Brinley Rees (1919–2004)

This contains three parts - "The Tradition"; "The World of Meaning" and "The Meaning of Story". In the first part the authors look at the various story cycles in Celtic mythology; in the second certain themes are covered and in the third various stories are linked by theme.

As the stories only survive in oral tradition or as written by medieval monks a lot has been lost or given a Christian slant. The Reeses have connected certain themes back to Indo-European sources and show the show more similarities to stories told in India and elsewhere in the world.

This is not the book for you if you are just looking for the stories but if you are interested in how stories survive and adapt this is a very interesting and readable book. show less

Surprisingly, a real page-turner for most of its length. At times a given topic is delved into at more length than the average reader might want but then the pace picks up again and never is the effort wasted. Very important book for clarifying the sources and themes of Irish and Welsh mytholology.

In terms of its usefulness to the study of Irish and Welsh mythology, folklore and ancient culture, this book is comparable to The Golden Bough's usefulness to the study of mythology and magic in general.

Although archaeology has supplied us with much more information than was available in the 1960s, Rees and Rees did an impressive job of analysing the information they did have and making conclusions based upon the scholarship of the time.

I read this probably not long after it was re-issued in 1989. I remember it as giving a deep insight into the pagan Celtic life and mind-set, relying heavily on the limited amount of Celtic literature that remains to us and within that most heavily on the Irish works as having been least Romanised/Christianised but also delving into historical and archaeological findings.

I have no idea how the scholarship stands up to current scrutiny.