Unsucky English, Lecture 3: Adam and Eve, Backwards (Gilgamesh, Book One)
with 38 comments
Print This Post
[The Unsucky English Gilgamesh series so far: 1: Dangerous Questions ~ 2: The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job ~ 3: this post~ 4. The Seven Deadly Sins, Backwards ~ 5. Good and Evil, Nature and the Hero - Backwards]
~ ~ ~
So there I was: caught, before all my new 14-year-old students’ eyes, with Enkidu’s pants down - and his mythic Sumerian wee-wee in hoo-hoos I knew nothing of.1 And because so many of these Korean kids were evangelically Americanized, I wondered if it would cost me my job.
When we would come to Genesis later in the semester, I knew I’d be walking the netless tightrope over the heads of the many 14-year-olds who had predictably swallowed whole, since before their first teeth, their literalist childhood teachings about Adam, Eve, and the Six Days’ Creation.
But I had no idea I’d be dealing now, in tender Week Three of their high school careers, with this whopper of a sex scene between Shamhat, the temple prostitute, and Enkidu, the innocent, half-neanderthal and half-Adam “wild man” - and his jaw-dropping seven days’ erection: 2
Shamhat stripped off her robe and lay there naked,
with her legs apart, touching herself.
Enkidu saw her and warily approached.
He sniffed at the air. He gazed at her body.
He drew close. Shamhat touched him on the thigh,
touched his penis, and put him inside her.
She used her love-arts, she took his breath
with her kisses, held nothing back, and showed him
what a woman is. For seven days
he stayed erect and made love with her,
until he had had enough.3
Again, in the schooly translation I read when I was in high school, somebody had forgotten to include that part.
But the alley cats were out of the bag. Since we were all reading this translation for the first time together that night, half of my students were surely at that very moment in pop-eyed sync with me, “wtf?”-ing their margins and asking the same questions:
Would the “good people” students tell their parents? Were those parents emailing or calling the principal at the very moment we were all sitting there gawking at these lines? Tomorrow, when the monster lumbered into the school-building to corrupt their young, would a mob of torch-bearing parents send this poor, misunderstood Frankenfreak to his tragic end?
"Help! It's that English teacher!"
All that monster wanted was to give their kids the deepest, most relevant, coherent, and beautiful year of literary studies they would ever receive. And now, because of an unexpectedly graphic scene about what birds, bees, and each of these parents do - or did, at least once, when they made the shiny-eyed wonders brightening my classroom - would it all come down in flames?4
And would they make allowances for the fact that I first found the book in the school library? If I went down, should I bring the librarian with me? (Joking. Joking.)
I was jealous, suddenly, of math teachers. They never had problems like this.
But there was nothing to be done, for now, but finish the homework by finishing Book One. In the end, I realized, it all depended on whether these three-week-old high schoolers could handle it. I couldn’t wait to check the chapter annotations I’d assigned.
I finished the chapter and went to sleep.
The Next Day
“Beautiful.”
“Profound.”
“Deep.”
“Lovely.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. All the students’ annotations sang this section’s praises. Not a single immature reaction.
I was so proud of them. And I was saved.
The class discussion was even better.
“It’s a different culture, so it’s not surprising that sex would be treated with a different outlook,” said one.
Answered another: “The sex scene itself is wonderful for its simple narration of the events we study in biology - the voice is so objective, it’s almost scientific.”
A third: “And that shows how radically different this culture saw sexuality. It’s just another thing in life, described as simply as the weather, or a flower, or a beautiful sunset. It’s not pornographic or anything. It’s just part of life.”
A fourth: “But it’s more than that.”
“Explain that,” I said. “What do you mean?”
This student went on to give the most perfect explication of what happens after the sex scene, and what a deep, beautiful, mysterious, and alien point of view the world’s earliest civilization had, 2,000 years before King David and 3,000 years before Jesus, about the meaning of sexuality.
Before Shamhat
Shades of Shamhat?
“Look at what happens to Enkidu after the sex scene,” he said, “and compare it to who he was before it.
“Before it, Enkidu was this weird wild man, created by the goddess Aruru - in exactly the same way, by the way, that the later god of Genesis created Adam - from clay - which makes me wonder if this isn’t another Judeo-Christian-Islamic borrowing from the older Sumerian/Babylonian culture.
