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Edited by Matthieu Boyd. "Coire Sois. The Cauldron of Knowledge: A Companion to Early Irish Saga" offers thirty-one previously published essays by Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, which together constitute a magisterial survey of early Irish narrative literature in the vernacular. Ó Cathasaigh has been called “the father of early Irish literary criticism,” with writings among the most influential in the field. He pioneered the analysis of the classic early Irish tales as literary texts, a breakthrough at a time when they were valued mainly as repositories of grammatical forms, historical data, and mythological debris. All four of the Mythological, Ulster, King, and Finn Cycles are represented here in readings of richness, complexity, and sophistication, supported by absolute philological rigour and yet easy for the non-specialist to follow. The book covers key terms, important characters, recurring themes, rhetorical strategies, and the narrative logic of this literature. It also surveys the work of the many others whose explorations were launched by Ó Cathasaigh’s first encounters with the literature. As the most authoritative single volume on the essential texts and themes of early Irish saga, this collection will be an indispensable resource for established scholars, and an ideal introduction for newcomers to one of the richest and most under-studied literatures of medieval Europe.
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C o i r e So i s Coire Sois The Cauldron of Knowledge A C O M P A N I O N T O E A R LY I R I S H S A G A TOMÁS Ó CATHASAIGH EDITED BY MATTHIEU BOYD University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana Copyright © 2014 by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás. Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge : a Companion to Early Irish Saga / Tomás Ó Cathasaigh ; edited by Matthieu Boyd. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-268-03736-9 (pbk.) — ISBN 0-268-03736-1 (paper ) — ISBN 978-0-268-08857-6 (e-book) 1. Irish literature—To 1100—History and criticism. 2. Irish literature—Middle Irish, 1100–1550—History and criticism. 3. Epic literature, Irish—History and criticism. I. Boyd, Matthieu, editor of compilation. II. Title. PB1321.O34 2013 891.6'209001—dc23 2013029855 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Contents Foreword by Declan Kiberd ix Preface by Matthieu Boyd xv Acknowledgments xxi Abbreviations xxv Maps 1 xxviii Introduction: Irish Myths and Legends (2005) 1 PA R T 1 . T H E M E S 2 The Semantics of síd (1977–79) 19 3 Pagan Survivals: The Evidence of Early Irish Narrative (1984) 35 4 The Concept of the Hero in Irish Mythology (1985) 51 5 The Sister’s Son in Early Irish Literature (1986) 65 6 Curse and Satire (1986) 95 7 The Threefold Death in Early Irish Sources (1994) 101 8 Early Irish Literature and Law (2006–7) 121 vi Contents PA R T 2 . T E X T S The Cycles of the Gods and Goddesses 9 Cath Maige Tuired as Exemplary Myth (1983) 135 10 The Eponym of Cnogba (1989) 155 11 Knowledge and Power in Aislinge Óenguso (1997) 165 12 “The Wooing of Étaín” (2008) 173 The Ulster Cycle 13 Táin Bó Cúailnge (2002) 187 14 Mytholo