| Sharon Arbuthnot: Dá n-ó mele ocus cuitbiuda in-so: What DID Derdriu say to Noísiu? |
| In a much-referenced episode in Longes Mac nUislenn, Derdriu takes hold of Noísiu’s ears and says: Dá n-ó mēle ocus cuitbiuda in-so … manim·bera-su latt (Hull, Longes mac n-Uislenn, 46). Hull thought that the final word of dá n-ó mēle was probably méla ‘shame’; he acknowledged, however, that ‘the homonym me(i)le, which apparently signifies “a fool, a good-for-nothing”, may be intended’ (ibid., 101). Elsewhere (ZCP 21, 324-29), Hull brought the Longes Mac nUislenn extract into a discussion of the brimon smetrach, a ritual which involved a poet taking in his hands the ear-lobes of some offending person; in at least one extant account of the brimon smetrach, the verb meilid ‘grinds, crushes’ is employed to refer to the poet’s actions: meilid smit ind aue iter a dā mer (Meyer, Sanas Cormaic, §149). This paper proposes to take a fresh look at what Deirdriu said to Noísiu and to consider whether the manuscript form mele might correspond to DIL 1 meile ‘a disparaging term applied to a person’, to DIL 2 meile ‘abstr. formed from meilid’, or perhaps to DIL 3 meile ‘a horse, nag ?’. |
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| Philip Bernhardt-House: Magic and Narrative: Ulster Cycle Texts as Historiolae. |
| Some work has been done on magical operations within the narrative of Táin Bó Cúailnge in relation to Cú Chulainn’s asking the river Cronn to aid his protection of the province (Nagy), and of the transformation of otherworld musicians into deer (Borsje). However, some Ulster Cycle narratives that do not refer specifically to magical spells or operations taking place within them may nonetheless be historiola texts (i.e. texts giving the mythic basis for the efficacy of a spell). Research on this subject has been published previously by John Carey, in relation to the death-tale of Fergus mac Róich and the Old Irish impotence spell, which will be discussed and extended in this paper. Further, a spell invoking the goddess Flidais and its relation to the tale Táin Bó Flidais will be discussed and explored. The idea that some incidents in Ulster Cycle text, and medieval Irish narrative in general, may have been recorded specifically because of their value as historiolae for the practical ends of effective usage of “words of power,” while not insisted upon, will be evaluated as a theoretical concept in conclusion. |
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| Grigory Bondarenko: The Migration of the Soul and the function of knowledge in De chophur in dá muccida and Compert Con Culainn. |
The concept of the soul and its destiny after death play an important role in all mythologies and religious beliefs. As it is true for any early Irish mythological problem, the more it is true for the sources dealing with the mythologem of the soul that Christian perception hide the authentic pre-Christian doctrine. The paper will make an attempt to review some aspects of the idea of a migrating soul in early Irish literature on the basis of two tales: Compert Con Culainn (‘The conception of Cú Chulainn’) and De chophur in dá muccide (‘About the…of the two swineherds’). The question of how knowledge and self-knowledge are significant in the stories of the soul migration will be raised. |
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| Jacqueline Borsje: A spell called éle. |
| Cú Chulainn is seriously wounded, Lug mac Ethlend visits him from the síde (Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension I). Lug performs certain deeds and speaks certain words in order to heal him. Among the words is an obscure speech called éle. What is meant by the term éle? A survey will be given of references to éle in the medieval Irish textual tradition and in an Old English spell. |
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| Abigail Burnyeat: The Táin- Complex in B.M. Egerton 1782. |
| Folios 66b-106a of BM Egerton 1782 constitute an independently produced section containing a collection of material related to TBC. While its copy of Recension 1 of Táin Bó Cúailnge has received comparatively little critical attention due to its fragmentary nature, the collection as a whole is noteworthy for its arrangement of copies of remscéla and other material relating to TBC as prefatory material to the text of the Táin itself. Individual texts within the collection are linked explicitly to the Táin in prologues and epilogues containing critical material not found in other copies of the tales. This paper will explore the methodology of the manuscript’s compilatory practice and the critical stance towards its material which it reveals. |
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| John Carey: Muirchú and the Ulster Cycle. |
| This paper will note a series of parallels between details in Muirchú’s Vita Patricii and in Ulster Cycle narratives, and consider whether these similarities may shed any light on the nature of the Irish saga tradition in the later seventh century. |