“He was ‘one-third man, two-thirds animal,’ remember: the perfect ‘double,’ just as the god Anu ordered, for the ‘one-third man, two-thirds divine‘ Gilgamesh. And I mean ‘perfect’ in the ‘balancing’ sense too. Remember, Anu said Gilgamesh’s ‘double’ should ‘balance’ him - to bring ‘peace’ to Uruk by making Gilgamesh stop snatching all the new brides from his subjects’ beds.
“But the ‘balancing’ doesn’t stop there,” he continued. “It gets deeper.”
“How?” asked another.
“Setting, basically. Gilgamesh is the king of the first city in the world, and he knows that and is proud of it. He’s proud of civilization. I would argue he sort of symbolizes it.
“But the setting associated with Enkidu? ‘Wilderness’ - Nature. Enkidu drinks with gazelles at watering holes, runs with them (and as fast as them), and knows nothing, literally, about cities and civilized humankind.
“So Enkidu ‘balances’ Gilgamesh by symbolizing Nature - the opposite of the city, and its civilization, which literally has a wall to keep Nature out.
“But it gets deeper still, this ‘balance.’ Because contrary to what we’d expect, ‘civilized’ Gilgamesh is not superior to ‘wild and natural’ Enkidu. We see that because Enkidu saves the other animals from the ‘civilized’ hunter’s traps. He’s compassionate, this natural man. And he’s innocent. Gilgamesh, though, is screwing the brides of every groom in town. The civilized king is glorious, yes - he built Uruk’s walls and is semi-divine, after all - but he’s also really flawed by his heartlessness. Enkidu ‘balances’ this, too.
“Finally,” he continued, “Enkidu ‘balances’ Gilgamesh in his physical strength. It’s like Achilles and Hector in the Iliad - perfectly matched superhero types. So that’s it: Aruru did a bang-up job of creating exactly what Anu ordered - a ‘balancing double’ to Gilgamesh.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Who was this kid? I had to break in: “Did you steal my annotations?” I asked. “Who are you? I haven’t memorized all of your names yet.”
“Not now, Mr. B.,” he said. “I’m on a roll. Don’t interrupt. I’ve only covered the ‘before Shamhat’ Enkidu. I want to get to the ‘after Shamhat’ stuff now.”
Could I adopt this kid? Buy him from his parents? He was too good to believe.
“Wow. My apologies. Go for it.”
After Shamhat
“I’ll keep it short. It’s this: Gilgamesh’s mysterious ’solution’ to the ‘problem’ of the wild man worked brilliantly - though I don’t quite get why. Sex with this prostitute from the goddess Ishtar’s temple transforms Enkidu. And it does it in clear stages. I numbered them when I annotated.
“First, this sacred sex lifted him above the other animals that he used to hang out with. He doesn’t realize it - this is the weird thing - but the other animals do. They all run away from him when he tries to rejoin them at the watering hole.
“It’s mysterious, for sure,” he said, while I fought back exultations over this kid’s genius. “But the best guess I can give is this: All animals have sex, so it can’t be the simple sex that makes the other animals realize he’s no longer like them. So the only thing I can figure is that the poet is trying to say that sex seen as a holy thing - initiation into Ishtar’s mysteries, maybe? - is what separates man from animal. Seen this way, it’s not a brute act with Shamhat.
“And did you notice,” he went on, “that thing where Enkidu tries to run after the fleeing animals - before Shamhat, he was as fast as them, remember - but now he can’t catch up with them? Where is it . . . . yeah, here:
He tried to catch up
but his body was exhausted, his life-force was spent,
his knees trembled, he could no longer run
like an animal [he emphasized this line], as he had before.
–doesn’t that remind you of the story of Samson and Delilah in the Bible? It did me. I tell you, Mr. B., you’re right about that one. You see a million things in Gilgamesh that you thought were unique to the Bible. My preacher says the Bible is ‘the word of God.’ Well if that’s true, God sure seemed to plagiarize a lot from the Sumerians and Babylonians.
“But he also reverses them. Because in the Bible, Delilah is bad for Samson, while in Gilgamesh, Shamhat is good for Enkidu.”
“I never thought of that,” said another. “I think I see what you’re saying.”
“Yeah. It’s all there. The next thing that happens because of Shamhat is deeper still: Enkidu realizes - where is it -
‘his mind had somehow grown larger.
He knew things now that an animal can’t know.’
