I have the same thoughts on Gilgamesh as I do on Shakespeare's works: don't read them, experience them. With Shakespeare's works, they are plays. They are mea

I have the same thoughts on Gilgamesh as I do on Shakespeare's works: don't read them, experience them. With Shakespeare's works, they are plays. They are meant to be experienced in a playhouse, not read by high school students stumbling over the language. The beauty is in witnessing the interactions of the characters on stage, the patterns of their speech, the tone of the jokes, etc. that just don't really come across when you read the words on a page. Reading Shakespeare is kind of a disservice to the material. Similarly, Gilgamesh is part of an ancient oral tradition of storytelling and was meant to be told by actual storytellers, in language that would resonate with the listeners. Trying to read it today is kind of a perversion of the original intent. I'd love to listen to a modern translation actually told by a good storyteller - basically the way it was meant to be experienced.