/lit/ - Literature

>>6088034

Pedantic, I guess, but the translation and editing in the Norton volume are more cautious/conservative.
The non-Akkadian recensions are deferred to a Sumerologist and Hittitologist for their respective languages, with the result that each version is more faithful to the letter and 'flavour' of its source-text.
The texts are inherently fragmented and asymmetrical, and the way they're presented in the Norton volume, they're allowed to speak for themselves rather than having been made to fit any one author's narrative framework.

Plus, the appended criticism/essays contain a great chapter from Thorkild Jacobsen's "Treasures of Darkness", as well as some third-wave feminist tripe, if you need a laugh.

The Penguin translation is equally the product of solid scholarship (George edited the critical edition of the Akkadian/cuneiform text) and definitely enjoyable, but I'm partial to Norton for the above reasons.

Definitely worth checking out both, if you're interested.