to the création of cinother in

another book. There are numerous other elements, such as Ondaatje's use

of multiple points of view and the mixing of fictitious and historical

characters and events,"® which resemble In the Skin ofa Lion. Surprisingly

absent in this novel are quotes from or direct references to the Epie of

Gilgamesh, mciking this cin example of subtextual irradiation - where "une

image mythique, présent dans un autre texte de cet écrivain, peut

rayonner dans un autre texte où elle n'est pas exphcite"(Brunei 84). For

this reason, we will nonetheless explore some of the characteristics and

actions of Gilgamesh and Enkidu that are integrated into Ondaatje's novel.

In many ways, The English Patienf^^ is in dialogue with numerous

texts, notably Herodotus' Historiés, Milton's Paradise Lost, the Bible and

the Epie of Gilgamesh The novel adopts a cyclical structure similar to that

of the Epie. like the Epie, scenes occurring at the same site frame the

narrative. The novel begins at an abandoned villa in Southern Italy, and

ends at the same place, a few weeks later. The story that unfolds is the

telle of how the four characters got to that point. Set during the Second

World War, the novel begins with the English patient, who is "reposed in
 237

his bed like a king"(Ondaatje, TEP14). Ondaatje bas based thls character

on two people - the mythic Gilgamesh and the desert explorer Almâsy."®

He is a weary man at the end of his life, being cared for by a nurse in a

room,in the shelled-out Villa San Girolcimo, painted to look hke a garden.

Much like Gilgamesh when he arrives in the Garden of the Gods, he tells

the story of his loss. Most of his story is revealed through what he tells

Hana and later Caravaggio, through maps and notes in his book, and

through memories. He is devastated by the loss of Katharine - his love for

her knew no bounds, nor does his grief. Just as Gilgcimesh had done after

the death of Enkidu, the English patient too wandered through the desert

after her death. The Bédouin found him and took him across the desert,

which the English patient constantly compares to a sea of sand (Ondaatje,

TEP 5, 9, 18-9, 22). He likens the affect of loving Kathcirine, albeit almost

against his own will, to being "disassembled"(Ondaatje, TEP 155).

Remembering the pciin of their love, he uses a story he had once told to

her to express how his love for her consumed him:

There is a plant he knows of near El Taj, whose heart, if one

cuts it out, is replaced with a fluid containing herbal

goodness. Every morning one can drink the hquid the cimount

of a missing heart. The plant continues to flourish for a year

before it dies from some lack or another. (Ondaatje, TEP 155)

 238

When she décidés that they are not to see each other, he identifies with

that plant. It is as though his heart,"an organ of fire"(Ondaatje, TEP 97),

sets fire to his whole being: "She sees one tear and leans forward and

licks it, taking it into her mouth. As she had taken the blood from his

hand when he eut himself cooking for her. Blood. Tear. He feels

everything is missing from his body, feels he contains smoke" (Ondaatje,

TEP 157). His burnt exterior comes to resemble his interior when his

plane crashes,just after recovering Katharine's body from the Cave of

Swimmers."® The emptiness the Enghsh patient feels is no doubt

comparable to that which Gilgamesh felt when Enkidu dies after being

punished for their hubris. He bas not been able to bring Katharine back,

his mission has failed, and he has nothing left to hve for. As though a

comment on Gilgamesh's desire for famé,for permanence, Almâsy says;

"It is when we are old, concemed with our name, our legend, what our

hves will mean to the future. We become vain with the names we own, our

daims to have been the first eyes, the strongest cirmy, the cleverest

merchant"(Ondaatje, TEP 141-2). He continues his dialogue with the

ancient Epie when he says," I don't believe in permanence,in relationships

that span âges"(Ondaatje, TEP 230). Like Gilgamesh, he seems to come to

terms with his Ufe. Going over the most important things of his life, he

concludes:
 239

I do net believe that I entered a cursed land, or that I was

ensnared in a situation that was evil. Every place and person

was a gift to me.... Everything I have loved or valued bas

been taken away from me.(Ondaatje, TEP 257)

Katharine Clifton, like Almâsy, is also made of elements from a

historical person and from the Epie of Gilgamesh. Her character is loosely

based on the life of the aviator and explorer Lady Clayton, as well as

Enkidu, Gilgamesh's companion. She accompanies the team of desert-

loving cartographers and explorers, including her husband Geoffrey

Qifton and an older coUeague Almâsy, on severcQ occasions. Like Enkidu,

she is an outsider, an intruder, who appears suddenly among the desert

explorers. Almâsy says that he "watched the friendly uncertainty

scattered across Iherl face, her lionlike hair when she puUed off the

leather helmet" the first time he met her(Ondaatje, TEP 142). Enkidu, with

his "long hair like a woman's... Uke the hair of Nisaba, the goddess of

com"(Sandars 63), had also been uncertain when first meeting Gilgamesh.

Their first discussions could likewise be considered aggressive and

conflictual. Uke Enkidu, Katharine has many dreams:

The first time she dreeimed of lAlmâsyl she woke up beside

her husband screaming .... A year later the other, more

dangerous, peaceful dreams ceime.... Who lays the crumbs

 240

of food that tempt you? Towîirds a person you never

considered, A dream. Then later another sériés of dreams.

(Ondaatje, TEP149-50)

Katharine and Almâsy become levers, seeing each other in South Caire

whenever they can. They beceme "sinners in a hely city"(Ondaatje, TEP

154). When she cannet take it anymere,fearing that her husband will ge

crazy, she puts an end te the relatienship. She says the last time they see

each ether as levers that,"Frem this peint en in eur lives... we will either

find er lese eur seuls"(Ondaatje, TEP 158). Like Gilgamesh and Enkidu,

these cempaniens have gene against the geds ef their werld ence tee

eften, and fer that they are punished. Caravaggie reveals te Almâsy why

he had been arrested, and as a conséquence, ceuld net ge back te save

Katharine:"Yeu became the enemy net when yeu sided with the Germans

but when yeu began yeur affair with Katharine Cliften"(Ondaatje, TEP

254-5). Like Enkidu, Katharine pays fer their transgressions with her life.

When he dees finally get back te bis leng-dead lever, still in the Cave ef

Swimmers where he had left her, she is surreunded by "Falhemaly. The

dusk ef graves. With the cennetatien ef intimacy there between the dead

and the hving"(Ondaatje, TEP 170). This scene is reminiscent ef the scene

frem the Epie, Tablet XII, where Gilgamesh seeks eut Enkidu in the

Netherwerld. Like Gilgamesh, Almâsy Ccumet accept her death and blcimes

himself.
 241

Two other characters have, at least in part, been imbued with

éléments from Siduri in the ancient Epie. Hana is very much like the wine-

maiden that cares for Gilgamesh during his voyage that helps him find

Utnapishtim. Hana sees to his needs, cind much more. She believed in

"Tendemess towards the unknown and cinonymous, which was a

tendemess to the self (Ondaatje, TEP 49). She too lives in a garden, and it

is through Almâsy's conversation with her "uncle" Caravaggio that Almâsy

is able to go over the events that lead him to where he is. It is Caravaggio,

however, who seems more like Siduri when it comes to evaluating what is

most important. Worried about Hana and Kip, he tells them that "The

correct move is to get on a train, go and have babies together"(Ondaatje,

TEP 122). Caravaggio works through his own grief and décidés that what

he wants is

his arms around the sapper and Hana or, better, people of his

own âge, in a bar where he knows everyone, where he can

dance and tcQk with a woman,rest his head on her shoulder,

lean his head against her brow.... It no longer mattered

which side [Almâsy] was on during the war.(Ondaatje, TEP

251)

Reminiscent of Siduri's wisdom speech, Cciravaggio's words and thoughts

focus on the personal aspects of human existence.

 242

It is revealed that the English patient Is not actually English but

rather a Hungarian explorer who had collaborated wlth the Germans.

Almâsy, though at one time known as the English spy, switches sides

easily when circumstances change: "I wanted to erase my ncime and the

place I had corne from. By the time the war cirrived, after ten years in the

desert, it was easy for me to slip across borders, not belong to anyone, to

ciny nation"(Ondaatje, TJEP139). He reveals to Caravaggio during a

conversation that once Katharine had told him:"You slide past everything

with your fear and hate of ownership, of owning, of being owned, of being

named"(Ondaatje, TEP 238). Hana,forever changed by losses of her

father, her unbom child, the father of the child and numerous patients

during the war, stays behind with the English patient when the rest of the

staff moves along. Beyond caring about foUowing mihtary rules,"She

would not be ordered again or carry out duties for the greater good"

(Ondaatje, TEP 14). When Caravaggio reveals to Hana that her patient

might be a spy, she tells him,"I think we should leave him be. It doesn't

matter what side he was on, does it?"(Ondaatje, TEP 165). As Caravaggio

gets to know Almâsy, he too arrives at the opinion that "It no longer

matters which side [Almâsy] was on during the war"(Ondaatje, TEP 251).

Caravaggio, once a thief, once a spy, is now looking for a new identity.

