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Indlæser... The Tain: From the Irish Epic "Tain Bo Cuailnge" (udgave 1970)af Louis le Brocquy, Thomas Kinsella (Oversætter)
Work InformationThe Táin af Tain Author
Indlæser...
Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. La grande razzia (alias Táin Bó Cúailnge) è il racconto mitico della guerra che il Connacht mosse all’Ulster per il possesso di un magnifico toro. La simbologia si spreca e bisogna ringraziare Adelphi (e quando mai la malediamo?) per l’edizione annotata e accompagnata da un’introduzione molto interessante, soprattutto per chi come me è appassionata di mitologia (irlandese, in questo caso), ma non è che ne sappia poi chissà quanto. Il pregio de La grande razzia è sicuramente la simbologia, che intreccia le vicende mitologiche con la lotta tra luce e oscurità, con il ciclo della natura e il succedersi delle stagioni, con la necessità che l’equilibrio sia mantenuto, con il terrore che una donna salga al potere e si dimostri più virile del marito. Con ovvia rottura dell’equilibrio (niente rompe più gli equilibri che scombinare i ruoli di genere, segnatevelo). Il difetto è che dopo aver letto per l’ennesima volta dell’uccisione di Tizio, Caio o Sempronio a opera di Cú Chulainn, figlio del dio Lúg e della sorella del re dell’Ulster e giovanissimo eroe in grado di contrapporsi da solo all’esercito del Connacht, il latte alle ginocchia inizia a venire. E questo nonostante la mia grande passione per la mitologia e la mia resistenza granitica alle kenningar, alle divagazioni e alle ripetizioni tipiche di poemi e prose epiche. Quindi il mio consiglio è di recuperare La grande razzia se la mitologia (irlandese) vi piace davvero, davvero tanto. Altrimenti potete sempre leggervi il racconto in qualche libro che racconta la mitologia irlandese senza aver bisogno di leggere di Cú Chulainn che ammazza questo o quello per pagine e pagine. Ages ago I read a simpler version of this epic tale, I suppose tidied up for younger people. I had a passion for folklore as a child and my mother was always finding treasures. So. The folk of Ulster have a great Brown bull and the folk of Connacht, a great White bull. The Connacht greedily want both and so steal the Ulster Brown bull. Now the complication is that the Ulstermen suffer a thing called 'the Pangs' for a week or two once a year. During this time they undergo the severe pains of childbirth and are entirely unable to function. For some reason the young Cúchulainn, nephew of Conchobar, King of the Ulsterfolk, does not get the pangs and so comes to the rescue fighting off the Connacht until the Ulster warriors recover. He kills everyone he meets and in the end even has to kill his best friend, Ferdia. Badly wounded he has to step out but just then the Ulster warriors are recovered and show up. As with many ancient works, lineages are paramount and there are pages and pages of descriptions of the warriors--titles, status, prowess as warriors, where from, who related to, what wearing, what weapons and all the rest. Tedious, but restful too. Also, as with much ancient story-telling there is the 'how-this-place-got-its-name' theme as well. Hyperbole is de rigeur also. I kind of assume that when a king turns up with three thousand men, actually it is a local chieftain with thirty men. But whatever. The point of such tales, I think, while to provide entertainment was more importantly to remind the people of their history and heritage, and also, to some degree their values (or lack thereof) and to provide a kind of physical map of the area--very ancient indeed. Plot, character development etcetera was entirely irrelevant. There are moments of humor (Medb is happy to sleep with anyone if that would help them fight for her, they constantly offer their daughter to any reluctant warrior as well, even after she has died) and moments of true pathos (Ferdia's death). Kinsella includes the conclusory remarks of the scribe of the version in The Book of Leinster: First: "A blessing on everyone who will memorise the Táin faithfully in this form and not put any other form on it." Then: "I who have copied down this story, or more accurately fantasy, do not credit the details of the story, or fantasy. Some things in it are devilish lies, and some poetical figments: some seem possible and others not; some are for the enjoyment of idiots." Rating must be ***** but truly no rating is necessary. The Tain is epic. In fact it is Epic - at least as Epic as more famous Epics, such as the Iliad. In fact, the number of correspondences between the Cattle Raid of Cooley and the story of Achilles' rage is remarkable. (It must be - I just remarked it.) Wanna know what they are (at least some of them, anyway)? Oi - you at the back! stop saying, "No." here we go: Illiad: Achilles only vulnerable on one heel. Tain: CuChulain's foster brother only vulnerable to a gae bolga shoved where the sun doesn't shine. (The gae bolga is a mysterious design of spear - the blade had backward pointing barbs - other aspects of the design are obscure and variously interpreted.) Illiad: Lots of riding round in chariots, killing people. Tain: Lots of riding round in chariots, killing people. Illiad: Lots of stomping around on foot, killing people. Tain: Lots of stomping around on foot, killing people. Illiad: Single combat. Tain: Single combat. Generally in a ford that gets its name from the event. Illiad: Riding round in a chariot, dragging the corpse of your enemy behind you. Tain: Riding round in a chariot, dragging the corpse of your enemy behind you. Illiad: Supernatural intervention. Tain: Supernatural intervention. Illiad: Heaps of famous heroes. Tain: Heaps of famous heroes, especially near the end. Illiad: Big fight over a beautiful woman. Tain: Big fight over a prize bull. Okay - not such a close correspondence. Illiad: Javelins. Tain: Spears. Illiad: Achilles chooses a short life but ever-lasting fame. (But maybe this isn't mentioned in the Illiad - I can't remember.) Tain: CuChulain chooses a short life rather than everlasting ridicule. (But