II.—GAELIC EPIC AND ROMANTIC LITERATURE.
I have thought it well to set apart from the mass of Anglo-Irish fictional literature and to put together in a list that portion of our national fiction which draws its inspiration from ancient Gaelic sources. To do this with any sort of completeness, it would be necessary, of course, to deal with the whole body of fiction that has been written in the Irish language. Reasons have been given in the Preface stating why this task was not undertaken. A further reason presented itself some two years ago, viz., the appearance of the magnificent work published in 1913 by the National Library—Bibliography of Irish Philology and of Printed Irish Literature (price 5s.). In this scholarly work the literature of Gaelic epic, saga, and romance is scientifically classified and described with the greatest bibliographical accuracy. For me to attempt that task over again would be little better than an impertinence. It might even be thought, and not unnaturally, that the present list is wholly superfluous. Yet perhaps it may not be without its utility, owing to the fact that in the work just referred to descriptive notes are not provided. This list, then, is practically an excerpt from that work, with the addition of some notes that may be useful. The notes will be found in the body of the book.
O’Grady, Standish Hayes. SILVA GADELICA.
Faraday, Winifred, M.A. THE CATTLE RAID OF CUAILNGE.
Meyer, Kuno. THE VOYAGE OF BRAN, SON OF FERBAL, TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING.
⸺ LIADAIN AND CUIRITHIR.
⸺ THE VISION OF MACCONGLINNE.
Joyce, P. W. OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.
Gregory, Lady. CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE.
⸺ GODS AND FIGHTING MEN.
Skelly, Rev. A. M., O.P. CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE.
O’Mullane, M. FINN MacCOOLE: His Life and Times, and other pamphlets published by the C.T.S. of Ireland. See under name O’Mullane.
Hull, Eleanor. THE CUCHULLIN SAGA IN IRISH LITERATURE.
⸺ CUCHULAIN THE HOUND OF ULSTER.
Rolleston, T. W. THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN, and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland.
⸺ MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE.
Russell, Violet. HEROES OF THE DAWN (Stories of Finn and the Fianna).
O’Grady, Standish. FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS.
⸺ THE COMING OF CUCHULAINN.
⸺ THE GATES OF THE NORTH.
⸺ HISTORY OF IRELAND: Heroic Period.
Leahy, A. H. THE COURTSHIP OF FERB.
⸺ ANCIENT HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND.
Squire, Charles. THE BOY HERO OF ERIN.
⸺ CELTIC MYTH AND LEGEND.
O’Byrne, W. Lorcan. CHILDREN OF KINGS.
⸺ A LAND OF HEROES.
MacLeod, Fiona. THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN, etc.
Carbery, Ethna. IN THE CELTIC PAST.
Hopper, Nora; Mrs. W. H. Chesson. BALLADS IN PROSE.
Dease, Alice. OLD-TIME STORIES OF ERIN.
Buxton, E. M. Wilmot. OLD CELTIC TALES RETOLD.
M’Call, P. J. FENIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS.
Young, Ella. THE COMING OF LUGH.
⸺ CELTIC WONDER TALES.
Simpson, John Hawkins. POEMS OF OISIN, BARD OF ERIN.
Carmichael, Alexander. DEIRDRE AND THE LAY OF THE CHILDREN OF UISNE.
Thomas, Edward. CELTIC STORIES.
Chisholm, Louey. CELTIC TALES.
Furlong, Alice. TALES OF FAIRY FOLKS, QUEENS, AND HEROES.
Campbell, J. F. THE CELTIC DRAGON MYTH.
Henderson, George. THE FEAST OF BRICRIU.
MacSweeney, P. M. MARTIAL CAREER OF CONGHAL CLÁIRINGHNEACH.
Hyde, Douglas. ADVENTURES OF THE LAD OF THE FERULE.
⸺ ADVENTURES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE KING OF NORWAY.
Macalister, R. A. S. TWO IRISH ARTHURIAN ROMANCES.
Stokes, Whitley. THE DESTRUCTION OF DÁ DERGA’S HOSTEL.