“So what are these things he ‘knew’? It doesn’t say. But it reminds me of the scene in Genesis where Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and it doesn’t tell us what they learned either. All it does is show us that they covered their private parts.
“But here, they don’t cover anything, and no god gets angry. Instead, Enkidu just keeps transforming. Since the bell’s about to ring, I’ll rush: the next thing he learns sitting ‘at Shamhat’s feet’ is language and communication:
‘He understood all the words she was speaking to him.’
“And man, those words were interesting:
‘Now, Enkidu, you know what it is
to be with a woman, to unite with her.
You are beautiful, you are like a god.’
“‘You are like a god‘” he repeated. “So what’s happening here? Gilgamesh is ‘two-thirds god,’ remember. Is it okay, Mr. B., to read into this that sex with Shamhat maybe makes Enkidu less of a ‘balance’ to Gilgamesh now?”
“It’s okay to read anything you want into it, as long as you can justify your interpretation with good evidence. And you’re doing fine so far.”
“Because I was thinking that again, it was Gilgamesh that sent Shamhat in the first place. He wants to bring Enkidu over to his ‘civilized’ side. And it seems like it worked.”
“How?”
“Because the next thing that happens is that Shamhat tells Enkidu that he should not ‘roam the wilderness and live like an animal,’ but should instead come with her to Uruk, to Ishtar’s temple, and to Gilgamesh’s palace. And he goes. Because of Shamhat, a temple prostitute, Enkidu is no longer an animal. He’s closer to the gods now; and because of Shamhat, Enkidu is about to become civilized.
“And that’s like Adam and Eve upside-down and inside-out.”
Bizarro-World
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s obvious,” he said. “Eve seduced Adam and the result was God’s curse. Shamhat seduced Enkidu and the result was Ishtar’s blessings of godliness and civilization for Enkidu.”
“Strictly speaking, weren’t Adam and Eve cursed for disobeying their God?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “But it’s still pretty opposite. After all, the gods here aren’t giving any orders at all - the absence of orders is the opposite of their presence, right? - and the result of the seduction is a blessing, the opposite of a curse.”
“Maybe,” I said. “We’ll see what happens. It’s been ten years at least since I read this story, remember - and I’ve never read this version, either. I’ve forgotten most of it. So I’m as clueless as you about what will happen next.”
“There’s just one thing I wanted to ask, though,” he said.
“Shoot.”
“The plot’s really weird. The gods create Enkidu to make Gilgamesh change his ways. But now, instead, we see Enkidu changing, not Gilgamesh. What’s going on?”
“It’s a mystery to me, too. We’ll see. But you left one thing out.”
“What?”
“You didn’t mention the last way that Enkidu changed: when Shamhat described Gilgamesh to him, isn’t his reaction confusing? The narrator tells us Enkidu ‘felt‘ something ‘deep in his heart . . . . the longing for a true friend.’ So that’s one more point for your theory that Shamhat civilizes him - he wants to escape his solitude and join human society, enjoy friendship.
“Again, that’s what he felt. But what he says is totally unexpected:
‘Take me with you
to . . . the palace of Gilgamesh the mighty king.
I will challenge him. I will shout to his face:
I am the mightiest! I am the man
who can make the world tremble. I am supreme!’
“Those hardly sound like words of friendship to me,” I said. “So maybe the gods’ plan for Gilgamesh is not as off-track as it seems.”
End of Class
The bell rang. I turned off the alarm, and rose to get ready for work. An interesting bit of fantasy that was. “Too good to believe” indeed? I could only hope. I’d find out after the shower and drive to work.
~ ~ ~
Just kidding. I wouldn’t pull that on you. Here’s the real story:
Most of the annotations from the girls in the class were minor variations on: “ewwwww.” Sometimes three w’s, sometimes ten.
The boys? Smiley faces in the margins.
I wonder if those gender reactions for this age group are cross-culturally similar, or different. And I don’t know.
I imagine I tried to elicit discussions like the points made by the dream student above.
When I explained to them that I was as shocked as they were to read the scene, and was afraid they wouldn’t be able to handle it, they all assured me it was unexpected, yes, but nothing they hadn’t seen before online, on TV, in the movies.
“But it was weird to see it in English class.”
Next episodes: 4. The Seven Deadly Sins, Backwards ~ 5. Good and Evil, Nature and the Hero - Backwards
~ ~ ~
Can You Take a Minute?
