Classical literature and learning in medieval Irish narrative

by O'Connor, Ralph

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Title Statements

Full title :Classical literature and learning in medieval Irish narrative / edited by Ralph O'Connor.

Summary

This edited volume will make a major contribution to our appreciation of the importance of classical literature and learning in medieval Ireland, and particularly to our understanding of its role in shaping the content, structure and transmission of medieval Irish narrative." Dr Kevin Murray, Department of Early and Medieval Irish, University College Cork. From the tenth century onwards, Irish scholars adapted Latin epics and legendary histories into the Irish language, including the Imtheachta Aeniasa, the earliest known adaptation of Virgil's Aeneid into any European vernacular; Togail Troi, a grand epic reworking of the decidedly prosaic history of the fall of Troy attributed to Dares Phrygius; and, at the other extreme, the remarkable Merugud Uilixis meic Leirtis, a fable-like retelling of Ulysses's homecoming boiled down to a few hundred lines of lapidary prose. Both the Latin originals and their Irish adaptations had a profound impact on the ways in which Irish authors wrote narratives about their own legendary past, notably the great saga Tain Bo Cuailnge (The Cattle-Raid of Cooley). The essays in this book explore the ways in which these Latin texts and techniques were used. They are unified by a conviction that classical learning and literature were central to the culture of medieval Irish storytelling, but precisely how this relationship played out is a matter of ongoing debate. As a result, they engage in dialogue with each other, using methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines (philology, classical studies, comparative literature, translation studies, and folkloristics). Ralph O'Connor is Professor in the Literature and Culture of Britain, Ireland and Iceland at the University of Aberdeen.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2014.

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):D.S. Brewer
Place of Publication:Cambridge
Language:eng
Publication Date:2014.

Notes

D.S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd.

The Physical Object

Description:viii, 244 pages : : 1 illustration ; : 24 cm.

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9781843843849, 1843843846
oclc:ocn900033257
LC Classification:PB1322
Dewey Decimal:891.6/209002

Irish narrative literature and the Classical tradition, 900-1300 / Ralph O'Connor -- Imtheachta Aeniasa and its place in medieval Irish textual history / Erich Poppe -- History and historia : uses of the Troy story in medieval Ireland and Wales / Helen Fulton -- The uses of exaggeration in Merugud Uilixis Meic Leirtis and in Fingal / Chlainne Tanntail, Robert Crampton -- The medieval Irish Wandering of Ulysses between literacy and orality / Barbara Hillers -- Demonology, allegory and translation : the Furies and the Morrigan / Michael Clarke -- Reconstructing the medieval Irish bookshelf : a case study of Fingal Ronain and the horse-eared kings / Michael Clarke -- 'The metaphorical Hector' : the literary portrayal of Murchad mac Briain / Maire Ni Mhaonaigh -- Was Classical imitation necessary for the writing of large-scale Irish sagas? : Reflections on Tain Bo Cuailnge and the 'watchman device' / Ralph O'Connor -- 'Wrenching the club from the hand of Hercules' : Classical models for medieval Irish compilatio / Abigail Burnyeat.

Subjects

18.67 Celtic languages Classical literature Classical literature -- Appreciation Classical literature -- Appreciation --… Classical literature -- Translations in… Criticism, interpretation, etc Ireland Irish literature -- History and critici… Irish literature -- Middle Irish Littérature irlandaise -- Histoire et c… Translations