Description

Book Synopsis

How does a written literature come into being within an oral culture, and how does such a literature achieve and maintain its authority? Joseph Falaky Nagy addresses those issues in his wide-ranging reading of the medieval literature of Ireland, from the writings of St. Patrick to the epic tales about the warrior Cú Chulainn. These texts, written in both Latin and Irish, constitute an adventurous and productive experiment in staging confrontations between the written and the spoken, the Christian and the pagan.

The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints'' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the

Trade Review

A convincing, absorbing, and challenging analysis.... This book is an essential book for all those involved in the interpretation of Old Irish texts, but it is also a book designed to encourage fresh dialogue, both between scholars and texts, and among scholars themselves. For a work that explores the theme of conversation, there can be no higher recommendation.

* The Medieval Review *

Many interesting points are raised throughout.

* Medium Aevum *

Conversing with Angels and Ancients

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    A Paperback / softback by Joseph Falaky Nagy

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      Book details

      Publisher Cornell University Press
      Published 14 August 1997
      ISBN-13 9780801483684
      978-0801483684
      ISBN-10 0801483689
      Also in:
      Literature: history and criticism

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      How does a written literature come into being within an oral culture, and how does such a literature achieve and maintain its authority? Joseph Falaky Nagy addresses those issues in his wide-ranging reading of the medieval literature of Ireland, from the writings of St. Patrick to the epic tales about the warrior Cú Chulainn. These texts, written in both Latin and Irish, constitute an adventurous and productive experiment in staging confrontations between the written and the spoken, the Christian and the pagan.

      The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints'' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the

      Trade Review

      A convincing, absorbing, and challenging analysis.... This book is an essential book for all those involved in the interpretation of Old Irish texts, but it is also a book designed to encourage fresh dialogue, both between scholars and texts, and among scholars themselves. For a work that explores the theme of conversation, there can be no higher recommendation.

      * The Medieval Review *

      Many interesting points are raised throughout.

      * Medium Aevum *

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