Celtic Myth in the 21st Century
The Gods and their Stories in a Global Perspective
Editor(s) Emily Lyle
Language: English
Genre(s): Religion
Series: New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology
- February 2018 · 256 pages ·216x138mm
- · Paperback - 9781786832054
- · eBook - pdf - 9781786832061
- · eBook - epub - 9781786832078
About The Book
This wide-ranging book contains twelve chapters by scholars who explore aspects of the fascinating field of Celtic mythology – from myth and the medieval to comparative mythology, and the new cosmological approach. Examples of the innovative research represented here lead the reader into an exploration of the possible use of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Celtic Ireland, to mental mapping in the interpretation of the Irish legend Táin Bó Cuailgne, and to the integration of established perspectives with broader findings now emerging at the Indo-European level and its potential to open up the whole field of mythology in a new way.
Endorsements
‘Celtic mythology, for long sidelined by mainstream scholarship, is making a comeback – but, like the material that it examines, it is returning in a shifted shape. In this volume, we find a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches to the body of myth in Celtic languages. Structuralist approaches are reinvestigated and revived. Stories and beliefs are set within their contemporary literary and historical contexts, and wider international analogues are considered. This enterprising collection of essays resets the agenda for work on mythology in Celtic Studies.’
-Professor Gregory Toner, Queen’s University Belfast
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
Introduction: Celtic Mythology in the 21st Century
Jonathan Wooding, Series Editor
Section 1: Myth and the Medieval
1. God and Gods in the Seventh Century: Tírechán on St Patrick and King Lóegaire’s Daughters - Elizabeth A. Gray
2. Time, Identity and the Otherworld: A Note on The Wooing of Étaín - John Carey
3. The Celtic Dragon Myth Revisited - Joseph F. Nagy
4. Tory Island and Mount Errigal: Landscape Surrogates in Donegal for the Gods Balor and Lug - Brian Lacey
Section 2: Comparative Mythology
5. Ireland as Mesocosm - Grigory Bondarenko
6. Hunting the Deer in Celtic and Indo-European Mythological Contexts - Maxim Fomin
7. Gods, Poets and Entheogens: Ingesting Wisdom in Early Irish Literary Sources - Sharon Paice MacLeod
8. The Armorican Voyage to the Afterlife and Celtic Myths - Fañch Bihan-Gallic
Section 3: The New Cosmological Approach
9. Towards Adopting a Double Perspective on Celtic Mythology and its Prehistoric Roots - Emily Lyle
10. Sisters’ Sons in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi - Anna June Pagé
11. Fashioners of the Cosmos in Ireland and India: The Dagda and Tvastr - John Shaw
12. Psycho-Cosmology: Mental Mapping in Táin Bó Cuailgne - James Carney
Bibliography
Index