Playing the Hero: Reading the Irish Saga 'Táin Bó Cúailng

[Abhaill]

Hi all!  This is a new book out, written by one of my long-standing professors at the University of Toronto, Ann Dooley.  After months of waiting for it to finally become available, I just received it in the mail today and can't wait to get started on it!  I just wanted to make everyone aware of its existence in case you might be interested in the subject matter.  I highly reccommend Ann's work, and have been fortunate to know and learn from her over the past eleven years.

Playing the Hero: Reading the Irish Saga 'Táin Bó Cúailnge' is available from Amazon .ca, .com, and .co.uk.  Ann has also published a translation of Tales of The Elders of Ireland, with Harry Roe.

~ Abhaill

[Ilatia]

what is it? a guide to the Tain? an analysis of the whole thing??
xx

[Kernos]

I finally found the book ISBN-10: 0802038328

This is what Amazon says:

Book Description
In Playing the Hero, Ann Dooley examines the surviving manuscript versions of the greatest of the early Irish sagas, the Táin Bó Cuailnge (Cattle-Raid of Cooley), and creates a picture of the cultural conditions and literary mind-sets under which medieval scribes recreated the text. Dooley argues that the scribes’ work is both a transmission and a translation, and that their own changing historical circumstances within the space of one hundred years, from the beginning to the end of the twelfth century, determines the specifics of their literary creativity.

Playing the Hero is a unique example of more contemporary literary methodologies – post-structuralist, feminist, historicist and beyond – being used to illuminate the Irish saga world. Dooley provides a commentary for the saga, helping to re-animate its literary sophistication. Her work is an interrogation of both the Irish epic hero – a reading of the male through the medium of feminine discourse – and the process whereby violence as normalized in the saga genre can be recovered as problematic and troubling. Dooley’s work is groundbreaking and will provoke a wide response in Medieval Irish studies.

About the Author
Ann Dooley is an associate professor with the Centre for Medieval Studies and the director of the Program for Celtic Studies at the University of Toronto.

I am not really sure "a reading of the male through the medium of feminine discourse " has any place in this context and makes me suspicious of her agendas.

[Abhaill]

Although I haven't read it yet, so can't shed light on what that specific phrase might actually mean, I highly doubt that Ann wrote any of that 'synopsis'.  In all the time I've known her, I've never found her to be anything but cautious, and I would never personally have pegged her as a feminist.  Once I read the book I'll be able to make more of a statement on where she's coming from in this work, at least from my perspective.

~ Abhaill

[Kernos]

I was going to order the book— it is US$75 at amazon.com, but only CA$48 at amazon.ca. I have read all the translations of the Táin and would really like to read this. I wish I had not added that last comment, as it seems cynical since I have not investigated the book.

I am really interested in your impressions after you study the book. Maybe we can be the 1st to review it on Amazon!