Hana even notices how his appearance has altered. Kip, the young sapper

from India, is also transformed during the novel. Though he had once
 243

seemed enchanted with ail that was English, when he finds out that the

Allied troops dropped atomlc bombs on Japan, he is in a state of shock.

He confronts the EngUsh patient:

You and then the Amerlcans converted us. With your

missionciry mies. And Indian soldiers wasted their lives as

heroes so that they could be pukkah. You had wars like

cricket. How did you fool us into this? Here ... listen to what

you people bave done. (Ondaatje, TEP 283)

Caravaggio tells Kip that the patient he's pointing the gun at is not Enghsh

- that "Of ail people he is probably on your side." "He would say that

doesn't matter," Hana adds, for she understands Almâsy's greatest hate,

ownership (Ondaatje, TEP 286). The four main characters deny the

authority of those who make décisions about the W2ir. Almâsy had

summed it up when he says,"there is God only in the desert... outside of

this there was just trade and power, money and war. Financial and

military despots shaped the world"(Ondaatje, TEP 250). And yet when he

and Madox had parted for the last time, when Madox told him,"May God

make safety your companion." Almâsy had answered,"There is no God"

(Ondaatje, TT? 240-1).

Just like Herodotus, who "has from the beginning sought out the

supplementary to the main argument," Ondaatje too has attempted to

reveal "cul-de-sacs within the sweep of history - how people betray each
 244

other for the sake of nations, how people fall in love"(Ondaatje, r£P 119).

Throughout the novel, the characters have had to make difficult choices.

It seems that the world has become increasingly complex in a short period

of time; with the drawing of boundaries and the impact of a large-scale

war,freedom has been compromised. There are numerous instances in

the novel where the topics of ovmership and nationality are brought up.

Most obvions is Almâsy's dislike of ownership, and how he becomes

distraught at the thought of anyone owning music, or the desert, or

another person. Hana is effectively a deserter. Kip deserts after the alhed

forces drop the bombs on Japan. This fascination with ownership créâtes

an interesting dialogue with the Epie of Gilgamesh, written soon after the

birth of the city-state and the formalisation of numerous laws to deal with

property (including, of course, not only land and hvestock, but also

women and slaves). Nationhood, property, colonialism - these concepts

cu-e ail questioned in the ongoing dialogue. Hana fears that the course of

events has forever changed relationships between people. In her letter to

Clara, she writes; "From now on I believe the personal will forever be at

w£ir with the public"(Ondaatje, TEP 292). The mythotextual references to

both the Epie of Gilgamesh emd Herodotus' Historiés highlight the

significance of personal relationships within a larger social context and

emphasise the importance of individuals in the making of history.

Almâsy's fecU"s of being owned blinded him to bis rôle within a web of
 245

relationships larger thcin he had imagined. Almâsy, who had tried to live

on the margins of society, who had refused to own or be owned,

nonetheless becomes part of history. On his deathbed, he realises that he

is part of the lives of others. Just as the desert can have no real

boundaries, there are no boundaries between people. As if answering

Siduri's and Utnapishtiin's words about the pleasures of the living, Almâsy

tells Caravaggio:

We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we

have swaUowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as

if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if

trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for ail this to

be marked on my body when I am dead We are communal

historiés, communal books. We are not owned or

monogamous in our taste or experience, (Ondaatje, TEP 261)

Once a mapmaker, the dying explorer now wants his story written on his

body - for his life, he comes to realise, is pcirt of a larger story, a

communal story.

Writing the Self into the Story

Barthes' image of the text as fabric, as some kind of complex,

etemally unfinished story, fits well with the type of intertextual

possibilities of the texts in this chapter. Kristeva has suggested that we

 246

return to the original sense of lire, and read with engagement, aggressively

asserting our own knowledge, experience, associations - even "steal" the

text, somehow make it our ovm. Genova tells us: "Le texte peut devenir

un lieu d'échange entre un lecteur et l'écrivain, un champ mental où se

rencontrent une pensée et son déchiffrement"(Genova 15). We write

ourselves into the texts that we read,just as the characters in the texts in

this chapter have written themselves into a larger story. It seems that

when this happens, the borders, or barriers, start to disappear. Old ideas

can be recycled, assumptions revealed as false, new paradigms bom. As

the walls come down, anything might happen.

In these texts, there is a lot of space left open for dialogues. In fact,

for ail of these texts, communication is critical. It is how the characters

come to find their place in the universe, to write their story into a larger

story. In the Star Trek épisode "Darmok," Picard realises how important it

was for Dathon to communicate. Dathon was willing to risk everything,

his own life, and even a war,just to make contact. His sacrifice leads to

the writing of his story into a larger story and, more importantly, créâtes a

link between his people and another. The reuse of part of the Epie of

Gilgamesh serves to show how myths can provide a means of

communication. In Sagan's novel Contact, a dialogue is created between

différent sides of Gilgamesh's personahty, allowing for a discussion about

 247

immortality, communication and love. Though Hadden's cimusement park

Babylon does stand in contrast to mainstream views on morality, it is the

possible contact between humankind and the rest of the Universe that is

given the most emphasis. If anything, the novel shows us how being open

to the world leads to transformation and enlightenment. Gardner's The

Sunlight Dialogues hases its two main characters on Gilgamesh and

Enkidu. This complex novel features a sériés of dialogues whereby the

values of 1960s America are contrasted with those of Babylon, as explored

by Oppenheim in his Ancient Mesopotamia. This leads to the exploration

of freedom and of humankind's rôle. In this novel, two men come

together as enemies and end up as friends. A tragedy of sorts, one dies

needlessly cind the other is forgotten, yet they have connected and have

been transformed by their relationship. In the Skin ofa Lion, by Ondaatje,

reuses multiple elements from the Epie, deftly fragmenting and

condensing the varions rôles and scenes. The use of multiple voices helps

bring marginal figures to the centre. Even more importantly, the

characters ail become part of a "wondrous night web." With Patrick's

telling of his story to his daughter Hana, he writes himself as well as ail

those he has known,into cin unfinished story. In much the same way,

Almâsy has pasted in, or simply slipped between the pages of Herodotus,

fragments of his life in Ondaatje's The English Patient. He sheires this

story with the other three that share the villa in the last days of his life.
 248

The four have resisted authority, have sought eut their own paths - and

their healing, their transformation comes in the sharing of their stories.

The importance of borders and boundaries between nations, between

people, blurs. We are left witb a sense of the sacredness of connection.

In tbese texts the reuse of the ancient mytb,just one among otber

bypotexts, is one of many devices tbat leads to the création of a space for

a dialogue. In some of the texts, tbis dialogue puts modem and ancient

values and idéologies in opposition, making their arbitrary nature more

apparent. In some of the texts, namely tbose by Sagan and Ondaatje, the

clever fragmenting of a cbaracter from the Epie créâtes anotber, more

Personal, kind of dialogue. In ail of tbese texts, the importance of being

part of sometbing mucb larger, part of the never-ending story is essential.

Tbis idea is transmitted in a number of ways: the sharing of mytbs to

create new ones; the coming togetber of opposites; the connection of one

planet to the rest of the universe; the weaving of otbers' stories into the

individual's before passing it along; or baving parts of the individual's

story added to anotber. Like the mytbic novels discussed in chapters

tbree and four, ail of the works discussed bave reused the Epie of

Gilgamesh and related material; bowever, despite sharing a common

bypotext, tbese mytbological texts require tbat the reader bas bad to seek

ont less explicit examples of préfiguration and become mucb more adept

at exploring the flexibiUty of mytbs. Tbese complex, multi-layered stories

 249

require the reader to play cin active rôle; in a sense they toc cire writing

part of their own story into the text.

 250

VI The Power of Mythotextuality

"When the world chcinges, then the

rehgion has to be transformed."

(Campbell, Power 21)

Our oldest literary text, the Epie of Gilgamesh, is truly a gift in many

ways. Before being buried for over two thousand years, the Epie circulated

and evolved throughout the ancient Far Hast, influencing some of our

earliest texts. The translations of the various poems and versions of the

Epie beeame available to the général pubhe in the 1960s and 1970s,

bringing the Epie baek to us at a time when the very transitions it

doeuments are being ealled into question. As it had been ont of

eireulatlon for sueh a long period of time, unlike Biblieal and Greek

Mythology, it has offered us a unique opportunity for the study of the

reuse of a "new" aneient text by eontemporary authors.