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Nina Chehonadskaya , Dubthach Dóel Ulad and other insects in the Ulster Cycle |
| In this presentation I intend to study the image of insects in the Ulster Cycle. There are but a few special studies dedicated to insects and invertebrates in medieval Irish culture. In medieval Irish tales we find mention of worms (cruim), ants (moirb, sengán), and flies or gnats (cuil). Small insects are often referred as an “animal” (mil) or “beast” (píast). In Old and Middle Irish texts a beetle is a symbol of venomousness and blackness. Black hair, eyes and lashes are often compared with the colour of a chafer. At the same time the beetle is perceived as a shining creature: a magic blue cloak looks like “a beetle’s back”. The “Beetle” is often found as a name of people and animals. A hero in the Ulster cycle of tales, Dubthach Doél Ulad (The Beetle of the Ulstermen) is endowed with all the features of a beetle: he is black-haired, uses a poisonous spear and at the same time a shining sword and radiant shield. In this aspect he is close to Bricriu, whose name originates from the adjective brecc (“many-coloured”) and implies the idea of shining and glimmering. |
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| Marion Deane: The Debate: A Blueprint for Society. |
| The first half of FTB ends in an ode which celebrates reciprocal exchange between Conchobar and Deichtire, as king and goddess, or, as partners to a sacred marriage. The sacred marriage validates Conchobar as possessor of truth or fír flaithemon which may be described as the permanent essence of kingship. However, Deichtire is not only abstract sovereignty but the populace of the realm itself. The second half of the tale offers a platform for a debate, the power of which is to show that ordinary or actual individuals rather than transcendent beings are involved. It shows how this particular king in his relationship with these particular men of Ulster gives unique and individual expression to the principles of the ruler’s truth. They are its representatives in a supposedly-contemporary or current phase in the life of the tuath. The principles and values of the ideal otherworld, which govern Conchobar’s actions, find concrete and pragmatic expression in their interactive and mutual affairs. |
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| D.R. Edel: Cú Chulainn on the Couch: Character Portrayal in Táin Bó Cúailnge. |
| Cú Chulainn has been compared to Achilles: he is young and destined to die young like the Greek hero. But while the latter's death is part of the Iliad, Cú Chulainn survives the Cattle-Raid, and survives it as victor. He achieves this by going through a mental growth process unparalleled in early Irish literature (but made possible by the exceptional length of the work, and necessary to keep the interest in the near-endless series of combat situations alive). In the course of this process we see an insouciant child prodigy develop into a shrewd plotter and planner and finally into a long-enduring hero prepared to sacrifice what is dearest to him, including his foster-brother and, seemingly, his honour. |
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| Matthias Egeler: Some Thoughts on Medb, the typology of warlike goddesses, and Pausanias l.xiv.7 |
| After raising the possibility in 1929 that queen Medb of Connacht might be a literary reflection of a pre-Christian goddess, Thurneysen supported his argument in an afterthought in 1933 by pointing out some typological parallels to his postulated ‘Goddess Medb’ in a type of relationship between kings and goddesses well attested in the Ancient Near East. By presenting a survey of some Near Eastern and Mediterranean cults, the present paper suggests that (1) the number of close typological parallels to a hypothetical goddess Medb could be much larger than Thurneysen assumed, and that (2) the parallels might indeed go much further than the material known in Thurneysen’s day indicated. This both presents a typological point in support of Thurneysen’s ‘Goddess Medb’ and poses the question whether the interpretation of these parallels as merely typological is the only way of interpreting the evidence. |
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| Joanne Findon: Mother knows best: The role of Nes in Compert Conchobuir. |