not during the Cattle Raid.) Illiad: Achilles' rage. Tain: CuChulain's "warp-spasm". Illiad: Verse. Tain: Mainly prose - some cryptic verse. So, by now you should be convinced that the pagan Celts in Ireland were just as crazy and violent as any ancient Achaen group you care to name and appreciated the stories of their ancestors' crazy violence as much, too. Three fifties of Bards couldn't praise this Epic enough, so I won't even try - just read it and find out how many boys can play hurling on the back of Ulster's prize bull, how CuChulain (the Hound of Culann) got his name and weapons and the name of every ford, hill and rock that figured in CuChulain's almost single handed defense of Ulster from an army of 30,000! Ibland märker man sannerligen av att det förlutna var en väldigt märklig plats. De legender som sammanfogats till det iriska eposet Táin bó cúailnge liknar inte det man är van vid från andra åldriga berättelser: det märks att inte någon Homeros eller Lönnroth tagit sig an råmaterialet och utarbetat en sammanhållen saga, även om översättaren Thomas Kinsella i The Táin försökt städa undan inkonsekvenser när material tycks infogats på fel plats samt en del longörer. Materialet är satt i en god heroisk ålder, med hjältar som åker runt i stridsvagn och utmanar varandra på envig i bästa episka stil. Huvudhandlingen handlar om försöken av övriga Irlands män, enade under kung Ailill och drottning Medb, att stjäla en fantastisk ko från Ulster, vilket bör låta sig göras ganska lätt då ulstermännen ligger utslagna av en förbannelse. Kvar finns endast den unge hjälten Cúchulainn, dotterson till kung Conchobor av Ulster och undantagen förbannelsen. Tjuren ifråga skall Medb ha för att vinna ett gräl med Ailill om vem av dem som är rikast, och hon framstår som den som driver på med tjuvknep för att få undan den svårrubbade Cúchulainn, gärna med dottern Finnabair som lockbete (och ibland också sina egna vänliga lår). Det blir överfall, strider vid vadställen, svek, fosterbröder som tubbas till strid och oväntat svårt för tjuvarna att klara sitt uppdrag. Det som verkligen får en att ana avståndet är dock inte striderna, det underliga ärebegreppet, underlig stridskonst eller hur svagt handlingen hänger samman, utan att det hela närmast framstår som något en etymolog diktat upp för att hålla intresset uppe för sitt fält: snart sagt varje strid eller händelse gör att någon flod, vik eller kulle, något berg, vadställe eller fält, får ett namn. Detta förstärks av att när historien närmar sig slutet och Cúchulainn kan lösas av: när förbannelsen släpper greppet om ulstermännen, så blir det förvisso en stor strid, men en som snart är avklarad och skildras betydelse mindre inlevelsefullt än några av de tidigare envigen. Underligt, men läsvärt. ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
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The Ta in Bo Cuailnge, centre-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's greatest epic. It tells the story of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cuailnge. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick. Thomas Kinsella presents a complete and living version of the story. His translation is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.6231Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Celtic languages Irish Irish fiction –1171LC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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Bolstering their chances is the fact that all the men of Ulster are suffering labor pains. Ok, see, they once forced this pregnant woman named Macha to race the King's horses while she was heavily pregnant. She won and gave birth at the finish line, to twins, but she wasn't happy. She laid a curse on all the men of the province that they would be laid out with labor pangs for 5 days and 4 nights whenever they most needed their strength.
Even better, for some reason this situation lasts for 3 months while Medb's army is in Ulster; the contradiction goes unremarked. Pretty rough, fellows. However, there is one man in Ulster unaffected, the hero Cúchulainn, who seems to be spared because his natural father is both the mortal Sualtam and the god Lug. Not really sure how that works, but okay.
Cúchulainn single handedly fights the invading army for months, sometimes through ritual single combat, but at other times going on rampages in which he kills dozens and even hundreds of men. He's not invincible, but he's pretty close to it, and he can do various superhuman feats you might expect to find in an ancient epic tale. You've heard the expression "contorts with rage"; Cúchulainn has a version that Kinsella memorably translates as "warp-spasm": The only warrior who comes close to matching Cúchulainn is Ferdia, his ex-foster brother and training companion. They engage in a 3 day long single combat, and despite their past bond engage in some trash talk, an Epic Rap Battle: Cúchulainn kills Ferdia after 3 solid days of combat but is now seriously wounded and needs to recuperate. Fortunately the men of Ulster have finally recovered from their labor pains and show up for the final battle, which is rather unimportant and anti-climactic in comparison to Cúchulainn's heroics. Medb misses the end of the battle when she gets her period; off by herself taking care of business, Cúchulainn finds her but does not kill her, the story making the obviously false claim that he doesn't kill women.
A generally entertaining epic, though it suffers from internal inconsistencies, contradictions, and the epic's consistent weakness for dull list making. The personal comment made by the 12th Century scribe who copied down the story in the manuscript known as the Book of Leinster is a notable contribution to the corpus of medieval scribal notes in hand copied manuscripts: "I who have copied down this story, or more accurately fantasy, do not credit the details of the story, or fantasy. Some things in it are devilish lies, and some poetical figments; some seem possible and others not; some are for the enjoyment of idiots." ( )