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Discovering Gilgamesh: Geology, narrative and the historical sublime in Victorian culture

Cregan-Reid, Vybarr (2013) Discovering Gilgamesh: Geology, narrative and the historical sublime in Victorian culture. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-7190-9051-6. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:36258)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/cgi-bin...

Abstract

In 1872, a young archaeologist at the British Museum made a tremendous discovery. While he was working his way through a Mesopotamian ‘slush pile’, George Smith, a self-taught expert in ancient languages, happened upon a Babylonian version of Noah’s Flood. His research suggested this ‘Deluge Tablet’ pre-dated the writing of Genesis by a millennium or more. Smith went on to translate what later became The Epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps the oldest and most complete work of literature from any culture.

Against the backdrop of innovative readings of a range of paintings, novels, histories and photographs (by figures like Dickens, Eliot, James, Dyce, Turner, Macaulay and Carlyle), this book demonstrates the Gordian complexity of the Victorians’ relationship with history, while also seeking to highlight the Epic’s role in influencing models of time in late-Victorian geology.

Discovering Gilgamesh will be of interest to readers, students and researchers in literary studies, Victorian studies, history, intellectual history, art history and archaeology.

Item Type: Book
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PE English philology and language
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN441 Literary History
P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of English
Funders: Leverhulme Trust (https://ror.org/012mzw131)
Depositing User: Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Date Deposited: 13 Nov 2013 19:49 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Jul 2022 10:40 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/36258 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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