The Buried Book is really two books. The first half (or a little more) is a popular history of Assyriology as it relates the finding of the Library of Assurbanipal in general and the Epic of Gilgamesh in particular. The second half (or a little less) is Damrosch's world-lit tinged reading of Gilgamesh. The first half is fascinating, the second dull and turgid. ( )

A strong first third that covers the rise of Assyriology and the recovery of the text, during the heyday of British archaeology. The middle starts with a history of Assyria however quickly veers off into a highly speculative discussion of what the kings and court of the time might have drawn from the text. The final part draws a weak connection between attitudes towards the US invasions of Iraq and Gilgamesh. ( )

Odd book. Part archaeolocigal adventure story, revisionist biography, literary criticism, cultural survey and topical essay. Works best when dealing with archaeology/biography. The other parts are a bit much. Read it with an open mind, but critical mind. ( )

The Buried Book gives the history of the Epic of Gilgamesh from rediscovery in the British Museum to the earliest days of Sumerian epic poetry. Yep, that sentence is correct. Damrosch tells the story backwards, peeling back the layers of history like an archaeologist would study a site. He starts with George Smith, who found the tablets among the hundred thousand or so items in the British Museum's Assyrian collection in the late 1800's. He follows with the discovery of the Ninevah library by Hormuzd Rassam, a Mosul native raised by a British sister-in-law to be very British and shut out of upper British society, whose work was purposefully buried by some of the bigger names in British archaeology of the era. Then Damrosch moves to the Epic itself, along with the story of Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian King who built the library and collected the tablets, among which were those that became the "standard" Epic of Gilgamesh. Finally, the book concludes with older stories collected and edited to become the Epic, reaching back to the earliest records of Sumerian civilization to get glimpses of a possible historical Gilgamesh.

In each chapter detailing a piece of the story, Damrosch focuses on a person at the center of that part of the story, bringing to life these little known corners of archaeology - both British and Assyrian, for Ashurbanipal was in his own way, an archaeologist restoring even older Sumerian and Chaldean works. But he also pays attention to the societal aspects of the work. For instance, George Smith was interested in finding external evidence to support the history in the Bible, and much of his translation and interpretation of the Gilgamesh story was colored by this motivation. These pictures open up the periods he discusses and really makes the times come to life.

Recommended! ( )

The story is interesting—engrossing even—but I'm not convinced the book does it justice. ( )