Contemporary Approaches to Mesopotamian Literature: How to Tell a Story

Contemporary Approaches to Mesopotamian Literature: How to Tell a Story lays theoretical and methodological groundwork for the analysis of Mesopotamian literature. It includes a comprehensive exploration of critical contemporary issues in Sumerian and Akkadian narrative analysis, as well as case studies testing diverse approaches drawn from literary studies. Front Cover ‎Half-Title Page ‎Series Title Page ‎Title Page ‎Copyright Page ‎Contents ‎Acknowledgements ‎Figures and Tables ‎Abbreviations ‎Notes on Contributors ‎Introduction. How to Tell a Story in Ancient Mesopotamia (Shehata and Sonik) ‎Part 1. Issues, Theories, and Methods ‎Chapter 1. Mesopotamian Literature: Issues, Theories, and Methods of Sumerian and Akkadian Narrative Analysis (Sonik and Shehata) ‎Part 2. Sumerian Narratives: Narratological Approaches ‎Chapter 2. Focalization and “Story Time”: Techniques of Sumerian Narrative (Löhnert) ‎Chapter 3. There and Back Again: Journeying and Narrative Structure in the Sumerian Lugalbanda Epics (Konstantopoulos) ‎Part 3. Akkadian Gilgamesh Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches ‎Chapter 4. Gilgamesh and the Forest of Gemstones: Symbolic Value—History of Tradition—Intertextuality (Lang) ‎Chapter 5. Journey towards Death: The Cedar Forest in the SB Gilgamesh Epic from an Intertextual Perspective (Wisnom) ‎Chapter 6. Allusion or No Allusion: Commenting on the Interpretations of SB Gilgamesh Epic V 1–26 and IX 171–194 (Gabriel) ‎Part 4. Assyrian Royal Narratives: Contextual and Intertextual Approaches ‎Chapter 7. The Good, the Bad, (and the Ugly?): Propaganda and the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic (Jakob) ‎Chapter 8. A Methodology for the Transtextual Analysis of Assyrian Royal Narrative Texts (Bach) ‎Chapter 9. Making the Invisible Visible: Propaganda, Ideology, and Intertextuality in Assyrian Royal Narrative (Sonik and Novotny) ‎Part 5. Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives: Novel Approaches ‎Chapter 10. Characterization and Identity in Mesopotamian Literature: The Gilgamesh Epic, Enuma elish, and Other Sumerian and Akkadian Narratives (Sonik) ‎Index of Ancient Words (Akkadian, Greek, Sumerian) ‎Index of Modern Authors and Researchers ‎Index of (Ancient) Names and Subjects ‎Index of Primary Sources Back Cover