There are a great Vciriety of reasons why the Epie of Gilgamesh and

related matericQ might be ehosen as a hypotext by so many eontemporary

authors, not the least of whieh is that it is a subversive text. A

eontemporary author who ehooses to retell the story ean make numerous

subtle ehanges that will remained largely uimotieed by most readers while

retaining mueh of the authority of the aneient myth. Some eontemporary

authors, partieularly those who wrote the mythie - rather than

 251

mythological - texts covered in "The Goddess Rlsing," no doubt thought

the character of the goddess provided a means of showing how the

monotheistic patriarchal religions that dominate our culture in the présent

day were not the norm at cin earlier period. The authors discussed in

"Mythic Authority," who also re-neirrate the Epie in their mythic texts,

seem more likely to have been drawn to the charismatic figure of the

powerful king, Gilgamesh, cind his quests for more power and for

immortality. The authors discussed in "Mythotextual Dialogues" seem

drawn not so much towards spécifie characters or events, but by the

potential of the Epie to foster a dialogue between the modem and the

ancient world. As we have seen in the analysis of the mythological -

rather than mythic - novels discussed in chapter five, these authors seem

most attracted to the ambiguities of the Epie, specifically the tangled web

of power relations. The Epie of Gilgamesh contains many subplots, and

each tells a story that we can leara much from.

The Mesopotcimian Gilgamesh material documents and brings to hfe

an era of unprecedented social transformations. Sumer bas just gone

through a Neolithic révolution - the semi-nomadic tribes from the région

become village dwellers as multiple forms of agriculture take on an

importcmt rôle. The worship of the goddess, a symbol for the earth as

provider (as seen by hunting and gathering society and by those based on

agriculture)loses ground in the new cities of the Tigris-Euphrates valley.

 252

An analysis of the évolution of the Sumerian poems into a complex and

coherent Babylonian, and later an Akkadlan epic, when set agalnst the

historical material also covered in "Subversive Scribes," bas allowed us to

see the relationship between the évolution of a myth and of the culture

that produces it. This bas provided an interesting backdrop for the main

part of our study - documenting how contemporary authors bave reused

the Epic of Gtlgamesh and related material. Though our study of

contemporary texts that reuse the Epic covers but a brief historical period

- from 1967 to 1996 - three distinct reuse phases can be identified.

A Mythotextual Approach

The specialists of myth criticism, such as White, Herd and Brunei

bave provided important tools for the philological aspect of our study of

myth reuse. Other critics, such as Genette and Kristeva give us insight

into to the complex nature of intertextuality. Though these

methodological perspectives certainly enlighten us on the "how" of myth

reuse, little discussion is undertaken as to "why" a contemporary author

might choose to reuse an cincient myth or "what" the reader might come to

understand from such a reading. Moreover, the relationship between

literature and society is often overlooked. In order to answer these

questions, and consequently take myth criticism a step further, the most

important goal of our study bas been to explore the political aspects of
 253

the reuse of the Epie in a number of contemporary texts. Gramsci/^"

Foucault and Barthes, who shared the view that the rôle of the intellectual

is to expose and challenge répressive myths of hegemony, would certainly

agree with Eagleton that litercuy criticism should, above ail, be a political

act. In her cu-ticle "Sexual/Textual Politics," Toril Moi writes:

The aims of feminist criticism cu-e or should be revolutionary.

It is politics, the opposition to patriarchy and sexism in ail its

forms, which gives feminist criticism its specificity. This

feministic commitment necessarily also entails the opposition

to the exploitive, hierarchical and authoritarian structures of

capitalism, and this is why feminist criticism is and must be a

revolutionary form of criticism. (Moi 198)

By adopting a basiceilly feministic approach to the study of myth reuse in

contemporary hterature, we have been able to see how différent writers

using the same hypotext manipulate images of women. This strategy,

which Works well with the mythic material covered in the chapters three

and four that re-narrate the Epie, must be fuUy developed for the

discussion of the mythological texts covered in the fifth chapter,

"Mythotextual Dialogues." We explored how these writers go beyond the

male-female dichotomy and explore the rôle of the individual within a

larger social context.

 254

It is less widely understood that the projection of "the other"

- easily adaptable to national, racial cind class différences -

bas basically and primordially been directed against women.

Even the rhetoric of racism finds its model in sexism.... The

consciousness raising which is beginning among women is

evoking a qualitatively new understanding of the subtle

mechanisms which produce and destroy "the other," and a

conséquent empathy with ail of the oppressed. (Daly 61)

Though to date myth criticism has tended to be at least superficially

apohtical and ahistorical, we have seen that it is not the least bit

incompatible with a more socio-political approach. A pluralist approach

that combines historical considérations with the adoption of some of the

stratégies of modem criticism pushes myth criticism to evolve far beyond

influence studies and can also reveal some of the stratégies employed to

maintain the status quo, as well as those that can provoke ideological

shifts.

This type of mythotextual study has given us a rare chance to see

how a myth evolves against the backdrop of an ever-changing society.

With this non-Unear progression of texts, where hypertexts become

hypotexts, where authors have sometimes used translations as well as

other contemporary texts as source material, multiple variations are

created. The experienced reader-critic, analysing such a large group of

 255

inter-related texts, can start to see certain patterns emerge. The texts

being studied transcend the wrltten page - the scribe, the contemporary

author cind the reader-critic ail play creative rôles - revealing, in the

process, waves of variation and change. An interesting by-product of this

process is the révélation of just how arbitrary certain values and ideas are.

Such a study allows us to see through common assumptions that are

considered normal or natural in a given period. Idéologies are shown to

bave a beginning, and to bave been preceded by a sériés of idéologies. The

kind of mythotextual study we bave undertaken participâtes in a

subversive strategy, but is becoming conscious of the arbitrariness of

idéologies likely to provoke change? Barthes wams that making this type

of discovery could simply be a kind of vaccination that would inoculate

the général population against true action: "On immunise l'imaginaire

collectif par un petit inoculation de mal reconnu"(Barthes, Mythologies

225). Perhaps consolation is to be found in the ideas put forth by

Gadamer who insists that the goal is not to do away with propagcinda

through a critique of ideology, but to seek understanding through a

dialogue - a mythocritical study allows one to dialogue with the past as

well as one's own culture.

Historical considérations bave played an important rôle in our study

cind bave provided a background for the most ancient phase of the

évolution of the Mesopotamian material - from a group of poems about

 256

Gilgamesh to a complété Epie. Additlonally, our survey of the évolution of

the Epie in ancient Mesopotamia lends credence to the often spéculative

cuid frequently contested belief in the mutucil influence that text and

Society have upon each other. The discussion of the contemporary texts

being studied, despite covering a short period of time, nonetheless reveals

an évolution in terms of which subplot is being emphasised and how the

Mesopotamian material is utihsed textually. Our study of the évolution of

how and to what ends the Mesopotamian texts are reused reveals sudden

ideological shifts that are not isolated. In particular, the attempt of

transcendence cdluded to in the works covered in the last chapter is

discussed in the work of researchers in other fields, such as Susan Fcdudi,

David Suzuki and Amanda McCormell and the late Joseph Campbell.

Palimpsestes: What Can an Ancient Story Tell us about Ourselves?

Whether we look at the Sumericm poems about Gilgamesh or the

later Babylonian or Akkadian versions of the Epie of Gilgamesh, it is clear

that these texts document a period of monumental change. By studying

these texts comparatively, the modem scholcir Ccm see some of the

stratégies involved in the transformation of a story. Additionally,

historical information about the society that created and recreated the

Epie shows the interrelationship between literature and society.

 257

Though contemporary authors were likely drawn to the texts about

Gilgamesh for a number of reasons, the fact that the Epie of Gilgamesh is

our first epic and that it documents a period of transition were certainly

important factors for most. And as was the case when the Akkadian

scribes rewrote the Babylonian epic, or even more striking, when the

Babylonians rewrote the five Sumerian poems into a single coherent epic,

the contemporary authors we have studied have also made important

changes, adapting the material in a number of ways.

Like the ancient scribes, many contemporary authors have not

strayed far from the translation(s) used; varying little from the hypotext(s),

they have mostly rewritten the Epic. The changes, however, be they

altérations, additions or omissions, are often very revealing. This group of

mythic texts is set in cincient Mesopotamia with ail the same characters

and major events. This is the case with the texts discussed in chapters

three cind four.

Chapter III, "The Goddess Rising," discusses a group of texts written

in the period from 1967 to 1980. Our study shows that the texts covered

remain quite loyal to the hypotexts. A close examination of the rôle of the

goddess Inanna/Ishtar and other female characters reveals that these

modem authors give them rôles as full and complex as did the ancient

scribes. When there are gaps in the translations or when scholarly

disagreements exist in the interprétation of the ancient tablets, these

 258

authors tend to give the goddess the more positive image. Written during

a period when the feminist movement is revolutionizing North American

Society, these texts seem simultaneously to be predicting, encouraging and

reflecting such a change. Despite the fact that Michel Garneau's

Gilgamesh(1970) puts most emphasis on the relationship between

Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the goddess and other female figures are key

actors in the unfolding of this version, which leads to a very positive

ending emphasising the importcince of life as a célébration. Like

Garneau's work, Jean Marcel's Le Chant de Gilgamesh(1980) emphasises

the essential need to Uve well and to share hfe with others. Here, Ishtar

remains divine and powerful, without being blamed for the négative

aspects of human existence. This version instead confronts the Assembly

of the Gods, blaming them for humanity's mortality. Barbara Bryson's

Gilgamesh: Man's First Story(1967)features a very powerful Ishtar and

numerous strong female characters. Gilgamesh, a tyrant in the early part

of her story, becomes a humble man. Though the ending is somewhat

ambiguous, patriarchy is clearly challenged. Ehzabeth Jamison Hodges'

story, A Song For Gilgamesh (1971), reuses the Sumerian poems about

Gilgamesh as her hypotext. This is by far the most feministic of the

contemporary texts to reuse the Mesopotamian material. She présents us

with a matriarchal society where goddesses and women wleld power

responsibly and are caring, intelligent, and powerful and where Gilgamesh
 259

serves the goddess. In none of these texts do we see the rôles of the

goddess or other femcde characters being reduced or negatively portrayed.