| Three main accounts of the conception and birth of the great Ulster Cycle king Conchobor survive in manuscripts dating from the eighth to the fourteenth century. In each of the three main versions, Conchobor’s mother Nes plays a major role in shaping her son’s life and destiny; however, the actions she takes and the ways in which she influences her son’s career are markedly different in each version. In the two later versions Nes temporarily becomes a female warrior, taking up fénnidecht in an attempt avenge the murders of her fosterers; her sexual union with the druid Cathbad marks the end of this liminal period. In these later versions, Nes continues to play a role in the birth and life of her son even after her marriage, in one case engineering Conchobor’s assumption of the Ulster kingship, and in the other version delaying childbirth until the day prophesied to be lucky. In the latter, Nes takes a young lover, Fachtna Fáthach, and Conchobor is said to be his son rather than Cathbad’s. What does this group of tales suggest about medieval Irish representations of women and motherhood? Although women’s roles in medieval Ireland were generally limited to those of wife and mother, and women’s rights were restricted, these tales portray Nes exercising power in ways that push at the boundaries of medieval social norms. Further, Nes’s expanded role in the later Book of Leinster and Stowe versions suggests evolving attitudes regarding male-female relationships, perhaps through the influence of European romance traditions. This paper will explore Nes’s representation in these texts within the context of the larger network of Ulster Cycle tales (and their representation of women, especially in the Táin), and in relation to medieval Irish laws concerning women and their social roles. |
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| Maxim Fomin: Paradigms of Polity according to Serlige Con Culainn. |
| I will look at the examples of theoretical constructs, or rather, at images of ideal kingship as described in the Irish saga ‘The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn (Serglige Con Culainn, hereinafter SCC). Although the saga itself, to judge from its title, is about “the mysterious trance or illness which leaves Cú Chulainn helpless for a year” (Carey, Celtic Connections, 190) it is also devoted to the matters of the theory of early Irish kingship, embodied in the account of the so-called tarbfheis episode and the subsequent utterance by Cú Chulainn, containing the instruction to his foster-son, the would-be-king, Lugaid Reo nDerg (Bríatharthecosc Con Culainn, hereinafter BCC). Carey convincingly proposed his hypothesis that Cú Chulainn’s journey to the Otherworld “was originally a visionary one, upon which he embarked while lying in trance, and that the BCC is really uttered by Lug, speaking out of Cú Chulainn’s body” (Carey, 197). Be that as it may, the point introduced here by Carey reflects the outlook of the compiler of the tale: having introduced BCC within its plot, the compiler considered the topic of kingship to be as important to the tale as the topic of sickness of Cú Chulainn. Therefore, it is not surprising to see other reminiscences of the paradigm of ideal rulership throughout SCC. They mostly crop up in the pieces of verse composed by Lóeg or Lí Ban in praise of the king of the Otherworld, Labraid Swift-Hand-on-sword (Labraid Lúathlám ar claideb). The matters of ideal kingship are kept under the prerogative of the Otherworld – treated as the ideal world within the mindset of the medieval Irish literati. The description of the mythical king of the Otherworld in SCC represents a sophisticated mixture of the royal characteristics that in the context of a four-fold classification of kings proposed by the early seventh century wisdom-text ‘The Testament of Moraind’ (Audacht Morainn) would be matching both the tarbfhlaith and fírfhlaith types of kingship. |
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| Patrick Ford: The Ulster Cycle in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, First Series, 1853-1862. |
| Robert MacAdam was one of the intellectual giants of the mid-19th century. His idea for a journal of Archaeology was formed in 1852, after the success of the exhibition of Irish antiquities at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Belfast of that year. The following year, 1853, the Ulster Journal of Archaeology began publication. This essay explores MacAdam’s goals for the journal and focuses upon references to the Ulster Cycle of tales. There aren’t many, but what is there is instructive about the knowledge of and the understanding of the role of the Ulster Cycle of Tales in the early culture of Ulster. The essay concludes with a discussion of what was known about early Irish literature in the mid-19th century and what materials were available to them to investigate that large body of literature. The UJA is seen as a watershed between the excesses of General Vallancey and others of his persuasion and the great philological achievements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. |
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| Cathinka Hambro: Síaburcharpat Con Culaind as medieval exemplum. |
