Dictator

by Philip Terry

Overview

A radical reimagining of the Epic of Gilgamesh in Globish.Dictator recreates Gilgamesh using the 1,500-word vocabulary of Globish, a business language appropriate for translating cuneiform. Philip Terry's experimental poetry explores the limitations and possibilities of translation, offering a modern interpretation of an ancient text.

Nerrière considered Globish the world dialect of the third millennium; likewise, Akkadian, the language of Gilgamesh, was the lingua franca of communications in the Near East. This link between script, language, and business is present in the poem's substance. An underpinning theme involving trade, hard wood, and access to forests connects the poem to contemporary issues such as migration and the refugee crisis.

Scholars of literature, translation studies, and ancient history will find this work intriguing. Readers interested in experimental poetry and cultural studies will appreciate Terry's unique approach to a classic tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784106188
Publisher:	Carcanet Press, Limited
Publication date:	10/25/2018
Edition description:	None
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Philip Terry was born in Belfast and has taught at the universities of Caen, Plymouth and Essex, where he is currently Director of the Centre for Creative Writing. His books include the anthology of short stories, Ovid Metamorphosed (2000), the poetry collections Oulipoems (2006), Oulipoems 2 (2009) and Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2011), and the novel tapestry (2013), which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. He is the translator of Raymond Queneau’s Elementary Morality (2007), and Georges Perec’s I Remember (2014). Dante’s Inferno, which relocates Dante’s poem to current-day Essex, was published in 2014 and was an Independent poetry title of the year.