A fascinating and well-researched read! I didn’t realize how complex Cu Cuchlainn’s mythology actually was until now. It’s made me curious about looking more into Celtic mythology, it’s kind of a shame that it’s not given the attention it deserves.
What we do have of Celtic mythology is so interesting, thankfully there are scholars trying to bring new translations out but it's slow-going. Even stories that are given attention aren't usually interpreted well either, but it's still nonetheless exciting when I see something from the mythology covered!
I would say that and the culture itself isn't understood very well by modern audiences. When studying any mythology it's important to use contextual information from the time, place, and people to help build more understanding about the nuances of the stories.
I have been waiting for more of your scholarly review of Hound! I predict that Part 3: The Cattle Raid of Cooley and Part 4: The Deaths of Aífe's Only Son and Cú Chulainn will follow. You compared Cú Cullan and Emer's romance in Hound to the legend of Deirdre but I think it's also similar to the legend of Tristan and Iseult.
If you are interested, here is a list of comics based on Irish mythology that are available as far as I know. I hope it helps!
* About a Bull by M. K. Reed, Caroline Kelsey, Hilary Florido Matt Wiegle, and Farel Dalrymple
* The Cattle Raid of Cooley by Patrick Brown
* Celtic Warrior: The Legend of Cú Chulainn by Will Sliney
* Deirdre agus Mic Uisnigh by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, Barry Reynolds, and Audrey O'Brien
* Ness by Patrick Brown
* An Táin by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh and The Cartoon Saloon (Barry Reynolds, Adrien Merigeau, Roxanne Burchartz, Ross Murray)
* An Tóraíocht by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, Paul Young, Michael McGrath, and Diane O'Reilly
The trajectory is pretty much spot on! Although I'm expecting the Cattle Raid portion will have to be two parts given how large the original text is and how instrumental it is when looking at the character of Cú Chulainn and Irish saga texts as a whole. I admittedly haven't read Tristan and Iseult but I would have to wonder if similar archetypal stories influenced Bolger’s decision to change the circumstances of their meeting.
Thank you for the list! I think it'd be interesting to compare An Táin to Hound especially and see what each adaptation does differently with the source material. This is definitely fuel for some potential future reviews!
A fascinating and well-researched read! I didn’t realize how complex Cu Cuchlainn’s mythology actually was until now. It’s made me curious about looking more into Celtic mythology, it’s kind of a shame that it’s not given the attention it deserves.
What we do have of Celtic mythology is so interesting, thankfully there are scholars trying to bring new translations out but it's slow-going. Even stories that are given attention aren't usually interpreted well either, but it's still nonetheless exciting when I see something from the mythology covered!
Interesting, is this because the Celtic languages themselves are under-studied and more difficult to interpret?
I would say that and the culture itself isn't understood very well by modern audiences. When studying any mythology it's important to use contextual information from the time, place, and people to help build more understanding about the nuances of the stories.
I have been waiting for more of your scholarly review of Hound! I predict that Part 3: The Cattle Raid of Cooley and Part 4: The Deaths of Aífe's Only Son and Cú Chulainn will follow. You compared Cú Cullan and Emer's romance in Hound to the legend of Deirdre but I think it's also similar to the legend of Tristan and Iseult.
If you are interested, here is a list of comics based on Irish mythology that are available as far as I know. I hope it helps!
* About a Bull by M. K. Reed, Caroline Kelsey, Hilary Florido Matt Wiegle, and Farel Dalrymple
* The Cattle Raid of Cooley by Patrick Brown
* Celtic Warrior: The Legend of Cú Chulainn by Will Sliney
* Deirdre agus Mic Uisnigh by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, Barry Reynolds, and Audrey O'Brien
* Ness by Patrick Brown
* An Táin by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh and The Cartoon Saloon (Barry Reynolds, Adrien Merigeau, Roxanne Burchartz, Ross Murray)
* An Tóraíocht by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, Paul Young, Michael McGrath, and Diane O'Reilly
The trajectory is pretty much spot on! Although I'm expecting the Cattle Raid portion will have to be two parts given how large the original text is and how instrumental it is when looking at the character of Cú Chulainn and Irish saga texts as a whole. I admittedly haven't read Tristan and Iseult but I would have to wonder if similar archetypal stories influenced Bolger’s decision to change the circumstances of their meeting.
Thank you for the list! I think it'd be interesting to compare An Táin to Hound especially and see what each adaptation does differently with the source material. This is definitely fuel for some potential future reviews!