• Overview. This week students get to examine death through the lens of the oldest book known to humanity, Epic of Gilgamesh. Each student is responsible for a one to two page creative writing exercise following instructions in one of the options below and reviewing at least one other team mate's writing assignment. The final version of your exercise is due in class on Wednesday, July 11.

• Student Responsibilities. Each student is responsible for completing a one to two page (typed, double-spaced) creative writing exercise according to one of the options listed below. Students in the same team must select a different option, gap, character, or segment to rewrite. In other words, students in the same team may select the same option as long as they write about a different gap, character, or segment of the story.

Option 1: Select one of the gaps of twenty or more lines in Kovacs' translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Imaginatively construct what you think the missing lines might have said. Your construction should appear in a format that is similar to that in the translation or perhaps even a little more poetic.

Option 2: Select one of the characters besides Gilgamesh. Imaginatively construct a parallel segment of the story from what you think might have been her/his perspective. The format should correspond with what you think might be the most appropriate method of expression for the selected character.

Option 3: Imagine that Gilgamesh was pursuing his quest for immortality in the late twentieth or early twenty-first centuries. What challenges would he need to overcome? What monsters would he slay? Would he achieve his quest? Pick a segment of the story and rewrite it in a manner that captures Gilgamesh's quest in a modern setting.

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