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OLD STORY, NEW TWIST
Canberra Times (Australia)
April 28, 2013 Sunday
Final Edition
The Turkish capital of Istanbul at sunset; inset, Joan Londons
Gilgamesh.
Old story, new twist Russell Wenholz enjoys an Australian tale that
spans Mesopotamia J oan Londons Gilgamesh had been on my list of
books to read for several years. I cant remember who recommended it
to me maybe I took it from a list of best Australian novels.
The title of the book, Gilgamesh, was not a word I knew. (In
my ignorance, Ithought it may be the name of a rural property). I
resisted the temptation to consult Wikipedia and gradually the story
of the original Gilgamesh emerged as I read Joan Londons novel. In
about 2500BC, Gilgamesh lived in Mesopotamia (todays Iraq). Gilgamesh
and his good friend Enkidu have many adventures.
When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh sets off like an outcast or a holy man. He
grows his hair long; he wears animal skins. He walks hundreds of miles,
mourning, looking for the secret of eternal life.
However, he eventually accepts mortality and becomes a wise and
good king. The story was written on tablets of stone found at an
archaeological site and has some claim to being the oldest surviving
work of literature.
Londons novel opens in Europe but soon moves to the south-west
region of Western Australia. I was interested in the setting, and the
lives of the characters London placed in this setting made, for me,
compulsive reading. After the First World War, an Australian soldier,
with an English wife, returns to Australia and is granted a 64-hectare
block under a government Group Settlement scheme.
The returned soldiers lack of farming experience and the poor quality
of the land ensures their life is a struggle. Two girls, Edith and
Frances, are born and become a part of the struggle. It is the format
for a traditional Australian story.
A travelling Armenian youth leaves one of the girls, Edith, pregnant.
A son, Jim, is born. Edith, with the baby less than one year old,
decides to go to Armenia to find his father her luggage contained in a
small brown Globite suitcase. Cargo ship to England, train to Istanbul,
ferry across the Black Sea, another train to Armenia. I like to learn
about other countries by reading novels, by Australian authors, in
which Australian characters are experiencing countries that are new
to them. Incidents and descriptions contained in such novels like
Gilgamesh give me a feel for the country that I can identify with
and which I rarely obtain from dedicated non-fiction travel books
and travel guides.
When Edith and Jim left Istanbul, Edith felt she had left the safety
of the pink territory and crossed over into the vast unknown green. I
was reaching for my atlas.
I enjoyed Londons awareness of social history. It is World War II.
Edith and her child are travelling in Mesopotamia. They stayed each
night with the local inhabitants. They sat on straw matting and were
served by women moving in and out of the shadows from the oil lamp.
Rice and grilled fish and rough Arab bread. Goats milk for Jim. They
were so tired that time seemed to slow, to almost stand still. This
was how they lived in villages along the Euphrates 5000 years ago.
People raised goats and ate fish while great civilisations came
and went.
Reading Gilgamesh, I was struck by the irony of history. Reference
is made to a period of persecution or genocide by the Turks against
the Armenians in 1915.
Many Armenians fled to the Syrian city of Aleppo Aleppo was a safe
city at that time. The day I read this last December people were
fleeing Aleppo, crossing the border into Turkey, to safety.
Edith and Jim find sanctuary from the war in an Aleppo orphanage. In
April 1945, some soldiers in khaki shorts and slouch hats came into
the courtyard of the orphanage. Edith tells them she is Australian.
One of the soldiers says Go on!
Edith and Jim return to Australia. To the south-west of Western
Australia. To the 64-hectare block. To the sister/auntie Frances. The
story is of Australia again.
Jims troubles at school, Ediths romance, discord with Frances. Several
new characters are introduced at this late stage. After enjoying the
slow pace of Gilgamesh to this point, I felt that now too much was
happening. I feared there would be a conveniently plotted end to the
story. I need not have worried. While there is certainty in the fate
of some characters, with others I was left to ponder what their lives
would become.
Also, I was left to consider the connection between this story and
the story of the ancient King Gilgamesh the competing benefits of
home life and travel, and quests. Had anything changed since 2500BC?
When I finished reading Gilgamesh, I drove into Civic and borrowed
another book from the ACT Library: Gilgamesh: the Oldest Story in
the World. But that is another story.
