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<blockquote data-quote="Wayside" data-source="post: 669790" data-attributes="member: 8394">Absolutely.&nbsp; There are two that I feel are far and away better than the rest: the first is the recently published Norton Critical Edition, translated by Benjamin R. Foster, which in addition to a great translation includes a good deal of context in the way of analogues to the poem (the many other shorter Gilgamesh poems, the Hittite Gilgamesh, etc.).The second is easily my favorite translation.&nbsp; It's like reading Mitchell's Rilke or Mandelbaum's Dante.. you just get the sense that if these books had been written in English to begin with, this is the English they would have been written in.&nbsp; The translators are John Gardner and John Maier.I recommend getting both, but if you want just one, since you've read Gilgamesh before I recommend just the Gardner/Maier.&nbsp; It doesn't fill in the gaps from the broken tablets (with made up conjectures), but the critical apparatus is extensive (the conjectures are here instead) and the introduction is also great.&nbsp; Unlike other translations this one allows you to experience the poem as literature, rather than as simply a culturally fascinating artifact.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wayside, post: 669790, member: 8394"] Absolutely. There are two that I feel are far and away better than the rest: the first is the recently published Norton Critical Edition, translated by Benjamin R. Foster, which in addition to a great translation includes a good deal of context in the way of analogues to the poem (the many other shorter Gilgamesh poems, the Hittite Gilgamesh, etc.). The second is easily my favorite translation. It's like reading Mitchell's Rilke or Mandelbaum's Dante.. you just get the sense that if these books had been written in English to begin with, [I]this[/I] is the English they would have been written in. The translators are John Gardner and John Maier. I recommend getting both, but if you want just one, since you've read Gilgamesh before I recommend just the Gardner/Maier. It doesn't fill in the gaps from the broken tablets (with made up conjectures), but the critical apparatus is extensive (the conjectures are here instead) and the introduction is also great. Unlike other translations this one allows you to experience the poem as literature, rather than as simply a culturally fascinating artifact. [/QUOTE]

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