Description
Book SynopsisThe Gaelic hero Fionn mac Cumhaill (often known in English as Finn MacCool) has had a long life. This book traces the development of Fionn's persona in Irish and Scottish texts and constructs a heroic biography of him.
Trade ReviewThe literary historian in general and the Joyce scholar in particular should be grateful to Professor MacKillop for bringing into sharper relief the ancient Irish figure. . . . This book is indeed a scholarly inquiry, investigative rather than polemical. MacKillop has done a great service to the study by enumerating the many references to the cycle which are found in the literature of the English language for the past six hundred years. . . . [He] has thus made a significant contribution. . . . We are treated to an unexpected array of creative writers, artists, and composers, who have experimented with the figures of Fionn and Oisín. In his lucid style, the author describes how many great minds wrestled with the Fianna heroes.