If anybody has made it this far, I’d appreciate feedback on the three approaches I’ve tried so far in this Gilgamesh series. Number One was straight lecture style; Number Two was told as a “teacher story,” but in the second-person “you” point of view - I wondered if that would make the experience more immediate for readers, but also feared it might get old, especially if I continued it for months. This one was still a “teacher story,” but told in first person, with heavy Socratic dialogue.
If any of you care to share which of the three you think I should stick with, I’d be very appreciative.
Photos:
Belly-Dancer by macwagen
Bizarro World © DC Comics,
used under Fair Use Law
If you like this post, please spread it: 
(But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)
- I stole this “wee-wee/hoo-hoo” line from Bill Maher’s brilliant “New Rules” rant about how American Puritanism silenced John Edwards, the most important voice for the poor “since Robert Kennedy,” per Maher. It’s very relevant to the discussions we’re having in this series. [↩]
- And did I later joke in class, “This guy’s a walking Viagra commercial”? Or, “And you thought the Six Days’ Creation was impressive”? Or, “Talk about needing a rest on the seventh day”? I don’t remember. But if asked, please say that I did. [↩]
- all excerpts taken from Stephen Mitchell’s admirable 2004 translation of Gilgamesh. [↩]
- If you think I’m exaggerating, check out this and this from readers who have seen it happen to other teachers. [↩]
- Unsucky English, Lecture 4: The Seven Deadly Sins, Backwards (Gilgamesh, Book Two)...
- Good, Evil, Nature, and the Hero - Backwards: Unsucky English, Lecture 5 (Gilgamesh, cont’d)...
- Unsucky English, Lecture 2: The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
[...] [The Unsucky English series so far: Gilgamesh 1: Dangerous Questions ~ 2: This Post ~ 3: Adam and Eve in Bizarro-World] [...]
The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job | Beyond School
4 Sep 08 at 4:32 am
[...] [This post had major problems in its original draft. I heavily edited it for all you stumblers. Subsequent posts in this series: 2. The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job, a serious farce ~ 3: Adam and Eve in Bizarro-World] [...]
Unsucky English, Lecture 1: On Gilgamesh | Beyond School
4 Sep 08 at 4:35 am
Your posts on this topic are absolutely wonderful! It’s a highlight of my day to see another ready to be read. Keep up the amazing work! And as for your style, simply do what’s more natural in your mind–all of them are very effective and very engaging.
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 4th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Thanks for that. Please spread the word. I’m possibly losing a lot of readers uncomfortable with this series. I’d love to find new ones who might appreciate it.
[Reply]
Ian Boys Reply:
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
Well, you have me hooked. Great work with these. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of what you’ve posted so far as well as what you post in the future. Keep up the great work!
[Reply]
Narro87
4 Sep 08 at 4:58 am
Came across your site quite by accident but I’ve read up on the Gilgamesh series you’ve had going here. This is some really great stuff; everything so far has been easy to read and fascinating at the same time. I had a teacher in high school who would teach a bit like this, and he really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Surprisingly, no one ever gave him any trouble for challenging us and making us uncomfortable with our preconceived ideas, even though we went to a catholic high school.
Anyway, reading stuff like this makes me think about a career change. Keep it up; I’ll be reading.
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 4th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Your teacher was a lucky person.
If you’re thinking of going into teaching because of me, that’s ironic - I just left it
School-teaching, anyway.
[Reply]
Jack641
4 Sep 08 at 6:09 am
I stumbled upon the first lecture in this series and have since added your blog to Google Reader. I am loving it!
I must say that I enjoyed the first post’s format the most. With the latter two, the story of Gilgamesh seemed to get lost in the story you were creating of the classroom. We are the students, and I think your brilliance has a better chance of standing out if your writing takes the form of a lecture. Believe me: your thoughts can stand on their own!
My two cents.
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Thank for that, Alyce.
I hear you on diluting the message with stories from the classroom.
I think I just wanted to paint a picture of the silly but very real fears teachers have because of all these social forces at play in schools.
Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I’ll probably do as you suggest for most future posts.
Thanks again.
[Reply]
Alyce
4 Sep 08 at 6:14 am
I particularly cared for the third followed closely by the first. Love the posts and will be coming back to them when life is less hectic to digest further. Religion, science… great fuel for the mind…
Louise Maines last blog post..Wiki woman?
