Queering the Quest: Time, Identity, and the Natural World in The Epic of Gilgamesh Shawn Day College

The Epic of Gilgamesh is frequently interpreted as a study of the interaction between humans and the natural world. But what does this ancient epic tell us about this relationship when we introduce identity? Contemporary readings introduce the potential to explore the fluidities of human sexuality combined with cultural constructions of the natural world. This clarifies how Gilgamesh, a character that defies traditional binary beliefs about gender, reveals that to be genuinely interconnected with the natural world, a person must transcend heteronormative hierarchical structures. It also entails adopting queer temporalities, which prefer a more flexible explanation of time over rigid, linear concepts of it. This allows us to reevaluate the linear cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This essay will delve deeper into this, emphasizing the anthropocentric worldview and the characterization of ecological temporality. Then, it will look at queer representation in the poem by summarizing Gilgamesh’s fear of aging as a non-binary person. To provide a better understanding of the conflict between human desire to control nature and the fact that this is impossible to achieve, the essay will combine the elements above.

The Epic of Gilgamesh...