| In early medieval exemplum literature, figures, motifs or episodes from biblical texts are imitated in order to serve as a model or as a moral illustration of correct behaviour. These exempla were used extensively in sermons and in ecclesiastical literature produced in the medieval monastic scriptoria. A common and highly popular theme in early medieval exemplum literature was warnings from the dead, in which the dead returned to the living world to tell of their experiences in the other world. In this paper I will discuss whether the didactic text Síaburcharpat Con Culaind may be read as a typical medieval exemplum text centring around the terrible punishment that awaits those who will not convert. Furthermore, I will argue that there is a mimetic textual relationship between Síaburcharpat Con Culaind and the apocryphal text The Gospel of Nicodemus which may argue for that The Gospel of Nicodemus serves as an exemplum for Síaburcharpat Con Culaind. |
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| Kicki Ingridsdotter: The impact of emotion in the Ulster Cycle. |
| In early Irish literature violent emotions could cause severe illness and even death. This is evident not only in tales of the serglige-type, but also outside this category. Death of shame, sorrow, grief and laughter is found and severe illness may be induced by love and jealousy. The belief that violent emotions could cause death is not unique to early Irish literature, but the wide array of emotions with possible lethal results are noteworthy. Furthermore, some motifs are connected in unexpected ways. The motif of death by grief or sorrow is connected to suicide in that in versions of the same tale, one motif may be replaced by the other. This paper intends to discuss the impact of emotion in early Irish literature in general with specific reference to Ulster Cycle tales. |
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| Mary Leenane: Cú Chulainn and the Otherworld. |
| Cú Chulainn’s connections with the Otherworld begin from the time of his conception and continue to be of significance at various points throughout his life up to and including his death. He makes a number of trips to the Otherworld in the following tales; Serglige Con Culainn, Tochmarc Emire, Forfess Fer Fálgae, Aided Con Roí, Siaburcharpat Con Culainn and Fled Bricrenn ocus Loinges mac nDúil Dermait. This paper will focus on a selection of these trips and in particular their context in relation to Cú Chulainn’s depiction as the warrior hero par excellence of the Ulster Cycle. |
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| Esther Le Mair: A Trusted Outsider: Leborcham in the Ulster Cycle. |
| In the Ulster Cycle, Leborcham appears in Táin Bó Cúailnge, Longes Mac n-Uislenn, Serglige Con Chulainn, Mesca Ulad and other tales. She has by different authorities been described as a Spruchweib (Thurneysen 1921: 94-95), a witch (Leahy 1974: 94) and a female satirist (Hull 1971: 62). Reading these sagas, however, we can see that none of the labels has a perfect fit. Leborcham does not appear often, and when she does, it is only briefly. Yet these brief, tantalising appearances show that there is more to her than one, or even all three, of the labels that have been given to her. I will take a closer look at the appearance of Leborcham in these Early Irish stories, with a brief discussion of her genealogy, and the etymology of her name. |
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| Mary MacKenna: Images of the Ulster Cycle Tales in Art and Popular Culture |
| This visual presentation will explore the Ulster Cycle tales in the arts and popular culture. The bronze ‘Death of Cúchulainn’ by Oliver Sheppard, symbolist sculptor of the Irish Cultural Revival in the early 20th century, became the official memorial of the 1916 Rising in the GPO, Dublin. This iconic image has been used by Unionists and Republicans alike as the basis of political murals in Belfast in the late 20th century. Louis le Brocquy’s lithographic brush drawings of 1968-69 illustrated Thomas Kinsella's landmark translation of the Táin, and one of le Brocquy’s Táin tapestries was recently commissioned for the new Millennium wing of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. In addition to prominent public installations, a variety of images by contemporary artists have continued to render the Ulster tales accessible in art and popular culture in various media. Book illustrations range from more traditional artistic depictions to cartoon style ‘comic’ images. Interpretative exhibitions with audio-visuals, and Hollywood ‘movie’ type posters of heroes and heroines, add to the array of expressions retelling these timeless tales of warriors, gods and kings. |
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| Laura Malone: Poetry in Brisleach mhór Mhaighe Muirtheimhne agus Deargruathar Chonaill Chearnaigh considered. |
| This paper will discuss the structure and purpose of poetry in the Ulster Cycle tale entitled Brisleach Mhór Mhaighe Muirtheimhne agus Deargruathar Chonaill Chearnaigh (BMMM), of which I have produced a critical edition. This text, belonging to the Early Modern Irish period, contains over thirty lays and rhetorics, creating an interesting fusion of poetry and prose throughout.
