Armenia: Gilgamesh

GILGAMESH

 by Joan London



As I'm finding with many of the small countries in the world, there isn't a lot of English language fiction set in Armenia.  I had already read what is likely the most well known novel about Armenia, Chris Bohjalian's The Sandcastle Girls.  So of the few others that I found, I selected Gilgamesh, by Joan London, because of its theme of immigration and the experience of being in an unfamiliar place, which (as you have probably realized) is a favorite of mine.  The novel's namesake, Gilgamesh is the protagonist in The Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written around 2100 BC that is considered the first work of literature.  He is a demi-god and king who has many great adventures, but it is his friendship with Enkidu, a wild man created to subdue Gilgamesh's arrogance, that serves as the thematic undercurrent of the novel.

In Joan London's Gilgamesh, we follow the lives of Edith, beginning with her parents' migration from England to rural Australia, and of Jim, her illegitimate son.  Edith and her sister, Frances, grow up in extreme poverty, in a remote part of Australia on the coast where their only exposure to the outside world is through a small seaside resort that was built next to their patch of unfarmable land.  When their cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend, Aram arrive unexpectedly for a visit, the world opens up to Edith and she begins to imagine, for the first time in her life, the possibilities beyond what she has experienced of life thus far.  Their departure breaks her heart because Leopold has become a treasured friend and confidante, but even more so because of Edith's brief romance with Aram, who leaves Australia for his homeland, Armenia, never knowing of Edith's pregnancy.

Gilgamesh

Despite the trouble brewing in Eastern Europe as the world faces war in the late 1930's, Edith, too, decides to leave Australia behind and sets out for Armenia, which she has built up to be a magical place where she will find Aram, introduce him to their son Jim, and live happily ever after.  And so she sets out with Jim, crossing the ocean to England, then heading overland by train into Armenia, a country that everyone wants to leave and no one, other than her, is trying to enter.  Her life there is hardly the adventure she had imagined, but she lands among friends: Hagop, a kind Armenian she meets on the train; his wife of convenience, a musician who was injured in a bombing and is confined to a wheelchair; and Tati, the elderly grandmother who needs constant care but keeps Edith centered through her words of wisdom. 

Edith waits for Aram until she literally cannot wait any longer and, because of the dangerous conditions in Soviet-ruled Armenia, she and Jim must leave.  Here, she encounters Leopold once more ... steadfast, loyal, and unassailable Leopold ... and within the safety of his love and friendship, begins her journey to return home.

Gilgamesh is a beautiful story of searching, not just for one thing but for all things that make life whole.  Along with Edith, Frances is searching (for love); Leopold is searching (for meaning); Hagop is searching (for redemption); Irina is searching (for reconciliation); and little Jim, as he grows up, is searching (for himself).  The prose is poetic in places, clear and direct in others, and at all times, giving us a glimpse of Edith's innermost dreams as they shift from desperation to leave back to desperation to return home. 

Other Books Considered:

All the Light There Was, by Nancy Kricorian


Previously Read:

The Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian