Tanaisie reviewed The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
Mesopotamian queer/bait
3 stars
Content warning major spoilers. it's not that long if you wanna read it
Okay so... (I actually read a french translation that has nothing to do with this one, this is so I don't have to create a new book file.)
I read an excerpt of the epic in the baedan journal and it sounded pretty cool. I love how it's basically an ancient adventure time bromance. Hear me out: the gods created the second guy as a rival for the first one, but they end up together. They insist a lot on second's luscious, womanly hair. Sure, the sex scenes are straight, but imho some passages might have been gay sex mistranslated. Also there's a long scene where first guy holds dying second guy's hand and cries so much.
I admit the second half after the second guy's death kinda lost me. It's all about gaining immortality, boring. And not even for your departed lover.
Okay, and although I am getting queer vibes throughout, I have suspicions I might be partially confused by plain antiquity misogyny where women aren't even deemed full persons (only gal is the courtesan and most she does is having sex. Oh and wait there's the mom but yeah. Not that great either huh).
Apart from the torrid battle scene, what I found most interesting was the backstory of Enkidu as a "wild child" and the way his entrapment into civilisation was portrayed. Basically, Gilgamesh sends a woman to have sex with him (and give him alcohol and bread) and after that, he can't live with animals anymore. Baedan makes the point that they are imposing gender on Enkidu and thus removing him from the wilderness.
Anyway, it was cool.