This tale has been transmitted to us in two recensions. The first, BMMM1, belonging to the Old Irish period, contains a similar intertwining of poetry and prose, although the majority of the poetry is presented in rhetoric form. Syllabic poetry is the more common feature in the Early Modern Irish version (BMMM2), but it is clear that a number of poems in the later recension are based on rhetorics that exist in the Old Irish tale.
This paper will evaluate the relationship between poetry and prose in the tale, and the various contexts in which poetry is used. A description and explanation of the structure of the poetry, and of some of the more common poetic meters that are encountered in the lays within the tale will also be given. |
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| Katie Louise Mathis: Parallel Wives: Conchobor, Deirdriu and Luaine in Tochmarc Luaine ocus Aided Athairne. |
| Three late-medieval copies exist of a tale in which Conchobor, following the death of Deirdriu, is said to experience such loneliness and sorrow that the Ulstermen go in search of a woman of sufficient beauty to assuage his grief. The chosen girl, Luaine daughter of Domanchenn, is described as the one woman in Ireland to match Deirdriu, but before the marriage can take place she encounters Athairne, a poet, and his two sons, who declare their love for the girl. When Luaine refuses to dishonour her betrothal she is satirised by the men and dies of shame, and the Ulstermen counsel Conchobor regarding the form of revenge he should exact upon the poet who is eventually burnt alive in his fortress along with his children. Whilst the tale constitutes an obvious comment upon the power of negative satire, this paper will propose that greater interest lies in the depiction of the relationship between Conchobor and Luaine, noting several striking parallels drawn between Conchobor’s frustrated courtship of the girl and his earlier, equally ill-fated association with Deirdriu, whose memory and reputation are invoked throughout the text. |
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| Thomas McErlean: The Archaeology of the Ulster Cycle on the North Coast. |
| A number of archaeological sites, including Dunseverick and the Giant’s Sconce among others, situated on the North Coast of Ireland are prominent in the Ulster Cycle and in early Irish literature in general. It seems evident that the area constituted an important component of the early medieval imaginative literary landscape. The North Coast has been subject to an intensive and ongoing archaeological project over the last three years on. This paper describes and interprets the significance of the Ulster Cycle sites and their surrounding cultural landscape in the light of the recent archaeological survey. |
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| Caroline McGrath: The Cauldron: A Symbol of Sacrifice in Early Irish Tradition? |
| The cauldron is a prevalent motif in early Irish literature, if for no other reason than its central role in the feast. In addition to being a mere cooking implement, it is frequently endowed with powers of supernatural abundance. This paper explores the idea that this characteristic is related to its origins as a symbol of sacrifice. The concave shape of the vessel reflects the feminine principle. The uterine aspects of the cauldron consequently suggest connections with fertility. Furthermore, it has links with depressions in the landscape such as caves, rives, lakes, wells, in addition to other hollows. I intend to argue that the appearance of the cauldron in Irish tradition is related to the Indo-European creation myth, as espoused by Bruce Lincoln. This myth depicts the sacrifice and dismemberment of a primordial character in order to create the cosmos. In many cultures, this act is commemorated by the repetition of rituals. It is my contention that the cauldron is used for the enactment of such a ritual. |
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| Tatyana Mihailova: Cú Chulainn: a watch-dog of Ulster. |