[Reply]
Louise Maine
4 Sep 08 at 9:34 am
Hello!
I particularly liked the writing style of this one. The first one was enjoyably readable as well, but the second I couldn’t finish - wayyyy too much teacher-jargon on how to teach a subject. I was lost.
I guess I should actually get a copy of this book before continuing…
Hannahs last blog post..What I’m Going To Do With My Life
[Reply]
Hannah
4 Sep 08 at 9:55 am
The third was definitely my favorite of the three, but you killed me when that alarm went off! Don’t ever ruin a perfectly good dream again! I was in awe of this boy wonder and then you had to go and wake up. For shame!!
Ok, I can say this much. The version I am being forced to read for this Babylon class is not even close to as much fun. I am tempted to suggest a text change. Of course I can read what I want and no one will ever be the wiser.
[Reply]
Jazzyblueteach
4 Sep 08 at 3:28 pm
Louise, Hannah, Jazzy,
Thanks for the feedback.
Without being defensive at all (I’m really not), it’s ironic that my own favorite so far is the second one - “The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job.”
I think it has something to do with the set-up via the Sedaris stories. That “seeing with your ears” syndrome is so real, and Sedaris proves it with “Us and Them” (and what a pregnant title).
But I know, anyway, that I’m pulled in two directions at least when writing these: to write for the old “edublogger” audience that I said (and meant) I was bored writing for; versus to write for students anywhere.
I’ll figure it out (or not).
Hey, Jazzy, what translation are you reading? A.R. George? Mitchell has taken some heat for his liberties. He claims to have based them on the most accurate translations - and George’s is acknowledged to be that - but others charge him with too much lassitude at times.
It would be interesting to hear what your prof thought of the Mitchell translation - would love a report back if you do
[Reply]
Clay Burell
4 Sep 08 at 6:50 pm
Hi Clay.
All of the posts so far are fascinating, but I have to say the first was my favourite, stylistically-speaking, but then I’m neither a student (currently) nor a teacher so maybe I’m not your intended audience.
In any case, I’m loving this series and can’t wait to see where you take it next. Keep up the good work!
Tims last blog post..http://caananite.stumbleupon.com/review/24728827/
[Reply]
Tim
4 Sep 08 at 11:50 pm
I loved all three, but I enjoyed the second the most. I could analyze all the reasons why I love blueberries, too, but I come here to be entertained.
(I enjoyed the third, and maybe I am too naive, but I’ve had the rare kid take off in thought in science, and I was going to compare notes, then you woke up. That hurt.)
Any sort of well-crafted Socratic dialogue is always welcome. (Works well in the class once kids get used to it, but it leaves them a bit exposed. I have to work hard to erase any hint of “aha!” when using it–but if I can get the dialogue going on in their heads after class, I’ve done my job.)
Michael Doyles last blog post..First day of school, biology (sophomores)
[Reply]
Michael Doyle
5 Sep 08 at 8:13 am
Well, I totally wish I had you as a teacher in high school. I haven’t actually read Gilgamesh, but have always wanted to get my hands on it. I’m enjoying your series immensely, and as for the feedback you requested I liked the second one the least. It might be because I find it hard to imagine myself as a high school freshmen. Personally, I enjoyed your latest edition the best. It was amusing at times, the dialog certainly broke things up and made it less daunting to read, but the information still got across. Your first installment wasn’t bad either. I could picture a professor pacing the classroom and accenting his lecture with dramatic hand gestures. That lecture would have stuck.
[Reply]
Uniasus
6 Sep 08 at 11:54 am
I stumbled upon this blog, and I really enjoyed reading it.
Speaking as a current student in high school in NYC, I really enjoyed the Socratic dialogue in this post. The first post and the second post also made incredibly stimulating late-night reading; however, I liked exploring the implications of the main characters’ actions.
What you said concerning indoctrination in your first post really struck a chord with me. Last year, for example, I had an English teacher who was a very nice person, but extremely…in touch with modern ideals, to put it nicely. For example, when we read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” she refused to accept the idea of moral relativism, and that different cultures will have different takes on (among other things) honor killings. And she also exaggerated when grading papers; one time I lost a full 4 points on a paper because I used the term “mankind” instead of “humankind” - she commented that it was a “dangerous term” to use.