In fact, we see a reversai of the tendency towards a more patriarchal world

as seen in the évolution of the Epie in the ancient Near East. The

availability of translations of the Sumerian poems and the Epie of

Gilgamesh in the late 1960s and the 1970s provided cin element that

Simone de Beauvoir felt greatly lacked earlier - a common history for

women, a window onto a time where women and goddesses had important

rôles(de Beauvoir 19). Reasoning along the Scime lines, Monique Witting

wrote in her provocative book Les Guérillières(1973): "There was a time

when you were not a slave, remember ... Or fcdling that, invent"(89). The

reuse of the Epie was a means for feminist thinkers of this era to point to

an earlier time when women were involved at every level of society. No

less importcint was that these ancient Sumerian, Babylonian and Akkadian

texts showed how these cultures had worshipped goddesses, cmd as a

conséquence, had many temples where priestesses and some maie votaries

managed the most important social institution at that time. Simply

reusing these texts in such a positive way could lead to the questioning of

the 'naturahiess' of worshipping a single maie god. If religion has indeed

been "the most important shaper and enforcer of the image and rôle of

women in culture and society," as states Rosemary Ruether (9), then the

reuse of the Mesopotamicm material could be a means of shaking up and

 260

possibly transforming current dominant ideology. In The Changing ofthe

Gods(1979), Naomi Goldberg tells us:"To progress toward religions in

which new images of women live emd thrive, we bave to make a

philosophical leap entirely out of patriarchal structures"(Goldberg 18).

The texts covered in this chapter, using the Mesopotcunian material as a

hypotext without diminishing the powerful images of women and

goddesses, mcike that leap. Though feminism certainly Ccinnot be

described as a religion, the reuse the Mesopotamian material in these texts

has provided a positive model of womanhood.

The next chapter,"Mythic Authority," covers the second group of

mythic texts in our study, ail written between 1984 and 1994, and

documents a radical shift away from the feminist tendencies discussed in

"The Goddess Rising." In these texts we see how the treatment of the

goddess Inanna/Ishtar and other female characters differs greatly from

those covered in the previous chapter. David Ferry's Gilgamesh:A New

Rendering in English Verse(1992) makes creative use of the omissions in

the translations of the ancient epic and of the disagreements in

interprétation to further dethrone the goddess, furthering a trend we saw

in the later Mesopotamian material. Yet the despair of this version may

warn of the conséquences of undermining the rôle of the goddess and

what she represents. Robert Silverberg's Gilgamesh the King(1984) also

greatly undermines the power of the goddess Ishtar. Here she is a mortal
 261

représentative, but Gilgcimesh murders this headstrong représentative and

replaces her with a young pliable woman who will serve him and bis

administration. In this version, we see that the goddess and her rôle are

desacralized. Gilgamesh's deceased father, however, becomes a god-like

presence. Despite Gilgamesh's résistance to the power of the goddess, he

seems to be humble enough and content to serve the male-led Assembly

of the Gods at the end of the novel. In the 1990s, Ludmilla Zeman

published a trilogy based on the Epie of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh the King,

The Revenge ofishtar and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh, written for

children, simplify and shorten the original epic considerably. Most

significant, though, is that she leaves out much of the material about the

goddess Ishtar and other female characters. As we have seen, Zeman

consistently paints a very négative picture of the goddess, in the text and

in the illustrations. The Sun God, on the other hand, takes over the

positive aspects of the goddess' rôle, effectively replacing not only the

goddess, but also the entire panthéon. We have also seen how Alain

Gagnon employs a similar strategy in his short novel, Gilgamesh (1986).

The goddess Ishtar, who is continucdly insulted, has only her négative

attributes left intact. The temple priestess is twinned with the Old

Testament's Eve, and Gilgamesh's mother is completely ehminated. At the

end of the novel, Gilgamesh forsakes the entire panthéon and foUows but

a single, more important god. That this may not be the perfect solution is
 262

alluded to in the ferryman's comments. These texts share much in

common. The goddess is portrayed in a very négative way, not to mention

the fact that her rôle is greatly reduced. Most striking is the language

used to describe the goddess and her actions. Many of the female

characters also have reduced rôles or have been altogether eliminated.

Another interesting element is how maie rôles have often been expanded

and glorified. In three of the four texts we have seen in this chapter, the

goddess is replaced - in the latter two cases with a single maie god. Why

such a sudden shift in such a short period of time? This turnaround since

the texts from the late 1960s and the 1970s, is very similar to a pattem

identified by Susan Faludi in her book Backlash. She bas documented the

Scime transition, from strong and independent female characters to very

dépendant or négative female characters, as well as the glorification of

"macho" maie characters, in films and télévision sériés when comparing

the material from the 1970s and the 1980s. Faludi's study also shows

how the média manipulâtes the pubhc, how false "truths" put forth by

popular culture often become self-fulfilling. The texts covered in this

chapter seem to reflect our society's blaming of feminism when the state

of affairs degraded in North American society although in fact, "women's

so Ccdled gains ... had precious little to do with men's losses"(Faludi

Backlash 67). These authors reused the Mesopotamian material in a

 263

manner very similar to those in the third chapter, and yet, the resuit is

akin to a counter-attack.

"Mythotextual Dialogues," which discusses the third and last group

of contemporary texts covered in our study, includes mythological texts

that are very différent from the first two groups studied, both in ternis of

style, content and reuse pattern. In this chapter, we looked at texts that

cire not obvions hypertexts of the ancient epic. Thus, our first task was to

establish that the Mesopotamian matericil was indeed used as a hypotext.

Far from the kind of retelling we have seen in the previous two chapters,

these texts are set in the présent or future. Though the approach taken in

the previous two chapters does reveal interesting insights, it does not

embrace the complexity of these texts that seem to trcinscend the issues of

feminism cind its backlash. Additioucdly, these texts reuse the

Mesopotamian material not to retell the story, but to give theirs depth - to

create a dialogue between past, présent, and in some cases, the future.

The "Darmok"(1991) épisode of the Star Trelc The Next Génération

télévision sériés reuses fragments of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Here the

material used serves not only to show how the myths of a culture define

how people live, but that they cilso provide a means of finding a common

ground between différent peoples. Ultimately, the sharing of myths is a

mecins of communicating on a profound level. This emphasis on the

importance of communication as a mezins of becoming part of a much

 264

larger whole, is central to Cari Sagan's novel Contact(1985). Set in the

near future wlth its chciracters loosely based on those from the Epie, the

novel explores the indivldual's rôle wlthln a social context, and within the

universe itself. Joseph Campbell's image of humankind as just one of

many living things on this planet is surpassed by Sagan's cosmic vision.

The film-script, co-written with Ann Druyan, falls somewhat short of this

mystical vision. John Gardner's The Sunlight Dialogues(1972)is set in

small town America during the turbulent 1960s. In this détective novel of

sorts, both the protagonist and antagonist are loosely based on characters

from the Epie. Additionally, Gardner brings concepts from Léo

Oppenheim's Ancient Mesopotamia into the dialogue. The pillars of the

plot consist of four dialogues between the two main characters - in each,

the discussion créâtes a juxtaposition of the idéologies of the ancient

world with those of the modem world. Their dialogues create a space

where the values cmd truths of our society, especially the concept of

freedom, are re-evaluated. Michael Ondaatje also explores the rôle of the

individual in society in his two novels set in the first half of the twentieth

century. In the Skin ofa Lion(1987)and The English Patient(1996). In the

first of these two novels, the Gilgamesh character is fragmented, with each

side coming together at a criticcd moment. To emphasise further the rôle

of the individual and its relatedness to power, Ondaatje uses numerous

images tncluding that of a soloist in band and that of a web. Set during
 265

World War II, The English Patient draws on numerous hypotexts aside from

the Epie. Almâsy's copy of Herodotus becomes a symbol net just for

Ondaatje's assembling of many stories, but also for the way In whlch the

indlviduals in the story corne to be part of each other's stories, stories that

blur together, that belong to ail of us. In this last group of texts, the

elements borrowed from the Epie are in dialogue with other hypotexts as

well as the situations presented in the eontemporary text. The close

analysis of how the goddess and other female characters are treated is less

important in this chapter, as in many ways, emphasis has shifted here

from the male-versus-female dilemma towards the rôle of the individual in

Society. Each one is asked to realise their own power within a larger web

of power relations.

