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The Early Literature of Ireland
Translating Irish Myth and Legend
A Case Book
Compare the following versions of the same episode in the “Táin Bó Cuailgne [Cattle-raid of Cooley]” from The Ulster Cycle, and consider the challenges facing the translators and the different formal and stylistic solutions reached by them.
Do you prefer historical and philological accuracy, or the “pseudo-medieval” style of Cross and Slover, or the more soberly dutiful translatorese of Myles Dillon, or the Hiberno-English dialect of Lady Gregory, or the classroom-story manner of Marie Heaney?
What of the pointedly modernist version of Thomas Kinsella, with its stronger sense of the “barbaric” element in ancient Irish legend? And what of the highly stylised bardic manner of the original? What is the most appropriate method of translation for today - and why? |
See also Louis le Brocquy’s celebrated illustrations to the Táin Bo Cuailgne in Thomas Kinsella’s translation of 1969 [link]. |
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ENG105C2 -
University of Ulster |