Cuchulain of Muirthemne (original 1902; edition 1902)

by Lady Gregory

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Yoshio Markino's recollection and opinion of this book, in his broken English:

To wipe off my tears [after saying farewell to a family friend returning to Japan], I went to Hampstead to see Mrs. Dryhurst in the same evening. I had made an acquaintance with her some time ago. I stopped at her house until twelve. She lent me "Chuchuland" by Lady Gregory. It was quite new book. I took it back with me, and when I came to Blackfriars I got on the last tram. A dirty woman took a seat by side of me and shouted: "'Allo John, won't ye piy ma fare?" I was so frightened that I jumped off from the tram. I fell down quite flat and threw "Chuchuland" some yards away. It was buried in mud! I begged Mrs. Dryhurst to let me buy a new copy for her. But she insisted not to do so. She would keep it as a souvenir of my adventure on that night. This book was awfully interesting, and Irish legends resembled closely with some of Japanese.

Yoshio Markino, A Japanese artist in London (1910), pp. 88-89.

Cynfelyn | Jul 19, 2015 |

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Cynfelyn | Jul 19, 2015 |

This is Lady Gregory's retelling of, for the most part, the /Tain bo Cuailgne/ itself, rewritten in a more chronological order than the Tain proper with its long flashback sequences. It also includes some of the supplementary materials which follow the Tain, and are related in the Dover Books condensation (which I strongly suspect drew on this work).

In general, this is a very accessible and very interesting form of the Tain and the Ulster cycle; I recommend it strongly, although the Forgotten Books reprint apparently has some problems with its OCR.

And as for the Ulster Cycle itself, I know no words to do it justice... I can only say that if you don't know it, you owe it to yourself to learn, and this is a good starting point for that learning. (

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ex_ottoyuhr | May 7, 2014 |

When arguably the greatest poet in the Irlish language says he couldn't have done better (himself wrote the introduction) that pretty much says it all/

Awesome!

ocianain | Mar 28, 2007 |

5th edition, December 1933. Published by the Oxford University Pres, New York, as the second volume of the Coole Edition. Preface by W.B. Yeats, foreword by Daniel Murphy.