In many ways, the study of the Epie of Gilgamesh through time

cillows us to uncover not only the origins of ideas that achieve dominance

as truths, but also the mechanisms used to transform the world of ideas.

In his book The Hidden God, Lucien Goldmann writes: "In order for a

group to become a class, its interests must be directed, in the case of a

'revolutionary' class, towards a complété transformation of the social

structure or, if it is a 'reactioucuy' class, towards maintaining the présent

socicJ structure unchanged"(Goldmann 17). As our study progresses, it

would seem that there is httle permenance, that social classes and their

idéologies are part of a dynamic system.

 266

We started our exploration and analysis in ancient Mesopotamia by

looking at a period of monumental social trcmsformation. The journey bas

led us through the transition period from prehistory to history,

matriarchal to patriarchal religions, and from a Neolithic to a modem

lifestyle. Shifting to a few décades in the last century, we see how the

myth reuse strategy employed by contemporary authors coincided with

the feminist movement and with the subséquent backlash against

feminism. The last group of texts, reusing the Mesopotcunian material in

mythological texts, gives us a vision of a bold new future. In her essay,

"Femininity, Narrative and Psychoanalysis," Juliet Mitchell writes:"As cmy

Society changes its social structure, changes its économie base, artefacts

are re-created within it. Literary forms arise as one of the ways in which

changing subjects create themselves as subjects within a new social

context"(Mitchell 100). Can a passive révolution - a paradigmatic

ideological shift such as the one hinted at in the texts from the last group

studied ~ lead us to seeing everyone as part of the whole earth, or even

the universe?

Mythotextuality: Further Directions in Research

We have explored how a single myth, the Epie of Gilgamesh, has

been reused and transformed during two différent periods of time. In

"The Subversive Scribes," we saw how the scribes of ancient Mesopotamia,

 267

over a period of about 1000 years, trcinsformed the Sumerian poems and

the Babylonian epic. The most important part of our study bas focused on

how texts from the late twentleth century, from Ccinada and the Unlted

States of Amerlca, have reused the Mesopotamian material. From here,

numerous research directions cire possible.

Firstly, and most generally speaking, any study of the évolution of

how a single myth is reused throughout time can prove very valuable,

especially if that reseeirch is contextualized both historically and

politically. Though a few studies of this kind have been undertciken, few

have delved into either pohtical aspects or how the altérations might

relate to society. Of particular interest might be to see how other

contemporary Canadian and American authors reused a différent myth in

the same period covered in thls study. How have authors from the last

third of the twentieth century reused Greek or Biblical myths? A resecirch

survey would be a good starting point, as much study bas already been

completed on myths in literature. Grouping the studies that share a

common hypotext and sequencing them in a chronological fashion would

have to be carried out before attempting to fill in the gaps.

Of more immédiate interest might be the study of how authors from

other nations have reused the Epic of Gtlgamesh in twentieth century

literature. Though I know of several examples of the Epic being reused in

both English, German and French literature, for instance, I know of no

 268

comparative studies. Do the European authors who reuse the Epie do so

in a manner similar to the North American authors? Can the same trends

be uncovered, or do the texts from other cultures point to a completely

différent évolution of reuse stratégies and interprétations?

One might even extend the study into the future, to see if

subséquent texts will follow the trends noted in "Mythotextual Dialogues."

Will the transcendence of male/female and us/other continue to develop?

Will our Society continue to move towards a global vision? What rôle will

individuals play in the intricate social and ecological web of life? The texts

that reuse the Epie of Gilgamesh have given us a glimpse of what is

possible.

EnMdu's Legacy

"Myths are the world's dreams. They

are archetypal dreams and deal with

great humcin problems."

Campbell, Power 15

The wildman's words,"I shall change destinies," echo long after the

legendary Enkidu's death. Though the charismatic Gilgamesh and Ishtar

overshadow Enkidu, his words deserve to be reconsidered. The wildman's

intention was to challenge the king, symbol of the newly designed society
 269

with its cities, hierarchy and loss of freedom for the majority of its

citizens. He was net only chcdlenging him personally, but was also

challenging the oppressive society that was comlng into belng in ancient

Sumer. When he opposes Gilgamesh he is reacting against the king's

tyrannical behaviour that leaves his people exhausted. Enkidu's direct

confrontation of power, though admirable, is completely ineffective - in

fact, he becomes pcirt of the problem. Instead of killing Gilgamesh, they

become the closest of friends. Enjoying ail the privilèges offered by his

relationship with Gilgamesh - servants, status and every pleasure possible,

he soon forgets his goal. Yet despite Uving in such a privileged way, he is

unhappy and unfulfilled. Something is lacking. He seeks out adventure,

convincing Gilgamesh to accompany him on an expédition that would not

only provide a distraction, but also increase their wealth and secure their

place in the memories of générations to come. They slay Humbaba -

another wildman who protects the forest and ail its créatures - and later

the Bull of Heaven, sent to avenge the killing of the forest guardian. By

killing these two créatures, it is as though Enkidu has killed a part of

himself. He becomes weak and ill, slowing succumbing to an unknown

and untreatable disease. As we bave seen, he curses everyone who had

lead him to Uruk, to his sad demise. The new god tells him that on the

contrary, he has been fortunate to bave lived so splendidly since coming

to Uruk. Feverish, he agréés and soon after dies. When he shares his
 270

vision of the Netherworld with Gilgamesh (in Tablet XII), "the characters

that dominate Enkidu's vision are not heroes but ordinary men, and it is

their everyday deeds that détermine their place in the netherworld"

(Abusch 187). His deathbed rantings point to bis failure and could hint at

another strategy. What if he had stayed among the beasts in the

wildemess? Is direct confrontation the best way to challenge oppressive

forces?

Enkidu's failure and his dying regret point to humanity's discomfort

with the oppressive nature of hierarchical society. "Subversive Scribes"

showed us not only how hterature and society are interconnected, the

chapter also shows that patriarchy and hierarchical society had a

beginning. Consequently, the naturalness or hegemony of these ideas is

questioned. In "The Goddess Rising," we discussed how some

contemporary authors emphasise the revalorization of the goddess. In

doing so, they have proposed positive images of womanhood. In "Mythic

Authority," we saw how the authors who rewrote the Epie in the 1980s and

1990s countered their work by dethroning the goddess, yet again, and by

revalorizing maie characters and gods. Numerous contemporary authors

have reused the Mesopotamian material in another manner. In the last

chapter that discussed the reuse of the Epie of Gilgamesh and related

material in Canadian and American literature, "Mythotextual Dialogues,"

we have explored the productive dialogues that occur when a

 271

contemporary author goes beyond revisionlst tendencies. In these

mythological texts, we have seen how indivlducds deal wlth large-scale

social phenomena. Like Enkidu, the flrst literary outsider, many of the

characters face difficult situations. Most striking is not what they do but

what they do not do. In the face of adversity, many of the characters do

not attack, but instead are uncooperative.

The last group of texts give us characters that move towards a kind

of responsible individuality where the individual is self-aware - is

cognisant of her or his own power within the context of a much larger

social and physical web. Passive résistance cind non-cooperation, concepts

made popular by Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi, become

important tools for social transformation. An awareness of how everyone

and everything is connected can have a profound impact on our society.

In his book The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade tells us how

hterature is an offshoot of mythology and that it can fulfil many of the

functions of myth. He firmly believes that hterature can have an

important rôle in the development of a "new humanism" whereby we whl

be able to overcome our "provincialism" and envision ourselves as not just

members of one species, but of one world. When Joseph Campbell

discusses the image of the Ecirth as seen from space, he sees this as a

wonderful image(CampbeU,Power 32). This view, without political

boundaries, lets us see how we are ail from the same place. And just as
 272

importantly, that we are of the Earth. This brings him to cite the words of

Chlef Seattle, whose vision he describes as the "last spokesman of the

Paleolithic moral order":

Will you teach your children what we have taught our

children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the

earth befalls ail the sons of the earth. This we know: the ectrth

does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. AU things

are connected like the blood that unités us ail. Mcin did not

weave the web of Ufe, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he

does to the web, he does to himself. (CampbeU,Power 32)

The ancient Sumerians understood the link between freedom and livlng in

harmony with the Earth - they used the same word,"amargi," for both.^^'

A mythocritical analysis provides a means of using hterature, which can be

an oppressive social force, to become a mecuis of seeing the individual's

place within a much larger context than that of his or her time and place.

The Epie of Gilgamesh, with its subversive story and tumultuous évolution,

bas proven to be an exceUent means of revealing the value of large-scale

and comparative mythotextual analysis. Where you might go from here, is

entirely up to you.
 273

Endnotes

I Introduction

'The terms hypotext and hypertext cire both from Gérard Genette's

Palimpsestes. Though Genette does not describe himself as a speciabst in

myth criticism, a large number of the examples he uses in bis study

involve the reuse of Classical myths in later texts.

^ These terms are from John J. Whlte's Mythology in the Modem Navel

^ Mesopotamia is a région, often referred to as the Fertile Crescent.

