Before they reach publication, writers are sometimes ostracized by their surroundings. There is nothing sillier than an unpublished novelist. Unless you're the next James Joyce or already a reputable storyteller, people will make fun of you until you succeed. Even if you can earn a living from your pen, you're going to face snide comments like: "You're not THAT important, you're not saving lives, like a doctor". I have the chance to be well surrounded with people believe in what I do and I am freshly graduated with a master degree in literature so I feel it's my duty to talk about the History of what I do and show you the long lasting tradition of fiction writers.
You will start finding here short informative blurbs about the History of fiction. I will deliberately leave some forms of fiction out like poetry and stage dramas which are domain I know less about. I'm going to concentrate on creating a straight line in between the first fiction work ever written and the working fiction writers that are reading this blog. I will go from revolution to revolution, trying to explain the tradition that sent you guys into doing what you're doing now.
So let's start...
What was the first book ever written? No, you high-spirited Christians, it's not the Bible. Neither it is the Torah or any other book with so-called mystical powers. The first book ever found to have been written is a Mesopotamian fiction called: The Epic Of Gilgamesh. Historians are dating the discovery of this wild folktale to the 7th Century before the Birth Of Christ. They were written on clay tablets and kept in the personal library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. That's right, the first book was written in Iraq.
Writing (like photography, cinema and other art mediums) was not used (or even perceived) as an art form as first. Clan "administrators" used clay tablets and sometimes even the ground, to keep count of cattle, harvest and other earthly goods. Why was The Epic Of Gilgamesh written? No one really knows. Some say he must have been a real ruler of the Mesopotamian world. So what you do think that text consists of? A poetic elegy of a fallen king? An obscure recollection of exploits? Oh no. It's much more awesome than that...
Given that the text was in pretty bad condition and that modern translations count forty to fifty pages, the story goes like this....
Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, he's two-third God and one-third man. He's ruling his kingdom with an iron grip, until Enkidu arrives in the portrait. He was also created by the Gods in order to fight Gilgamesh, so he can give his citizens a break from his oppressive ruling. After a fierce battle where Gilgamesh is crowned the winner, they become buddies and start fighting other creatures of the Gods together, notably Humbaba, the Guardian of Cedar Mountain and Goddess Ishtar's Bull Of Heaven.
I'm not going to spoil you the end (oh yeah, because there IS somewhat of a plot twist), but here's the truth. The first book ever created was some wild fantasy tale about a demigod king and a giant man. Kind of like Terry Goodkind meets God Of War. The first book was no self-important poem or some thoughtful piece of work. It was a colorful tale made for...I don't know what, but it surely entertained a lot of warriors sitting by the bonfire.
