We Need to Talk About “Sumerian Literature”

Abstract

The scope and purpose of the world’s earliest extant literature remain a matter of debate. Why bother to debate, however, since Sumerologists can study Sumerian literature despite their disagreement on the very definition of their topic, or even on the need thereof? Simply because this disagreement risks to hinder the understanding that the study seeks, is my contention. My research hypothesis is that a definition of Sumerian literature can be reached that is explanatory, involving a proximal genus and a specific differentia. In order to test this hypothesis, informed by Sherma’s (2011; 2022) “hermeneutics of intersubjectivity”, I argue that Sumerian literary compositions should be defined by the specific difference of being framed as distant in space, time, manner, or any combination thereof (that is, may I say, of their being of yonder, of yore, and/or of wonder) in contrast with other Sumerian compositions. A brief discussion of this definition against the backdrop of ancient Near Eastern literature helps to situate this paper beyond Sumerology and in the theory and history of literature. Indeed, Sumerian literature has a “performative” dimension in terms of the self-transformation of its literary audience. The definition of Sumerian literature is a topic whose time has come.