Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth
A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fiction

Ireland’s Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era—and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams’s comprehensive history traces how these gods—known as the Túatha Dé Danann—have shifted shape across the centuries. We meet the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves; and many others. Ireland’s Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world’s imagination for so long.

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Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth
A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fiction

Ireland’s Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era—and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams’s comprehensive history traces how these gods—known as the Túatha Dé Danann—have shifted shape across the centuries. We meet the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves; and many others. Ireland’s Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world’s imagination for so long.

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Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

by Mark Williams
Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

by Mark Williams

Paperback(Reprint)

$29.95 
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Overview

A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fiction

Ireland’s Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era—and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams’s comprehensive history traces how these gods—known as the Túatha Dé Danann—have shifted shape across the centuries. We meet the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves; and many others. Ireland’s Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world’s imagination for so long.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691183046
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 12/04/2018
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 608
Sales rank: 881,079
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Mark Williams is Fitzjames Fellow in Medieval English at Merton College, University of Oxford, and Lecturer in Celtic in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Abbreviations xi

Preface xiii

Guide to Pronunciation xxi

PART ONE

1 Hidden Beginnings: From Cult to Conversion 3

2 Earthly Gods: Pagan Deities, Christian Meanings 30

3 Divine Culture: Exemplary Gods and the Mythological Cycle 72

4 New Mythologies: Pseudohistory and the Lore of Poets 128

5 Vulnerability and Grace: The Finn Cycle 194

6 Damaged Gods: The Late Middle Ages 248

PART TWO

7 The Imagination of the Country: Towards a National Pantheon 277

8 Danaan Mysteries: Occult Nationalism and the Divine Forms 310

9 Highland Divinities: The Celtic Revival in Scotland 361

10 Coherence and Canon: The Fairy Faith and the East 406

11 Gods of the Gap: A World Mythology 434

12 Artgods 489

Acknowledgements 503

Glossary of Technical Terms 507

Conspectus of Medieval Sources 511

Works Cited 517

Index 557

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Imaginative, well-written, and full of interesting information…. Williams’s book is a magnificent and exciting undertaking.”—Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Irish Times

“[A] fascinating history…. Williams … is equally at home in the arcana of Old Irish texts and modern English-language writing, and it is this range of erudition that has allowed him to write the first full overview of the long twilight of the Irish gods.”—Fintan O’Toole, New York Review of Books

“Williams has a wealth of insight for his readers. No book like this has ever been written before; and all who seek to gain a better sense of its subjects … will be in its author’s debt.”—John Carey, Studia Celtica

“What is really impressive in this book is Mark Williams’s ability to bring together modern English and medieval Irish literature…. It is a beautifully written analysis, bursting with ideas and new insights.”—Clare Downham, International Yeats Studies

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