Several civilisations - including the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians

and Assyrians - hved in the région. See Appendix A for a map of Early

Mesopotamia. See Appendix B for a Mesopotamian date chart.

" Gilgamesh, the king or en / lugal of Umk, did exist historically.

^ "Archaeologists had traced the worship of the Goddess back to the

Neohthic communities of about 7000 B.C., some to the Upper Paleolithic

cultures of about 25,000 B.C. From the times of its Neolithic origins, its

existence was repeatedly attested to until well into Roman times"(Stone,

When God 124).

® The Sumerian goddess Inanna becomes Ishtar in the later Epies."One of

the greatest figures in Mesopotamian myth was the goddess... Inanna

 274

(later Ishtar), who may have gone back to the Neolithic femelle figurines

found in Halafian level"(Starr 39). For additional information about the

goddess see Anne Bciring and Jules Cashford's "Inanna-Ishtar:

Mesopotamian Goddess of the Great Above and the Great Below"(175-224)

in The Myth of the Goddess:Evolution ofan Image. See Appendix G for a

list of the names and places mentioned in the Mesopotamian material.

^ "Gilgamish" is a variation of Gilgamesh.

* The tablets are written in cuneiform - wedge-shaped strokes - on clay

tablets. See Appendix D.

® For more détails on the dispersion of the Epie, throughout the Euphrates

and Tigris river valleys and as far as Southern Turkey and Pcdestine,

consult the works of Bottéro, Kovacs, Sandars and Tigay.

Thls is the first version of the Epie to have a ncime attached to it. The

meaning of the scribe's name is "God of the Sun, receive my prayer."

"Multiple translations have been published in a number of modem

languages. See next section,"Common Ancestors - Translations as

Hypotexts," for information on other translations.

"Inanna"(Sumerian name of the goddess) cind "Ishtar"(her later,

Akkadian name)are both used throughout. I will employ whichever the

tTcmslator or author of the text being studied uses. Inanna / Ishtar's

temple women served as priestesses. Some carried the label of Hierodule,

which means "servant of the holy." These priestesses "were the vehicles of
 275

her creative life in their sexual union with the men who came...to

perform a sacred ritual"(Baring and Cashford 16).

""Huwawa" and "Humbaba," names for the Guardicin of the Cedar Forest,

cire both used throughout, depending on which is employed by the

translator or author.

"He speaks of six of her previous lovers, ail of whom she eventucdly

abandoned and mistreated. This is sometimes explained as the expected

rôles to be played by the goddess and the king, the latter of which had to

be replaced regularly to assure the fertility of the land.

There is an almost identical passage to be found in the Bible(Old

Testament)in Ecclesiastes 3:22, 5:17-19 and 8:15.

In Speiser's translation, no reason is given for why the gods sent the

Flood. When the gods realise the amphtude of the flood that Enlil has

organized, they are frightened. Ishtar speaks against Enlil's act. Enlil

grants Utnapishtim and his wife immortahty for saving humankind.

Hypotext, a term used by Genette, refers to a source text that is referred

to by a later author whereas a hypertext is a text that refers to (is attached

to) an earlier text(Genette, Palimpsestes 12-9). The hypotext is more than

simply a source or influence; the hypertext is a "texte dérivé d'un texte

antérieur par transformation simple ...ou indirect"(Genette, Palimpsestes

16).
 276

18
There are numerous examples of texts that reuse the Epie of Gilgamesh

before the 1960s, both in North Amerlca and abroad. Some of the best

known examples from the 20th century Include: Thomas Wolfe's Look

Homeward Angel and Of Time and the River, Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim

and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. See articles by

Slaughter, Jacobs emd Hughes for détails.

These writers were doing research cind publishing during the same

period as the works in chapter III were being written and pubUshed.

In the oldest stories relating to Gilgamesh, the Sumerian poems,Inanna

is portrayed as an ambiguous, though mostly positive goddess. In the

later Babylonian and Akkadian texts, the goddess' négative qualities are

often highlighted and exaggerated. See the second chapter,"Subversive

Scribes," for more détails.

For more about how centres or myths can be revealed through the

search for inconsistencies or ruptures, see Foucault {Archaeologie).

"Ideological state apparatuses" is often abbreviated as ISAs.

n Subversive Scribes

"For more détails on this period, see H. W. F. Saggs' The Greatness that

was Babylon (5-26) or C. G. Starr's A History ofthe Ancient World(29-50).

The goddess existed long before the development of agriculture:

"Archaeologists had traced the worship of the Goddess back to the

 277

Neolithic communities of about 7000BC, some to the Paleolithic cultures

of about 25000 BC" (Stone, When God 10).

Uruk, the biblical Erech (Genesis 10:10) cind present-day Warka, was one

of the first cities in ancient Mesopotamla.

UntU recently, it was believed that the Sumerians were the first to invent

wrlting. A recent dlscovery may show that the Egyptians were the first to

develop writing. "L'Egypte serait sortie de la préhistoire plus tôt qu'on ne

le pensait. L'écriture y aurait été inventée dès 3300 av.J-C, à l'époque

prédynastique, et donc avant que les Sumériens de Mésopotamie ne

l'inventent à leur tour"("Actualités - La Plus Ancienne Écriture" 12).

"The massive walls of Uruk erected by Gilgamesh in the third

millennium BC testify to the need for defence against enemies both within

and without Sumeria. They were over 8 miles long, nearly 20 feet high and

15 feet thick, with some 900 turrets placed at intervais of 39 feet. They

had only two gâtes, one to the north and one to the south."(Baring and

Cashford 203-4)

Uruk is not the oldest city in the area, nor is it the first to fortify itself

against invaders. One of the first WciUed cities in this area was Habula

Kabira. Discovered by Eva Strommenger-Nagal in the early 1980s, this

fortified city existed about 400 years before Uruk. See Reinhardt-Reuter

for more détails.

 278

29
"Of ail the poems, only the last one offers a more reallstlc image of the

hero. The lack of supematural intervention, the recdistic situations and

the types of events portrayed seems to be représentative of the socicd and

pohtical conditions of the predynastic period - where power struggles

between the city-states, Kish and Uruk in this case, were common."(my

translation)

There is some disagreement as to what these two objects are. Some

translators insist that the objects consist of sports equipment(a stick and

a ring or bail) whereas others have suggested that they consist of a drum

and a drumstick that would be used for rituals.

"According to Hansman, this text is probably based on historical facts.

"The Land of the Living" was hkely to the East of Sumer where Junperus

excelsa could be found and where the Humban,the chief god of the Elam

reigned(35). The Elamites were enemies of the Sumerians. Their

invasions during the last half of the third millennium B.C. were a disaster

for Sumer (Pritchard 612-4).

In his book The Treasures ofDarkness, Jacobsen brings up an interesting

hypothesis - that perhaps there is another reason for the ambiguity of

Ishtar's personality - when he says that he "wonder[sl whether several,

originally différent deities, have not coalesced in one, the many faceted
goddess Inanna" Qacobsen 135).
 279

"This passage is a eulogy for the once powerful king who shall never

reawaken.

The Enuma Elis, or Enuma Elish, was discovered in the late IS'" century

at Nineveh by George Smith (Smith 107-14).

Ea is a trickster-god. He often plots against other gods.

This inverts the usual sequence of events whereby it is the consort of

the goddess, not the goddess, who is slaln (annually).

The link between Shcimash and Marduk seems clear in the art produced

during Hammurabi's reign. On the black basait stele onto which Hammurabi's

code is engraved, the top portion depicts Shcimash, presenting Hammurabi a

staff and ring, symbols of power and law.

A priest recited the Epie in its entirety during the sacred New Year's

Festival(Maier, "Is Tiamat Really Mother Hubur" 105).

According to Ehade, Hieros Gamos(and the ritual death of the king)

became necessary after "the defeat of the Goddess of love and fertility in

her attempt to conquer the kingdom of Ereshkigal, that is, to abolish

death"(Ehade, A History 67). Also, see Wolkstein's Inanna: Queen of

Heaven and Earth and Kramer's Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld

("Sumerian Myths" 52-9).

In a way, both of these quests involve defying the gods - a necessary

step when mankind decided to master food production. Most

 280

interestingly, humans projected their dominance over the Icind and

animais onto their gods. Where beforehand the gods provided for

mankind, now the land must serve mcinkind.

During a period of approximately eight hundred years (extending from

2000 B.C. to 1300 B.C.), numerous scribes(mostly anonymous except for

Sin-leqi-unninni) copied, translated and rewrote the Sumerian, Babylonian

cind Akkadian material. Though scribes continued to rewrite the Epie cifter

1300 B.C. in varions languages, the changes to the Canonical version were

minimal.

Also known as" Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest."

Based on Tigay's book as weU as the chart in Lambert(40).

This passage could also be read as an indicator of man's unease in the

city.

. is Gilgamesh's newly acquired awcireness of death."(my translation)

See Kramer's notes in "Gilgsumesh and Agga"(47).

