Celtic Mythology and the Modern World

3 units

That the surprise-hit film of 2021 was the The Green Knight should perhaps not surprise us at all. Stories derived from Celtic mythological sources have exerted a strong hold on human imagination for millennia. What are the reasons for this phenomenon? How can the cultural products of groups of people that have been politically marginalized have played such a disproportionate role in the world of literature, art, music, and creativity? What are the oblique yet subversive elements in such a tradition that allow commentary on often-unacceptable political realities? What does having some of the best stories mean in the global cultural realm of the 21st Century? This course will examine the continuing presence of Celtic mythology-character, theme, symbolism-in the modern world, with emphasis on: origins in the shared Celtic traditions of Europe (continental and insular); parallels between the Irish and Welsh (including the Arthurian) traditions; notions of sacred space and time; thematic preoccupations such as visits to the supernatural realm, shape-shifting, sovereignty myths, myths of exile and return, and the elements of heroic biography; folklore, storytelling, and oral traditions; epic and saga literature in prose and verse; poetry and the status of poets; Brehon law and the status of women; the reworking of the mythological material in modern literature in the English language. Texts to be studied will include selections from: Morte D'Arthur, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, the Ulster Cycle (tales of Cú Chulainn, including The Táin, Mac Da Tho's Pig, and The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu/Deirdre of the Sorrows), the Fenian Cycle (Fionn Mac Cool and the Fianna of Ireland, including Oisín in Tír na nÓg), and the Welsh Mabinogion, as well as modern retellings of Arthurian tales from The Once and Future King and The Mists of Avalon, and an exploration of the frontiers of new versions of these tales in Sword Stone Table. All medieval texts will be in modern English translations.