Oh, and I don’t know if you’ve seen
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/ap-reading-exam.php already, but I can actually picture some of my English teachers taking that approach. I found it funny - I hope you will, too.
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Thank you, Ted. I love the link and hope others follow it for a good sad laugh.
You point to a variation of schooliness I haven’t dwelt on much - the teacher who actually docks you for any “critical thinking” that differs from his/hers. Ugh. I would have fought her on the “mankind” thing, though I’m sympathetic enough to her argument. Half a grade is a harsh way to make a feminist point about terminology.
Thanks for your help re: style, too. Hope you comment again soon, as seriously, I’m trying to stay true to the intended audience, which is people like you.
[Reply]
Ted Mateoc
6 Sep 08 at 12:04 pm
I liked the first straight lecture style. I like to feel like I’m being taught something and not just mildly entertained.
Keep up the good work though.
[Reply]
Agnes
6 Sep 08 at 2:26 pm
Well I stumbled upon you literally. I enjoyed all three and my favorite is Lecture 3.
Keep up the great work.
Bunny got Blogs last blog post..Bunny’s Bucket List - In Celebration of Dave Freeman’s Life
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 7th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Thanks Bunny. It’s interesting getting instant reader feedback. Lots of cognitive dissonance, which isn’t necessarily bad. What a new world for writers
[Reply]
Bunny got Blog
7 Sep 08 at 2:34 am
Never thought about it this way before, but Eden was a “wilderness”. No original sin, no journey into the larger world and the future…including technology.
In Adam’s fall,
Benefited we all
dianes last blog post..Classroom Rules Part 2
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
The only problem I have with that argument is that the wilderness has no authoritarian rules telling the wild-life what it “shalt and shalt not” do.
Eden seemed more a sort of theocratic monarchy with Adam and Eve as the lucky goat-herds. They didn’t have to worry about predators, foraging, inclement weather, shelter, etc, because it was a fairy land of nude-friendly weather, always-fruitful trees, and toothless lions, etc.
The “fortunate fall” thing is very Milton. I’ve always liked Blake for calling the entire notion of an angry god and a guilty humanity as an “invisible worm” that makes us all “sick roses.” (That’s my reading, anyway, of the great Billie Blake.)
[Reply]
diane
7 Sep 08 at 3:57 am
[F*ck technology, the internet just ate my last response. And that I am even responding here highlights my hypocrisy. Read at your own risk.]
Ahem. Of course Eden was “wilderness”, that’s the beauty of The Fall.
No original sin, no journey into the “larger” civilized world, an arc that will, I suspect, end disastrously in the next few hundred years. I’m thinking your sympathies lie on the other side of the fence.
At 3 AM, when a tropical storm howls over my roof, the electricity fails, I (for a moment) can imagine my mortality. I glimpse wilderness, and lulled by my belief in technology and immortality, I fall into an abyss, a Nietzschean nightmare where god is dead, and I have nothing left to hold.
Before the apple, Adam and his love were in the wilderness, with boundaries. (Clay talks of happiness and limits in an earlier post–reduce the options, and people smile.) Adam dared to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and got tossed out of the garden.
Eden was indeed a wilderness without a “future,” just the herenow. Before Constantine and his ilk defiled what was worthwhile in the Christian sect, the focus was on the herenow.
Should Clay live long enough, I hope he tackles the Tree of Knowledge and original sin. (Yeah, I know, ClayClayClayClay, but it is his blog). Clay has bitten me on the nose for my occasional lapses into irrationality, but he gets the gist of the question, and I may be one of the few westerners left who think maybe Adam should have left that apple alone.
Clay’s discussion on Gilgamesh has strengthened my resolve.
I would gladly trade technology, even my indoor toilet, for that peek into the web of wilderness we are all a part of. We lost our way once we put knowledge above wisdom.
(Yes, Clay, I’m overstating my case. Still, we need some kind of substitute for that Man With The White Beard, some formal way to acknowledge our limits of knowledge. Many Westerners (particularly those with any power)would not recognize hubris if it smacked them in the nose.)
I’m ranting. I’ll stop.
But maybe, just maybe, Adam screwed up.
Michael Doyles last blog post..Science, dogma, and the American Way
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hi Michael -
I think the “F-bomb” may have thrown you into the spam bucket. (And you know I don’t mind colorful language, but I don’t think I’ve ever tossed an F-bomb in these pages, probably out of some hangover from Camp Joy.)
