"Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the World" is a 1942 journal article by Samuel N. Kramer. The article provided an up-to-date transliteration and translation of the Sumerian afterlife myth named "Inanna's Descent to the Nether World." The article, published in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, also included ten plates, which contained sketches and photographs of cuneiform tablets that Kramer translated.