Tale
Cuchulain of Muirthemne
Lady Gregory · 1902
Synopsis
A series of prose tales tracing the life of the Irish hero Cúchulainn, from his conception to his death, gathering the legends of the Ulster Cycle, those of the warriors of the Red Branch, drawn from older oral and written versions. The whole is written in the Kiltartan dialect, an English that follows the syntax of Irish.
Context
The book was published in 1902, with an introduction by William Butler Yeats, co-founder of the Abbey, who saw in it the best book to have come out of Ireland in his time; the BnF holds the London edition of John Murray, whereas other sources name Alfred Nutt. One of the first collections of these legends in English, it went through four editions in ten years; its preface-writer drew five plays from it, and Theodore Roosevelt admired it. The critic Declan Kiberd regards it as an Irish classic.
Who it is for
A narrative in continuous prose, in an English modelled on Irish syntax; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
A classic of Irish letters, and one of the first books to give the saga of Cúchulainn in English.