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Life
[Alfred Trubner Nutt]; s. of David Nutt, publisher; ed. England and France; studied further in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris; succeeded f. as head of firm, 1878; promoted works in folklore and Celtic literature; fnd. Folklore Society, for collecting and printing relics of popular antiquities, &c., with Edward Clodd, Andrew Lang, and others, in opposition to Max Müller’s materialist interpretations, 1878; wrote prolifically on medieval romance and myth, Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail (1888) emphasises formative Celtic influences in Arthurian literature; |
regarded Irish legends as essentially pagan; who published Hyde, Leamy, et al.; President of the Folklore Society, 1897-98; fnd. Folklore Journal, 1897, and defended it against Yeats’s criticism on the grounds that the policy of accurate transcription of a ‘the learned society’ could not be compared with the purposes of art; co-fnd. and acted as publisher for the Irish Texts Society; drowned in Normandy, at Melun-en-Seine, attempting to rescue his invalid son. OCIL |
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Works
Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail with especial reference to the hypothesis of its Celtic origin [Folk-Lore Society, 23] (London: Harrison & Sons 1888), xv, 281pp. [22cm.]; The Voyage of Bran Son of Febal, to the Land of the Living [...]; with an Essay upon the Irish Version of the Happy Otherworld and the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth ([London:] David Nutt 1895), q.pp. [with Kuno Meyer, q.v.; and see short extract, infra]; The Study of Celtic Literature (1910).
See also The Fians; or, Stories, Poems, & Traditions of Fionn and his Warrior Band, collected by J. G. Campbell, With introduction and bibliographical notes by Alfred Nutt [in Lord Archibald Campbell, Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, I; Argyllshire Series, 4] (1889).
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References
Hyland Books (Cat. 219) lists Francis P. Bernard, Strongbow’s Conquest of Ireland (Nutt 1888) [1st edn.], map, 7 ills.; Bibl, C. S. Boswell, An Irish Precursor of Dante: A Study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to ... Adamnan [... &c.] (London: Nutt 1908) [author’s copy with notes to Nutt in Apr. May and July 1908 suggesting alterations]; Ossian and Ossianic Literature (1st edn. Nutt 1899).
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Quotations
Irish history?: ‘The chronicle, the record, the document which alone as a rule is designated historical, is, as far as the Gael is concerned, of secondary importance.’ (‘The Critical Study of Gaelic Literature Indispensable for the History of the Gaelic Race’, iIn The Celtic Revival, vol. 1, 1904, p.49; cited by George J. Watson, ‘Celticism and the Annulment of History’, [?], Winter 1994/5, pp.2-6.)
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Letter [to the] Editor (The Gael, NY): ‘Dear Sir, Will you allow me, as an Englishman who has done much work on behalf of Irish studies and who is, I may venture to assert thoroughly familiar with what he is writing about, to make some comment upon certain statements in the article entitled ‘The Irish Literary Society of New York’ in your June issue?/It is there asserted: “It may even become the fashion in England to admire the work of Dr Hyde. W. B. Yeats, George W. Russell, Standish O’Grady. Lady Gregory and others of the Irish school, and the Society hopes to encourage these writers by affording sufficient market to make them independent of England”, and again, “The writers who are attempting to show the real genius and soul of Ireland, cannot expect encouragement in commercial England”. / I say confidently and with knowledge of the facts that the view of the case set forth in their interest is not only mistaken: it is the very reverse of the real state of affairs. W. B. Yeats, G. W. Russell and Standish O’Grady were first of all appreciated by English writers, and in so far as they are popular in Ireland that is a reflex of English Opinion. / The case of Mr. Standish O’Grady is very much to the point. In certain respects, he is the most original prose writer Ireland has produced since the days of Swift. In particular, his renderings of ancient Irish legend, have a tone, a quality, an imaginative fire and individuality of their own that places them very high on the roll of the World’s story-telling. Can it be said that his works are in any sense popular in Ireland? That his genius has been rightly appreciated. / What encouragement did Ireland give to the Bardic History of Ireland, a work faulty in the extreme, but a work of original and puissant, if eccentric, genius?/ Take again the case of W. B. Yeats. Is Mr. Yeats the exquisite artist the introducer of new and subtle harmonies into English verse and English prose, are he and his genius rightly recognised in the provinces in Ireland? I am sorry to say I very much doubt it. Putting aside admiration given his political opinions, my belief is that most Irishmen, and the more Irish they are, the more this is true, do not appreciate Mr. Yeats. In their heart of hearts, they prefer Moore and Davis in verse, and any fresh and florid writer you like to name in prose. Whether this is so or not, and I have a great deal of experience to justify me in that belief, Mr. Yeats would, I am sure. back me up in this, that the appreciation he received form English critics has been prompt and cordial and ungrudging. Mr. Russell is a writer of too special an appeal to be quoted in this connection; he will ever remain the delight of a select few but that remnant which does cherish him as a beloved friend is to be found in England, I believe, rather than in Ireland. / It is, or should be unnecessary for me to disclaim any anti-Irish feeling in what I have written above. It is on the contrary as a pro-Irish enthusiast that I write, as one who wishes to see true Irish genius given its full measure of achievement. But this it can only do if it faces and accepts facts, and the fact that Yeats’ literary work of modern Ireland has received substantial recognition in England is one that Irishmen should rejoice at rather than attempt to deny. / May I conclude with another fact. Of all the writers of the Gaelic revival, Miss Fiona MacLeod is one of the most remarkable; not unfrequently she has touched a higher and deeper note than any other writer, Mr. Yeats not excluded. As Miss MacLeod’s publisher I am in a position to know, and I regret to say that so far as Ireland is concerned, she is practically unread and unappreciated. I am, dear sir, Yours faithfully, Alfred Nutt. [Dated, London Long Acre, Aug. 2nd, 1903.] (The Gael, Sept. 1903; photocopy supplied by Colin Smythe.)
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Heterodox resources of Celtic religion: ‘[W]hen dealing with powers so capricious as those of nature, the wise man accepts all the help he can get, the saint may fail here, the fairy there, the witch in the third case, and where one fails the other may succeed.’ (‘The Celtic Rebirth, II’, Chap. XVII, p.204, in Kuno Meyer & Nutt, The Voyage of Bran and the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth, London 1897; quoted in Breda Dunne, An Intelligent Visitor’s Guide to the Irish, Mercier 1990.)
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Notes
The Study of Celtic Literature (1910): in his work of this title, Nutt disagreed with Arnold’s contention - after Henri Martin - that the Celtic rebels against the despotism of fact, holding instead that he transcends facts. (See Faverty, Arnold the Ethologist, 1951; quoted in Chris Corr, ‘English Literary Culture and Irish Literary Revival’, PhD Thesis, UUC 1995.)
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