I take it the bulk of this comment is a reply to Diane, commenting above you?
As for the rest, I’ll only ask you to hold on and be patient. We’re only approaching Book Two of Gilgamesh, and by the end, I think you’ll find it a pretty superior substitute for the Man in the Gray Beard - the teacher with all the rules and schooliest god I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.
Seriously, I think you’ll be impressed by the way the “Nature v. Civilization” theme plays out in this oldest book.
And Michael, I’ve never bitten you in the nose or anywhere else. At most, I’ve rubbed you behind the ears. As you have me.
[Reply]
speroni Reply:
September 21st, 2008 at 3:09 am
There were rules in the Eden wilderness before civilization. The punishments were pretty harsh, by and large breaking a rule means death. They weren’t authoritarian rules though. They’re more subtle than that. I don’t want to say the rules were as simple as kill or be killed, but one did have to learn how to survive. The rules kind of revolved around a limited aggression pact. You have to hunt to eat, but you can’t go crazy and start killing all willy-nilly. Even with other tribes, you have to fight to protect your territory but it doesn’t work well to go commit genocide either. I think one theme in the garden of Eden was when Adam and Eve broke these rules. Not the rule of God says don’t eat this apple, but the rules that people had been living by to keep in balance with nature for the hundreds of thousands of years before our brand of civilization came along. Since then we’ve extinct how many species? Polluted how much of the planet? Our society may well come crashing down around our ears in the next few hundred years. Perhaps not, we do have a pretty good track record for pulling through.
At the same time there’s this idea of the noble savage. That these ancient tribes had more virtue than current humans. I don’t know about this, there was still murder and adultery in tribal life. On the other hand it really meant something to be part of your community, not to have it was death. Now, I don’t even know my neighbors.
Still its not the technology thats to blame. Humans a hundred thousand years ago still had tools. Thats part of what defines being human, thumbs are cool. (Aaayyyeeee!) This doesn’t take us out of the web of nature though. I own a computer but I was made the same way that all animals are made. I’m at a point in my life where I’m considering making some of my own. Am I less of an animal because I can do this on a space age memory-foam mattress? I’m well aware that I’ll be returning to the earth as well. I accept that. I don’t envy those who live long enough to make it into nursing homes. I know if you were to ask me at any given moment if I was ok with dying right now, the answer is always going to be no, but in the general sense I’m ok with it. All that and I don’t even believe in God. Or if there is something that powerful out there he’s literally beyond our comprehension. Its not some father figure with a swishy white beard who wants to save me. (Or in my case condemn me.)
(I’ve just ordered my very own copy of Gilgamesh. From stone tablets to amazon.com)
speronis last blog post..Spore
[Reply]
Michael Doyle
7 Sep 08 at 6:59 am
Ah, but you know my feelings on this
http://tinyurl.com/22wrqw
Better to have sinned and known
Than never to have known at all
dianes last blog post..Transformation
[Reply]
diane
7 Sep 08 at 9:20 pm
[...] Dangerous Questions ~ Gilgamesh 2: The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job ~ Gilgamesh 3: Adam and Eve, Backwards (Book [...]
Unsucky English, Lecture 4: The Blessings of the Flesh (Gilgamesh, Book Two) | Beyond School
12 Sep 08 at 9:58 am
Awesome posts, really peaked my interest. I really dug the style in the first one, I wish I had a teacher like you in high school!
[Reply]
Peter
13 Sep 08 at 5:12 am
I think I need to reread Gilgamesh. I don’t remember it being so entertaining during high school.
Charlie A. Roys last blog post..The Debate on Drug Testing
[Reply]
Charlie A. Roy
14 Sep 08 at 10:38 pm
Clay,
I am currently living in Wichita Falls, TX, getting my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction. I hope to be teaching high school English by Fall of next year. That said, I have been trying to catch up on all the reading I know I should do, and your series of Gilgamesh has been absolutely lovely! I have never even heard of it before, can you believe that?! Now I want to read it on top of my 18 hours of graduate course work. Posts 1 and 3 were my favorite, but your writing style is so amazing and clear that any way you post will bring new insights and ideas. Thank you for your wonderful reads.
