About the Author

John Gardner was accorded wide praise for his works of imagination, of criticism, and of scholarship. He was born in 1933 in Batavia, New York. Among the universities at which he taught are Oberlin, San Francisco State, Northwestern, Southern Illinois, Bennington, and the State University of New York—Bennington. The Art of Fiction was completed before his death in 1982.

Reviews

"[Gilgamesh] has never been better served than in this new translation...Maier's contribution is the meticulous scholarship that envelopes the book...John Gardner's contribution...is the translation itself: lyrical, sinewy, emotionally uncompromising and rhythmically brilliant."

-- William L. Moran, The New York Times Book Review

"The authors brilliantly achieve the goal of infusing the poem with new life and meaning for the modern reader"

-- Ronald Bailey, Newsday

"A moving and exceptionally readable version of the poem."

-- Aaron Shurin, The San Francisco Chronicle