| The Debility of the Ulidians ends with the words: ‘This affliction, however, did not used to be upon women and boys and upon Cú Chulainn, for he was not one of the Ulidians…’ (ar nirbo do Ultaib dó). Cú Chulainn could be excluded from the tribe because of the doubt to his paternity, but, as we will try to show, the reason for his non-Ulidian status lies in his ambivalent, half-animal nature. His own idea to ‘be the hound to protect Culand’s flocks and cattle and land’ (TBC-LL), being in accord with the requirements of early Irish law (as L.Breatnach demonstrated in Celtica Helsingiensia) is supported by an old I.E. concept of a hero as shepherd and protector of cows (and women) of the tribe. A canine nature of Cú Chulainn could explain some features of his behaviour and a strange attitude of other Ulstermen to him. At the same time we can remember Finn’s hound Bran whose human nature represents a constant motif of Fenian tradition (cf. also OI conbuachaill ‘herding dog’, litt. ‘ boy-hound’). The paper will also consider OI compound names with the element con-, especially in Ulster cycle. Some Germanic, Russian and Indian parallels also will be given. |
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| Kay Muhr: Medb of Connaught in place-names. |
| The early version of Táin Bo Cualnge says that, in her attack to claim the Brown Bull, Queen Medb of Connaught followed the Slige Midluachra to harry the peoples of Ulster from Cooley to Dunseverick (ed. O’Rahilly 1976, l.1490). Returning to Iveagh, every ford and every high place where she spent the night was renamed Áth Medba and Dindgna Medba, and wherever she planted her horsewhip was called Bile Medba (ll.1534-6). None of these particular place-names survive, but local traditions and place-names from Ulster to north Connaught provide other evidence to show the goddess-queen was long remembered. |
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| Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin: The Banshenchas: genealogy and women of the Ulster Cycle. |
| The Banshenchas contains quite a long section on the famous women of the Ulster Cycle. These appear in both the prose and metrical versions of the text. Some of the entries include women who would not be regarded as part of the canon of the Cycle and seem to be imported into the text from an independent source. A number of these women have not been identified or found outside the Banshenchas and associated texts. |
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| Micheál Ó Mainnín: Eamhain Macha, cidh diatá? The name Emain Macha and other Emain Names. |
| The place-name Emain Macha is synonymous with the Ulster Cycle. It has been the subject of much dindshenchus but its etymology continues to be uncertain; this uncertainty is compounded by the difficulty of whether or not it is identifiable with the Isamnion of Ptolemy’s Cosmography (c. 150 AD). This paper will consider the various theories as to the etymology of the name in the wider context, namely, evidence for the element emain in other place-names which are (or have been) located elsewhere in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. |
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| Kay Retzlaff: Cú Chulainn’s Lunacy: The Nocturnal Nature of Ulster’s Hound. |
| A watch dog is most valuable at night, warning of danger while the master sleeps. Ulster’s ultimate watch dog keeps watch at night. In fact, the symbolic structure surrounding the Hound of Ulster is replete with lunar imagery, including his vaunted ability to shape shift. |
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| Patricia Ronan: Multi-word verbs in the LU and LL Táin texts. |
Multi-verb expressions can be found to express verbal concepts that might also be expressed by simple verbs, e.g. to give an answer or to make a suggestion. Similar collocations of semantically low content verb and verbal noun are already observable in early Irish.