Canberra Times (Australia)
April 28, 2013 Sunday
Final Edition
The Turkish capital of Istanbul at sunset; inset, Joan Londons
Gilgamesh.
Old story, new twist Russell Wenholz enjoys an Australian tale that
spans Mesopotamia J oan Londons Gilgamesh had been on my list of
books to read for several years. I cant remember who recommended it
to me maybe I took it from a list of best Australian novels.
The title of the book, Gilgamesh, was not a word I knew. (In
my ignorance, Ithought it may be the name of a rural property). I
resisted the temptation to consult Wikipedia and gradually the story
of the original Gilgamesh emerged as I read Joan Londons novel. In
about 2500BC, Gilgamesh lived in Mesopotamia (todays Iraq). Gilgamesh
and his good friend Enkidu have many adventures.
When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh sets off like an outcast or a holy man. He
grows his hair long; he wears animal skins. He walks hundreds of miles,
mourning, looking for the secret of eternal life.
However, he eventually accepts mortality and becomes a wise and
good king. The story was written on tablets of stone found at an
archaeological site and has some claim to being the oldest surviving
work of literature.
Londons novel opens in Europe but soon moves to the south-west
region of Western Australia. I was interested in the setting, and the
lives of the characters London placed in this setting made, for me,
compulsive reading. After the First World War, an Australian soldier,
with an English wife, returns to Australia and is granted a 64-hectare
block under a government Group Settlement scheme.
The returned soldiers lack of farming experience and the poor quality
of the land ensures their life is a struggle. Two girls, Edith and
Frances, are born and become a part of the struggle. It is the format
for a traditional Australian story.
A travelling Armenian youth leaves one of the girls, Edith, pregnant.
A son, Jim, is born. Edith, with the baby less than one year old,
decides to go to Armenia to find his father her luggage contained in a
small brown Globite suitcase. Cargo ship to England, train to Istanbul,
ferry across the Black Sea, another train to Armenia. I like to learn
about other countries by reading novels, by Australian authors, in
which Australian characters are experiencing countries that are new
to them. Incidents and descriptions contained in such novels like
Gilgamesh give me a feel for the country that I can identify with
and which I rarely obtain from dedicated non-fiction travel books
and travel guides.
When Edith and Jim left Istanbul, Edith felt she had left the safety
of the pink territory and crossed over into the vast unknown green. I
was reaching for my atlas.
I enjoyed Londons awareness of social history. It is World War II.
Edith and her child are travelling in Mesopotamia. They stayed each
night with the local inhabitants. They sat on straw matting and were
served by women moving in and out of the shadows from the oil lamp.
Rice and grilled fish and rough Arab bread. Goats milk for Jim. They
were so tired that time seemed to slow, to almost stand still. This
was how they lived in villages along the Euphrates 5000 years ago.
People raised goats and ate fish while great civilisations came
and went.
Reading Gilgamesh, I was struck by the irony of history. Reference
is made to a period of persecution or genocide by the Turks against
the Armenians in 1915.
Many Armenians fled to the Syrian city of Aleppo Aleppo was a safe
city at that time. The day I read this last December people were
fleeing Aleppo, crossing the border into Turkey, to safety.
Edith and Jim find sanctuary from the war in an Aleppo orphanage. In
April 1945, some soldiers in khaki shorts and slouch hats came into
the courtyard of the orphanage. Edith tells them she is Australian.
One of the soldiers says Go on!
Edith and Jim return to Australia. To the south-west of Western
Australia. To the 64-hectare block. To the sister/auntie Frances. The
story is of Australia again.
Jims troubles at school, Ediths romance, discord with Frances. Several
new characters are introduced at this late stage. After enjoying the
slow pace of Gilgamesh to this point, I felt that now too much was
happening. I feared there would be a conveniently plotted end to the
story. I need not have worried. While there is certainty in the fate
of some characters, with others I was left to ponder what their lives
would become.
Also, I was left to consider the connection between this story and
the story of the ancient King Gilgamesh the competing benefits of
home life and travel, and quests. Had anything changed since 2500BC?
When I finished reading Gilgamesh, I drove into Civic and borrowed
another book from the ACT Library: Gilgamesh: the Oldest Story in
the World. But that is another story.