Gilgamesh in Popular Culture - Literature

Literature

• The City beyond the River (1947) by Hermann Kasack. The epic becomes a metaphor for post-war Germany.
• River without Shores (1949–50) by Hans Henny Jahnn. The middle section is an analogy to the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
• The Gouffé Case (1952) by Joachim Maass. A detective novel. Opens with an epigraph from the epic, with which the hero is so obsessed that he is known to his friends as “Gilgamesh-Edmond.”
• Charles Olson wrote about the epic in his essay “The Gate and the Center” and in such poems as “La Chute” and “Bigmans” (1950s and 60s).
• Gregory Corso, poems (1950s).
• The Time Masters (1953/1971) and Time Bomb by Wilson Tucker. The protagonist, Gilbert Nash, has a mysterious past.
• Gilgamesh: Romanzo (1959) by Gian Franco Gianfilippi. The first in a wave of historical novels based on the epic. A wave including works in Italian (Paola Capriola), English (Robert Silverberg, Stephan Grundy), German (Harold Braem, Thomas Mielke), French (Jacques Cassabois), and Spanish (José Ortega).
• Gilgamesch (1966) by Guido Bachmann. An early classic of a genre Germans called "queer literature", it would inspire other works that examined the homosexual relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Other works include: Denmark (Henrik Bjelke), Germany (Thomas Mielke, Christian Kracht), France (Jacques Cassabois), and England (Edwin Morgan).
• In The Great American Novel (1973), a novel by author Philip Roth, the Gilgamesh myth is reworked into the tale of a fictional baseball player, Gil Gamesh, whose immortal aspirations are achieved by disappearing after his final game.
• Ölümsüzlük Ardında Gılgamış (Gilgamesh in Search of Immortality) (1981), a poetry book by Turkish poet Melih Cevdet Anday.
• Gilgamesh the King (1984) and To the Land of the Living (1986) by Robert Silverberg. Silverberg also contributed works of short fiction concerning Gilgamesh to the Heroes in Hell shared world series of Bangsian fantasy.
• In the Skin of a Lion (1987) by Michael Ondaatje. The title is a quote from Gilgamesh.
• Timewyrm: Genesys (1991), by John Peel, is the first of the New Doctor Who Adventures published by Virgin. The book describes the Doctor meeting Gilgamesh, and relates the epic of Gilgamesh as a Doctor Who story.
• How Like a God (1997) by Brenda W. Clough is based on the epic.
• Gilgamesh (1999), historical fiction by Stephan Grundy which retells the legend.
• In the final issue of Mage II: The Hero Defined (1999), Matt Wagner uses the Epic of Gilgamesh as a parallel to the life of Kevin Matchstick, who was previously compared to King Arthur.
• ghIlghameS (2000), a translation into the Klingon language. ISBN 1-58715-338-6
• In Jane Lindskold's Athanor novels (1998–9), Gilgamesh and Enkidu are immortals who inspire legends under other names, including King Arthur and Sir Bedivere, respectively.
• 1001 Nights of Bacchus (2000), a graphic novel by Eddie Campbell, features a six-page collage story in which Gilgamesh is a Scottish-accented soccer hooligan near-incomprehensibly recounting the entire epic. The story also appeared, in color, on the back covers of issues 22–26 of Campbell's Bacchus magazine.
• Gilgamesh (2001) by Joan London, a postfiguration in which the epic becomes the structural key for a world torn by politics and betrayal (modern Armenia).
• 1979 (2001) by Christian Kracht, in which the epic provides the pattern for the homoerotic theme set against the background of the Iranian Revolution.
• Fate/stay night (2004), a Japanese visual novel written by Kinoko Nasu and developed by Type-Moon.
• The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor (2005), a novella-length poem by Anne Sheldon.
• Fate/Zero (2006), a Light Novel authored by Gen Urobuchi, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi and written in collaboration with Type-Moon, features Gilgamesh as one of the antagonists.
• Never Grow Old (2007) by Brian Trent (ISBN 0595429831) is a novelization of the epic. The chapters are arranged into eleven tablets, and the title derives from the mythical plant which grants immortality.
• Bartimaeus (book series) the titular character helped building the walls of Uruk, a feat originally attributed to Gilgamesh.
• Like Mayflies in a Stream (2009) by Shauna S. Roberts (ISBN 978-0982514009) is a novelization of the first half of the epic from the viewpoint of Shamhat, who tamed Enkidu.
• The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2009), a novel in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott (Irish author) (ISBN 978-0-385-73529-2). Gilgamesh the King is described as a homeless man, immortal, and extraordinarily forgetful. He helps the twins, Sophie and Josh, to learn the magic of Water.
• Long Time by Rick Norwood, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2011, a retelling of the Gilgamesh legend by a cynical immortal soldier serving in Gilgamesh's army.
• The 13th Tablet by Alex Mitchell, London, Haus Publishing, 2012 (ISBN 978-1908323095), a mystery archaeological thriller set in Iraq, Israel and London, takes the Gilgamesh epic to new heights and particularly the flood tablet.