Several descriptions of Enkidu point to the first possibility, such as when

in a dream Gilgamesh foresees the meeting with Enkidu where he is drawn

to him "as though to a woman"(Speiser 76). Other instances that point to

this possibility are when "They kissed each other / And formed a

friendship"(Speiser 79)after their first meeting, when "he veiled his friend

hke a bride"(Speiser 88) after Enkidu's death and when they meet again
 281

after Enkldu's spirit lises from the Netherworld and Enkidu tells

Gilgamesh,"My body ... whlch thou didst touch as thy heart rejoiced"

(Speiser 99). See Miller cind Wheeler's article "Mother Goddess and

Consort as Literary Motif Sequence in the Gilgamesh Epie," for an analysis

of the structure of the Epie. The researchers uncover several variations of

the Mother - Goddess - Consort cycle within the Epie. They discuss

Enkidu's rôle as a substitute consort or as a double.

Abusch argues that when Gilgamesh refused Ishtar's proposai he was

not refusing sacred marriage. He believes that she was actually insisting

that he become the ruler of the Netherworld, a position he was not yet

ready to accept(157).

Both Kirk(137)and Oppenheim ("Mesopotamian Mythology II" 40)

suggest that the use of thigh may be a euphemism.

Kirk comments that the nature/culture opposition that is merely implicit

in the Sumerian poems is brought to the foreground in the Akkadian Epie

(142-3).

"See chapter I, pages 11-2.

"Inanna/Ishtar's temple(and home of her living représentative and ail of

her votaries).

"This refers to the seven sages who brought civilisation to Mesopotamia's

seven major cities. In earlier myths, it is Inanna who gave mankind aU the
 282

knowledge required to create a civilised society (agriculture, animal

husbandry, writlng, law, etc.).

"How is Gilgcimesh différent in the Sumerian cind the Akkadian material?

... the Sumericin Gilgamesh is aware of the superficial power the gods

have over him, and he rebels against them. In the Semitic version, after a

tremendous struggle, he gives in to pessimism." (my translation)

" A "scir" is a unit for measuring surface area.

Stage I: goddess as creator; Stage II: goddess needs consort; Stage III:

maie god créâtes using goddess' body; Stage IV: god créâtes alone. See

Campbell, Occidental 86 and Lemer 198)

Said believes that the intentions of the author are not simple, but shaped

by ail the forces of society.

"Qadishtu" is the word often used for temple woman. This term, which

also means "sacred women" or "holy women," is often translated as

"temple or ritual prostitutes."(See Stone, When God 157)

See Kramer,"Lipit-Ishtar Lawcode."

See Meek,"The Code of Hcimmurabi.''

See Meek,"The Middle Assyrian Laws."

See Meek."Mesopotamian Légal Documents." and Ftnkelstein.

"Additional Mesopotamian Légal Document."

"Marduk is often associated with the sun. He no doubt evolved from

Shamash.
 283

m The Goddess Rising

^ Another ncime for the Assembly of the Gods in heaven.

This situation, wherehy a single deity is dominant and the other gods

and goddesses play only minor rôles, is called henotheism. See Bottéro,

Ouaknin cind Moingt's La Plus Belle Histoire de Dieu, pp. 20-23 and Metzger

and Coogan's The Oxford Companion to the Bible, pp. 524-7.

Some writers on the topic, such as Bamherger, feel that in many myths

"instead of heralding a promising future [the myth of matriarchy] harks

hack to a past darkened hy repeated failures"(280); others, such as Graves

and Webster, see the myth of matriarchy as a possible model.

See Graves, Kramer, Rich and Stone on the long history of goddess-

worship.

Garneau mentions his four hypotexts on the back cover.

Labat uses "fille de joie" whereas Marcel uses "fille du temple."

In some of the Mesopotamian versions of the Epie, Enkidu is injured

when trying to brecik down the cedar door protecting Humbaba's domain.

To get such a complété version, he would have had to translate texts in

at least five ancient languages.

Ishara, a Semitic-speaking peoples' deity of sacred sexuality, was later

assimilated into Ishtar. See Ann and Myers Imel.

Though not mentioned in the text, the Queen of the Netherworld's scribe

is a woman.
 284

Mamitou, known throughout the ancient Near East, is also known as the

"Mother of Destinies." See Ann.

Hodges uses the Sumerian Ucimes. For example, Inanna for Ishtar, Unug

for Uruk, and Buranun for the Euphrates.

"En" was a title for the chlef prlest and rehgious leader of a city, wlth a

status équivalent to a governor, whereas "lugal" means war-leader or king.

^ Throughout the text, GUgamesh Is often desciibed or compared to a hon

(27, 29, 33, 105, 132).

Here it is the god Nergal that reigns over the Netherworld (53-4).

IV Mythic Authority

Reversais of myths are not uncommon and often reflect societal

changes. In The Greek Myths, Robert Graves wrltes that "Perseus ...

represented the patriarchal Hellenes who invaded Greece and Asia Minor

early in the second millennium B.C., and challenged the power of the

Triple-goddess"(Graves 17). In this study on Anne Hébert's Héloïse,

Antoine Sirois discovers a reversai in contemporary Uterature: "la victoire

de Persée sur Méduse représentait à l'époque, selon Robert Graves, la fin

de l'hégémonie des femmes au moment du passage de la société

matriarcale à la société patriarcal. La victoire d'Héloïse-Méduse sur

Bernard-Orphée pourrait signifier une reprise de pouvoir"(Sirois, Lecture

22).
 285

Lemer insists that the same processes, namely those required to

establish patriarchy, were responsible for the dethroning of the Mother-

Goddess in many cultures at différent times(Lemer 154).

In "Notes" at the end of his book, Ferry tells us that he caimot read

cuneiform and he lists the numerous translations as well a more creative

text and a scholarly book that he consulted during the préparation of his

book.

82
Ferry's own notes at the end of the book support this.

The tenus in itcdics are Genette's {Palimpsestes 311-41).

84
Examples: the scene that describes Enkidu as a bridegroom (Ferry 13)

and where the harlot tells her initiate that Gilgamesh will be drawn to him

"as if to a woman"(Ferry 10).

Imini, originally from Lebanon, is the goddess of Earth and Nature. This

goddess of the Cedcir-tree Mountains was assimilated into Ishtar(Aim and

Myers hnel 333).

86 Ferry tells us: "I have taken advantage of scholarly disagreements here.

Speiser and Sandars say mole; Gardner and Maier say frog, and Kovacs

agréés that this may be so"(97).

The Assembly of the Gods.

This is another name for Amm,goddess of création.

 286

See the previous section "Why mlght the scribes have transformed the

Epie?"(65-8), which discusses the religions power struggle. Also see Miller

and Wheeler as well as Caubetcind Pouyssegur.

Lugalbanda is Gilgamesh's father. He ruled Uruk prior to his son

Gilgamesh.

See S. N. Kramer's Inanna's Descent to the Nether World and Diane

Wolkstein cind S. N. Kramer's Inanna: Queen ofHeaven and Earth.

I sent a letter to the author via her editor requesting additional

information about her hypotexts; unfortunately, she has not responded.

Angels are often divine assistants or messengers of God (Genesis 18 :2,

Josh 5 :13, Ezek 9:2, 11, Dan 9:21, Luke 24 :4). In some cases they are

protective of or assist an individual(Matt 4 :1, Luke 22 :43, 18 :10, Acts

12:15)

See Genesis chapters 6-8.

This bas-relief, currently at the Louvre in Paris, stands about four

meters high and shows the legendary king Gilgamesh holding a lion cub

under one arm and some kind of weapon in his other hand.

In this version. Arum, the goddess of création, créâtes both Gilgamesh

and Enkidu.

For biblical references to "light," see Matt 5:14, John 1:9, Eph 5:8-14,

Psalms 27:1, 37:6, 97:11.

 287

Though the mention of returning birds is sufficient to suggest spring to

a Québécois reader, I am not certain that it would bave meant the same in

ancient Iraq.

V Mythotextual Dialogues

This is the only text in this chapter to bave this kind of reuse pattern, a

pattern that fits Gérard Genette's limited définition of intertextuality as "la

présence effective d'un texte dans un autre"(Genette, Palimpsestes 8).

Quotes from Menosky's "Darmok" are from my own transcriptions of

the épisode.

The Homeric Hymns comprises several short poems that celebrate

varions Greek gods.

If Menosky had wanted to make a direct link between Homer and Picard

and Dathon, or Gilgamesh cind Enkidu, he should bave made reference to

the Iliad instead of the Homeric Hymns. In the lliad, Patroclus is Archilles'

best friend and companion. After Patroclus is slain fighting in Achilles'

place, Achilles, filled with fury and remorse, kills the Trojan leader,

Hector. For more information about the similarities between the Epie of

Gilgamesh and the Iliad, see Wilson's article or Starr (41).

