Lady Gregory (1852–1932)

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 show more 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. show less

This is Lady Gregory's masterpiece. In order to appreciate it, one needs some context: in Irish mythology, Dierdre (the submissive, pure, suicidal woman) is revered and Grania (the rebellious, sensual, life-claiming woman) is denigrated. Lady Gregory turns this on its head and celebrates Grania's fierce rage when the two men she loves prove to care more about each other than about her. The poetry of this play brings tears of reverence to my eyes. I always wanted to direct it onstage but show more never got around to it because I didn't have students who could do justice to the music of the Irish-English text. show less

Good stuff. Not your straightforward, easily untangleable mythology like the Greeks with a pantheon of gods gathering in the one place. Lady Gregory's compilation is a head-stealing romp of fights and cows and great feats and an eye-gouging array of letters making up each name that graces the page.

The old "Pass It On" party game made into a One Act. The rumors become more and more outlandish until no one even believes what they see in front of them. Quaint, but not compelling.