Cuchulain of Muirthemne facts for kids

Cuchulain of Muirthemne is a version of the Cú Chulainn legends based on previous oral and written versions, as collected and translated by Lady Augusta Gregory. First published in 1902, it is one of the earliest such collections to appear in English. The book covers the lifespan of the hero, from conception to death, and draws on folklore and oral tradition in addition to the stories of the Ulster Cycle.

Background

Lady Gregory considered herself a supporter of the Irish Literary Revival, rather than a writer. She recorded in her diary that "I dreamed that I had been writing some article & that W.B.Y. said 'It's not your business to write – Your business is to make an atmosphere'". She undertook the book only after William Butler Yeats refused an offer to translate his own edition of Irish myth.

In 1900, a commission on education in Ireland issued a report, declaring Irish literature to be devoid of idealism or imagination. This report, written by Trinity College Professor Robert Atkinson and parroted by Professor John Pentland Mahaffy, infuriated the Gaelic League, its founder Douglas Hyde, and Irish nationalists, including Yeats and Gregory.

Later that same year, English publisher Alfred Nutt asked Yeats to compose a collection, which would retell Irish myth and legend. Yeats refused, excusing himself as being too busy with his own work. Lady Gregory volunteered instead, initially hoping that the work might serve as a source of raw material to nationalist poets, as well as a rebuttal to critics of Irish literature like Atkinson and Mahaffy. At first, she lacked confidence in her writing abilities, and expected the work to take her a lifetime. After she earned the encouragement of Yeats, the work went to press in less than two years.

Influences

Lady Gregory used many sources and looked to many literary figures within her social circle in her styling and writing of her version of the Cú Chulainn myths.

Two of Lady Gregory's cousins published books relating to Irish myth. Standish James O'Grady published his History of Ireland: The Heroic Period in 1878, which included tales about Cú Chulainn, Deirdre, and Medb. Standish Hayes O'Grady (often confused with his cousin) published the Silva Gadelica in 1892: a corpus which does not include Cú Chulainn himself, but does contain stories of his kinsmen.

Nutt himself had also written a pamphlet on Cú Chulainn entitled Cuhulain, The Irish Achilles. He also referred Lady Gregory to Eleanor Hull. Her book, The Cuchulain Saga in Irish Literature related many tales of the hero, though not connected in the manner Lady Gregory would edit her own version.

One of Lady Gregory's closest London friends was Lady Laynard (born Mary Enid Evelyn Guest). Lady Laynard's mother, Lady Charlotte Guest, upon moving to Wales in 1833, had learned the language and subsequently translated The Mabinogion. This was the first translation of the tales to be published.

Yeats recalled Nutt's suggestion of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as a model for the translation, and Lady Gregory wrote of the work in her diary as a guide for selecting and weaving together her disparate sources with pleasing, literary prose.

Style

Lady Gregory translated her materials into a dialect which she referred to as Kiltartanese, her version of the dialect spoken in her home barony of Kiltartan. The dialect was a version of the English language, but using the syntax of the Gaelic languages. The effect is not overwhelming for the reader, however, and is quite readable.

The ultimate goal of Lady Gregory's translation efforts was to produce an edition of the Cú Chulainn legends which would be accessible to a general audience. She felt many of the earlier translations suffered from their attempts to make a literal translation in current English of the original stylised and courtly written Gaelic, resulting in language that could be awkward at times. Instead, she sought a more indigenous Irish style, familiar to her through her efforts at collecting local folklore. With the help of Sean Connolly, she undertook an experiment in translation. Connolly, an Irish speaker, translated a section of the legend into spoken Irish, which Lady Gregory then translated literally into English. The results convinced her that the colloquial Hiberno-English of Kiltartan retained much of the character of the old language, and that it would be an acceptable translation tool.