Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge: A Companion to Early Irish Saga - Tapa dura

"Tomas O Cathasaigh has long been known for his sensitive and superbly nuanced readings of early Irish literature. This impeccably edited collection brings together his most important articles of the past thirty years, many of which appeared originally in anthologies and periodicals not always easy to find outside Ireland. O Cathasaigh's deep learning and profound insights are evident on every page. This is truly a 'must-have' book both for specialists in Celtic and for all medievalists interested in vernacular culture and the intersection of native and Latin traditions."--Robin Stacey, University of Washington "This is a book that should be acquired by anyone who is concerned with the study of early Irish literature . . . . This is a very special book, indeed, its sum greater than its already outstanding parts."--Parergon "O Cathasaigh's work combines aspects of the traditional philological and etymological studies of early Irish myth and saga with interpretations of these works as literary works in their own right. O Cathasaigh is an excellent guide through the complexities of early Irish literature, whether it be on general issues such as he addresses his essays on The Semantics of sid, The Concept of the Hero in Early Irish Literature, and Early Irish Literature and Law, or more specific themes, such as 'Cath Maige Tuired' as Exemplary Myth, Mythology in 'Tain Bo Cuailgne', and The Rhetoric of 'Fingal Ronain'."--Fabula

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 rigor 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.