Enheduanna: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author corrects this oversight by introducing readers to Sumerian poetess and priestess Enheduana, “the first poet whose name we know.” Although the translator and editor Sophus Elle wants to reclaim the literary merit of Enheduana, I am more fascinated by the fact of her existence and what it means for tradition. If you had asked me a few months ago for the “world’s first author,” I would have said “Homer.” (I know The Epic of Gilgamesh predates The Iliad and The Odyssey, but there is no named author for that tale.) In our story of tradition, we commit a dreadful error when we castigate the so-called “great books” as works by dead white men-not only because Homer could not be referred to as “white” but also because our human tradition begins before him.
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