-Shannon
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
September 16th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Shannon, it’s weird that we in the West fairly ignore the first half of recorded history - I mean the Sumerian and Egyptian above all (not to mention the Chinese, who’ve been literate for 5,000 continuous years, if memory serves, without any of the “dark ages” breaking Western literacy in Greece for 400 years, and Europe during the Medieval Period - and China’s rightly proud of that, I learned while living there).
We seem to act like civilization started with the Greeks and Hebrews, when they’re really at the mid-way point. It’s just weird.
Anyway, this is a horribly convoluted comment. Tired. Just wanted to say thanks, really, for the kind words. And good luck in the classroom (hint: those Sedaris stories mentioned in Lecture 2 are great light vehicles for heavy lessons).
[Reply]
Shannon
16 Sep 08 at 11:21 am
I like the style in part one. Sounds more like you’re talking to me directly, more engaging. The others were good stories, but felt more like being told a story with its own conclusion and less like a conversation that is starting out.
[Reply]
speroni
21 Sep 08 at 3:37 am
I wouldn’t worry about picking just one style for all of this. The content is superb. I like the variety in style. Keep it up.
I don’t recommend using this as a venue for extreme experimentation with style, but I do suggest keeping things varied. Your writing has thus far been easy to read, regardless of the style. The variety makes reading the pieces all in one go more pleasant than if they all shared the same tone.
[Reply]
Chris
1 Oct 08 at 3:59 am
Dude!!! This whole series is awesome. I was just googling “high school Gilgamesh” in an attempt to discern whether other high school teachers taught this or if, as is the belief of my worksheet-loving colleagues and administrators, I am in fact the most irresponsible, immature and irrational person to ever be granted a teacher’s license.
Reading this series has actually brought tears to my eyes - do you know of any online support groups for Unsucky English teachers?
95% of my students are Native American, and there seems to be a visceral connection between the themes in Gilgamesh and the quite recent history of my students’ ancestors.
We read a translation I found for free somewhere online. The sex scene was all metaphors and imagery. The kids particularly flipped out when the “scented bush” line came around. I was struck at how well they understood the language. Then they wanted to know how he “kept it up” for seven whole days.
I didn’t get any flack from the “3 p’s” about Gilgamesh. Right now we’re on The Iliad and the principal is concerned that the story is too violent. I’m always caught off guard by what people freak out over - its never what I think it will be.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks so very very much for this series.
“These fragments I have shored against my ruins,” you know?
Elizabeth
[Reply]
Clay Burell Reply:
November 14th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Hi Elizabeth, he writes with a smile.
Love your comment. Can you find a link to the version you mentioned? I’d love to check it out.
Fascinating that Native Americans would relate the fate of the Babylonians to their own. It begs to lead to the Hebrew Bible’s (Tanakh’s, Old Testament, whatever you want to call it) treatment of the Babylonians, and a comparison with how white Anglo Americans engaged in a similar act of what Joseph Campbell calls “mythic assassination” of the “Red Savage.”
Man, you’re making me want to podcast a discussion with you and any students about all of this. Would you be game?
Hope to see you around. We can foment an Unsucky support group right here
[Reply]
Elizabeth
14 Nov 08 at 11:00 am
[...] So Far: 1. Gilgamesh: Dangerous Questions 2. The Day I Thought Gilgamesh Would Cost Me My Job 3. Adam and Eve, Backwards 4. The Seven Deadly Sins, Backwards 5. Good and Evil, Nature and the Hero - [...]
Good, Evil, Nature, and the Hero - Backwards: Unsucky English, Lecture 5 (Gilgamesh, cont’d) | Beyond School
18 Nov 08 at 2:03 am
I teach Gilgamesh to my accellerated (the school’s label not mine)sophomores. Usually, I teach it first semester, but this year, I decided to go backwards in time. I will be teaching Gilgamesh last. My students are reading Ishmael right now. You’d probably like this novel, as it is quite controversial. I am going to use this site, if I may, as a resourse link for my students. I think that it will help them in getting the overall meaning of the Epic. BTW, I have my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and my BA in English Literature. I’m starting my Ph.D. in Education next month. Keep up the awesome, and I have had the same Uh oh feeling about teaching about the sacred prositutes. I am even more nervous about it this year as I have the daughter of the minister of the Assembly of God church in my class this year. Yeppie (sort of why I’m waiting till the end for the final whammy).
[Reply]
Patricia
20 Nov 08 at 1:05 pm