Though the film does feature cin astronomer, Elbe, who discovers the

message from outer space and goes on a voyage through time and space,

many of the other elements are différent in the novel. In the film, for

example, she goes on the trip alone. Also, she is an orphan, bas only one
 288

love interest(Palmer), and brings home no information that could be

shared with the rest of the world. In addition to this, Hadden plays but a

minor rôle and there are no clecir indications of préfiguration or reuse of

the Epie of Gilgamesh.

A ziggurat is a step-pyramid. They are found at numerous

archaeological sites and were common in Mesopotamia and in Central

America.

105 Her discovery involves pi, which attracted her to science as a child, and

ultimately leads to her discovery on the last pages of the novel.

100 Ironically, the film Contact ends with Ellie being coerced into keeping

her knowledge a secret.

Gardner was more than fcimihar with the Epie of Gilgamesh as he cind

colleague John Maier translated the Sin-leqi-unninni (Ninivite) version.

Some of the criticism that discusses the reuse of the Epie of Gilgamesh and

Oppenheim's Aneient Mesopotamia include Cowcirt's Arches & Light and

Morris'"A Babylonian in Batavia."

108 "Mysterious words for mysterious ideas. Istaru, the blueprint already

complété for ail Time cind Space. And simtu, personal fate"(Gardner 463).

100 Joseph Conrad was also famihar with the Epie of Gilgamesh See Jacobs.

l'o Some of the articles and reviews that focus on ethnicity cire Linda

Hutcheon's "Ex-centric," Barbara Tumer's "In the Skin of Michael

Ondaatje : Giving Voice to a Social Conscience," Simone Vautier's

 289

"Dimensions de l'ethnicité dans le roman de Michael Ondaatje In the Skin

ofa Lion

From Sandars 96.

A British artist, essayist and novelist, John Berger is often concemed

with the situation of outsiders and immigrants.

This novel will be referred to as "ISL" throughout the rest of this

section.

See Armando E. Jecumetta's article for comments about myths cind

archétypes from the Bible, Greek myths cind philosophy(100-1) that play a

rôle in In the Skin of a Lion.

Minghella makes a few altérations in the film version of The English

Patient. The framing of the story with scenes of a man and woman flying

over the desert and of a young nurse in a train and jeep differ from the

villa scenes of the novel. This framing is also reinforced, in the film, by

the use of Hungarian folk music. Some of the polyphonie éléments of the

novel are dropped, but others, namely the use of multiple languages and

music are amplified in the film version. There are small changes

conceming the characters, such as Hcina not being as psychologically

damaged, Caravaggio not being her father's friend cind the exclusion of

éléments from Kip's life in England and India. The film version

emphasises the relationship between Almâsy and Katharine and the rôle

of individuals in the making of history.

 290

Several of the characters and events are based on historical fact.

Almâsy was a Hungarian desert explorer. Katharine's character is based

on the life of Lady Clayton. Bagnold was also an explorer. For more

information on the recil lives of these characters, see Barclift, DeLeon,

Monod and Thomas.

Throughout the rest of this section, this novel will be referred to as TEP.

"I originally found ont about Almâsy through a friend of mine's parents

who were in Cairo during the war. Rommel had sent a spy to Cairo to send

information back to the Germans. And he used a copy of Rebecca by

Daphne du Maurier as the codebook. Ken Follett wrote a book about it

called The Key to Rebecca. The spy was finally captured by the British,

and my friend's parents were involved with his capture. So I was asking

them about it. And in a non-fiction book about the épisode, there was this

paragraph of how the spy got to Cairo. He was taken across the desert by

Almâsy, an explorer. Almâsy seemed much more interesting to me than

the spy. Who was this guy? What was he doing there? So I found out

more about him." Michael Ondaatje speaks during an interview with

Willem Dafoe (Dafoe 19).

The Cave of Swimmers, the site where Almâsy and Kathcirine fall in

love and the place where she dies, actually exists. The historical
 291

Almâsy wrote a book, Schwimmer in der Wùste, about hls expédition to

the Libyan Desert. It bas been reedited in German by Haymon-Verlag.

The Power of Mythotextuallty

For more about Gramsci, see Adcimson.

With the évolution of society cind its' myths, there was a progressive

loss "of a cosmology that may bave been as intricate as it was profound.

Witb tbe differentiation of tbe original concept of tbe unity of bfe into a

multitude of goddesses and gods, and finaUy witb tbe image of tbe single

trernscendent god ... tbis understanding of tbe unity of life was lost"

(Baring and Casbford 197-7).

 292

APPENDIX A

Map of Early Mesopotamia. Taken from Chester G. Starr's A History

ofthe Ancient World (29).

•• ^
■f D iS>
Creafer Zao R.
Carchemish

Tell Halaf • Dur-Sharrukin'l

Nineveh
Calah
Tell Hassuna
ASSYRIA
vc^ IRAN
Ashur
. _ v"l/l v^/^rC • ^ JT ^ l-k •* f.» »«
V ■ Nuz 'TS'Ecbatana

Mari
'<^"*J^^{'<C6ehistun ■
/35- .

Te Asmar _-•'
AKKAD
• Sippar
i-'
Babylon.^Ki5]; ELAM

■ Borsippa*^'^ Nippur \ Susa

ARABIAN-. DESERT
. SUMER
N. «Umma
sin
* Lagash'
a Larsa
Ui^
Ur «v
MAP 2
Eridu
EARLY MESOPOTAMIA
n Prebistoric Sites Early Coast Line? A
Scale of Miles
100 200 PERSIAN
. CULF
 293

APPENDIX B

Date Chart for Mesopotamia - based on Merlin Stone's book, When God was a

Woman (243).

Jarmo 6800 BC

Hassima Period 5500 BC

Halaf Period 5000 BC

Ubaid Period 4000-3500 BC

Uruk Period 3500-3200 BC

Jemdet Nasr Period 3500-2850 BC

Ecirly Dynastie Period in Sumer 2800-2400 BC

Agade Dynasty(Sargon) 2370-2320 BC

Guti invasion 2250-2100 BC

III Dynasty of Ur (including Ur Nammu,Shulgi, Bur Sin, Shu Sin, Ibbi Sin) 2060-

1950 BC

Isin Dynasty of Sumer 2000-1800 BC

Lcirsa Dynasty of Sumer 2000-1800 BC

I Dynasty of Babylon 1830-1600 BC(under Kassite control by 1600 BC)

Hammurabi 1792-1750 BC

Babylonia 1830-540 BC

Assyria 1900-600 BC(under Hurrian control 1500-1300 BC)

 294

APPENDIX C

Mesopotamian gods, goddesses and places.

Agga/Akka - the King of Kish.

An/Anu - Sumerian god of the sky. Inanna/Ishtar's father.

Apsu -Tiamat's first husband; created the world with hls wife.

Aruru/Arourou - a goddess of création.

Atramhasis - Noah figure.

Aya - Shamash's wife.

Damkina - Ea's wife and Marduk's mother.

Dumuzi- Inanna's consort; becomes Tammuz,Ishtar's consort, in later

period.

Eanna - Inanna's temple.

Enki/Ea - trickster god, informs a human that the Flood is coming

Enkidu - wildman from the steppes; goes to Umk to challenge Gilgamesh.

Enlil - Sumerian god of the air.

Ereshkigal - goddess of the Netherworld; Ishtar's sister.

Gilgamesh -legendary figure; King of Uruk (Mesopotamia).

Humbaba/Huwawa - guardian of the Cedar Forest.

Inanna/lshtar - the Sumerian/Babylonian goddess of Heaven and Earth, the

goddess of love.
 295

Lugalbanda - Gilgamesh's father.

Mcirduk - chief god in Babylon; related to earlier sun gods.

Nammu - First or Great Mother; later evolved into Tiamat. Orlglnally

portrayed as a great serpent.

Nergal - gatekeeper of the Netherworld.

Ninsun - Gilgamesh's mother.

Nunhursag - Nammu's daughter; goddess of life and fertihty.

Shamash - Babylonian Sim God.

Siduri - a minor goddess; she helps the dying accept their lives. AIso

described as a wine-maiden.

Tiamat - creator of the world (with Apsu); "the one who bore them ail."

Umashabi - the ferryman that helps Gilgamesh cross the waters of death.

Uruk - Sumerian city; known as Erech in bible, present-day Warka.

Utnapishtim - Babylonian "Noah." See Ziusundra.

Utu - Sumerian sun god, becomes Shamash in later period.

Ziusundra - Sumericin "Noah" - he ctnd his wife gained immortality after

saving men, animais and plants from the Flood,

 296

APPENDIX D

Cuneiform Tablet - fragment from Tablet XI of the Epie of Gilgamesh. Photo

of tablet, courtesy of the British Muséum,is found in Dominique Charpin's

article, "Les Bibliothèques des palais de Ninive"(68).

cC

m.

m
RS
y.

m
 297

Bibliography

Primary Works

Bryson, Bemarda. Gilgamesh: Man's First Story. New York: Holt,

Rinehart & Winston, 1967.

Ferry, David. Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in Engîish Verse. New

York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992.

Gagnon, Alain. Gilgamesh. Chicoutimi: Éditions JCL inc., 1986.

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