Bugge, A. CATHREIM CELLACHAIN CAISIL.
Thurneysen, Rudolf. SAGEN AUS DEM ALTEN IRLAND.
Dottin, Georges. CONTES ET LÉGENDES D’IRLANDE.
D’Arbois de Jubainville. COURS DE LITTÉRATURE CELTIQUE.
⸺ TÁIN BO CUALNGE.
Owing to a mistake the note on this writer and his books will be found partly on [p. 68] and partly on [p. 125].
Dunn, Joseph. THE ANCIENT IRISH EPIC, TÁIN BO CUALNGE.
Many of our heroic legends and ancient sagas have been retold in English verse. Though fiction in verse does not come within the scope of the present Guide, yet it may be of interest to mention here a few of these poetic renderings of ancient Gaelic tales. Sir Samuel Ferguson’s Congal, Conary, Lays of the Red Branch, and Lays of the Western Gael; Aubrey de Vere’s Foray of Queen Maeve; Robert Dwyer Joyce’s Blanid and Deirdre; John Todhunter’s Three Irish Bardic Tales; Douglas Hyde’s Three Sorrows of Story-telling; Herbert Trench’s The Quest; Katharine Tynan’s “Diarmuid and Gráinne” in her Shamrocks; Mrs. Hutton’s stately blank verse translation of The Táin; and, last year, Dr. Geo. Sigerson’s The Saga of King Lir; also The Red Branch Crests, a trilogy by Charles L. Moore; The Death of Oscar by Alice Sargant. Hector MacLean has collected in the Highlands and presented in English verse Ultonian Hero Ballads, which, as the title implies, are of Irish origin. For notes and bibliographical particulars of the above see A Guide to Books on Ireland, Part I. (Hodges & Figgis), 1912.
For an introduction to Gaelic Literature the reader may be referred to:—
Douglas Hyde. STORY OF EARLY GAELIC LITERATURE.
Miss Hull. PAGAN IRELAND.
⸺ TEXT-BOOK OF IRISH LITERATURE.
Matthew Arnold. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF CELTIC LITERATURE.
It may be useful to subjoin here a list of publications (periodical and other) which contain, generally along with other matter, ancient Gaelic tales. I can give here only a bare list, but it will serve to give an idea of what has already been accomplished in this field.
(a) Publications of the following Societies:—
The Gaelic Society. 1808. One volume.
The Ossianic Society. Six big volumes concerned exclusively with the Fenian Cycle. 1854-1861.
The Irish Archæological Society and the Celtic Society, afterwards united as the Irish Archæological and Celtic Society. Twenty-seven volumes.
The Royal Historical Archæological Association. Nine volumes.
The Irish Texts Society. Thirteen volumes; five or six more in preparation.
The Gaelic League. Oireachtas publications, &c., &c.
The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language.
The Celtic Society. 1847-55. Six volumes.
The Iberno Celtic Society. 1820. One volume.
The Royal Irish Academy. Transactions. 1786-1907.
” ” Proceedings, 1836-1915, in progress.
” ” Todd Lecture Series, 1889-1911.
(b) Periodicals:—
Atlantis.
The Gaelic Journal.
Eriu. Organ of the School of Irish Learning; in progress.
The Celtic Review of Edinburgh. Seven volumes; in progress.
La Revue Celtique. Collected in thirty-six volumes; in progress.
Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie. Collected in eight or nine volumes; in progress.
The Celtic Magazine. Thirteen volumes. 1876-88.
The Gael (N.Y.).
Gadelica. Three or four volumes.
Guth na mBliadhna (Highland Gaelic and English); in progress.
(c) Various:—
Kuno Meyer’s Anecdota Oxoniensia.
Irische Texte of Windisch and Whitley Stokes. Five volumes, 3793 pp., exclusive of introductory matter.
O’Curry: Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History.
⸺ Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish (Appendices).
De Jubainville: L’Epopée Celtique en Irlande.
Windisch’s great edition of the Táin, pp. xcii. + 1120. Leipzig. 1905.