Time again to draw some lines between texts, for fun and maybe more. Texts today: Book of Job, Bhagavad Gita, Lord of the Rings, Gilgamesh Compare – Your hands have formed me and made me,Put me together—then destroyed me!Mind now, it is you who made me like clay,And will return me to the dust!He elevates … Continue reading Gita and Job, shoutout to JRR
"The Fellowship of the Ring" came out in theaters twenty years ago, almost to the day. Below is an essay that I wrote in the days after I saw it -- an essay that, besides being a bit of a time portal, covers a ton of subjects about books, movies, history, religion, dead white males, … Continue reading The Fellowship of the Ring
In a previous post I made several connections between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bhagavad Gita. Here I'd like to make a few other connections for the Gita, with the Gospel of John and "The Grapes of Wrath." Compare this passage in the "Gita" – I am the Unborn and Eternal. I am the … Continue reading Krishna, Tom Joad and the Gospel of John
In a previous post I shared what it was like to read David Ferry's version of the Epic of Gilgamesh twenty years ago. I've just read Stephen Mitchell's version, from 2004. Both versions render the Epic as English free verse. They're similar in that sense: they're English poems that read like complete stories, meaning they … Continue reading Gilgamesh, Smaug and Krishna
December 16, 2001* Last night I finished David Ferry’s rendition of Gilgamesh; I read it out loud. It has reminded me of my favorite moment ever in “Star Trek”: the Epic of Gilgamesh as told by Patrick Stewart in “Darmok,” an episode during the fifth season of “The Next Generation” TV series. Captain Jean-Luc Picard … Continue reading Twin Towers at Uruk