The present paper proposes to investigate the collocations that are found in the LU and the LL versions of the Táin and the differences that can be observed between the two recensions. |
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| Stuart Rutten: The horned skin of Lóch Mór and Fer Diad. |
| This paper challenges the commonly held assumption that conganchness, the horned skin, shared by Cú Chulainn’s foster brothers is a motif borrowed into the Fer Diad episode from the battle against Lóch Mór. The presentation includes a close examination of the role and efforts of the H interpolator and relationship of the various TBC recensions. Furthermore a more encompassing examination of the presences of Lóch and Fer Diad in other Ulster tales will be offered to suggest that Lóch’s role of foster-brother may have been influenced by an already extant version of the foster-brother episode more akin to that present in the battle with Fer Diad. Finally, speculation about the motif in Irish literature will be offered in relation to other tales exhibiting hardened or impenetrable skin. |
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| Caitlyn Schwartz: The Ulster Cycle and the Gaelic Revival. |
| This paper will examine how medieval Irish literature has been published and interpreted in a nationalist context ,with particular attention to translations of the Ulster Cycle produced during the Gaelic Revival. Looking at works such as Lady Gregory’s Cuchulain of Muirthemne and Eleanor Hull’s A Text Book of Irish Literature, I will analyze the presentation and reception of the Cycle in the political and cultural context of late nineteenth century Ireland, addressing questions such as: Why texts were chosen for translation and which recensions were used? What words or episodes are rewritten or removed? I will then discuss issues of reader reception, such as how paratext, translation and the passage of time shape the reading of tales. I will conclude with a brief discussion of more recent editions of the Ulster Cycle and how these editions differ from the works produced during the Gaelic Revival. |
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| Andrew Shanafelt: Tradition and Translation: The Táin Bó Cúailgne translations of Thomas Kinsella and Ciaran Carson. |
| The purpose of this paper is to compare the translations of An Táin Bó Cúailnge by Thomas Kinsella and Ciaran Carson. Thomas Kinsella’s translation of the Irish epic in 1969 was a watershed cultural event. The tale, which had previously been available to English speakers only through scholarly editions, was suddenly widely read. Since this translation, the Táin Bó Cúailnge has needed little introduction to readers of Irish Literature. Nonetheless, much has changed over the course of 38 years. A few major conflicts and countless literary representations later, Ciaran Carson re-translated this epic. While his translation is certainly indebted to Kinsella, and pays respectful homage to Kinsella’s work, Carson’s translation displays different concerns--both culturally and politically--than Kinsella’s. Through an examination of the text, miscellanea, and poetic focus, this paper hopes to draw attention to the goals and prejudices of the two poets. |
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| Laura Lee Templeton: From Medb to the Decemberists: The Táin in Concept Album Rock |
| This paper offers a comparative analysis of the musical interpretations of the Táin Bó Cúailnge in the concept albums of Horslips (The Táin, 1973) and the Decemberists (The Tain, 2004). Through interviews with the artists and an overview of the relevant political, historical and cultural circumstances behind each composition, it examines the relationship of these popular cultural interpretations functioning within a commercial realm with other versions of the Ulster Cycle and seeks to demonstrate their legitimacy as modern tellings of the myth. The paper also presents a critical reading of certain lyrics and musical characteristics of the two albums which illustrate the myth’s continued vitality as a source of inspiration. |
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| Gregory Toner: Death, visions and the Otherworld in Echtra Nera. |
| This paper will examine the connection between Nera’s carrying of the dead man in Echtra Nera, his vision of the destruction of Crúachain, and his ability to enter the Otherworld. New light will be shed on the Otherworld woman’s role and the hitherto unexplained delay in the destruction of the síd. It will be suggested that the woman not only set out to ensure that the Cattle-Raid of Cooley would occur, but that she was intent on sowing strife between Crúachain and the people of the síd. Finally, the paper will explore the inherent symmetry of the tale and examine some previously unresolved incongruities. |
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