Inanna
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Inanna, a goddess of ancient Mesopotamia, was worshipped around 1800 BCE by our ancestors in the land that is now modern-day Iraq. But who was she? Who were her followers? And what did her stories mean for their lives? Lost for millennia, Inanna’s stories were buried and forgotten, unearthed by archaeologists only recently, around the turn of the 19th century. Their translation has been a remarkable work of collaboration by scholars from disparate parts of the globe, as fragments of stone tablets were pieced together and the symbols on them recorded, transliterated, and interpreted. And although we still know relatively little about this ancient time, a picture of this extraordinary figure has slowly begun to emerge, through the painstaking work of these dedicated scholars: Inanna the creator, Inanna the destroyer; the leader, the warrior, the lover, the friend. Inanna was a guiding light for her followers, a commanding symbol of justice and honour, and her stories have much to teach a contemporary readership about love, power, independence, and compassion. Now, these stories are brought to vivid, visceral life by beloved Canadian author Kim Echlin, who brings her trademark passion and poet’s sensibility to the translation of the Inanna myth. With a new introduction and comprehensive notes, this new English version renders Inanna’s powerful story accessible and captivating for a new generation of eager readers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This book by Echlin, best known for her novels (The Disappeared), is both exacting scholarly work and presentation of exquisite poetry from about 1800 BCE; a stunning hybrid story-cycle and reference text. Echlin's careful and considered translation of the stories and hymns of Inanna revivify the Mesopotamian goddess cum complex myth-figure. But it's Echlin's prefaces to the translated works, along with her included list of gods, replete introduction, glossary, list of source texts, and concise bibliography, that will make this a volume highly prized by both scholars and casual readers. Though aspects of Echlin's approach to the translation build on the work of other scholars, her translations themselves are derived directly from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature and Other Sources. Echlin discusses her methodology and intent in her introduction, and her respect for and appreciation of the work itself is deeply evident. "My guiding idea in this translation has been to preserve the power of the poetry," she writes. "I have tampered as little as possible with the original. I have worked on these stories with deep pleasure, knowing that literary invention cannot be held still by translation. Inanna is in constant motion." This vivacity is well-evidenced in Echlin's superb translation, which should be considered an essential text.
