The Leo Apostel Center

invites everyone to the 52nd of its interdisciplinary seminars in the Foundations series. In this series CLEA invites scholars that are actively engaged in the research on the foundations of a particular discipline. Their lectures will always be directed to an interdisciplinary audience, and the discussions aim at confronting the foundations of the different disciplines.

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EN-HEDU-ANA:
MESOPOTAMIAN PRIESTESS AND THE FIRST NAMED AUTHOR IN WORLD  LITERATURE


by Michelle Hart



Friday, June 15, 2001 at 5 p.m. at the CLEA house, 
Krijgskundestraat 33, 1160 Brussel

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About the lecture

The first named author in world literature was a Mesopotamian priestess who wrote to a goddess over 4,000 years ago! With the use of a 'work-in-progress' video we will attempt to unearth this 'flesh and blood' woman for whom we have visual and textual archeological evidence from southern Iraq. As we delve into En-hedu-Ana's writings we search for  a sense of the world view and personal image of En-hedu-Ana within the culture of her times (2300-2225 B.C.E.), with the intention of possibly reconstructing and identifying a piece of our own history. A new updated translation of one of her poems uncovers a new legal dimension and presents En-hedu-Ana in an even more powerful light.  This poem/hymn/song/ritual functioned as a multi-layered incantation that was used to influence both the current political unrest, as well as alter the current theology by venerating the goddess Inanna as the new ruling deity. En-hedu-Ana's mastery of 'the word' also reveals itself in the poems' immense popularity for centuries afterward. Did the personal quality of her writing play a part in this? At the very least, it seems to have instigated a whole new genre of Sumerian literature known as the letter prayer.



About the speaker

Michelle Hart has worked as a film and video editor in Toronto and Los Angeles. Her documentary, "Voices of Choice" won a Certificate of Merit award at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1996. Currently she is making a documentary about Enheduanna, the first known writer of world literature. She has been studying the ancient near east for the last 6 years and is in the process of collaborating with the Greek author Tasia Hadji on a screenplay about En-hedu-Ana.



The presentation with questions will last about an hour. Afterwards, an hour or more is reserved for an in-depth, group discussion of the topic. 
More info at the CLEA office: phone 02-644 26 77 or via the Web-page: http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/