Irish Literary Tradition

with Maxim Fomin

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Week 5:

Middle Irish satirical writings:

Irish satire ‘Vision of Meic Con Glinne’ (Aislinge Meic Con Glinne) as a precursor of Rablesque literature

Apart from literature that was intended for the amuzement of the lay audience, Irish churchmen and scribes were well capable of compiling tales for the entertainment of the clerical addressees, and the Irish satire composed on the basis of the wide-spread folk belief that a human being may become possessed of a demon of gluttony. The cure is to starve him to death, binding him properly beforehand, and to exhibit before him an array of wonderful food-products… This funny and canny tale will tell us a lot about Ireland in the late twelfth century and about the true edifices of Irish writers.

An introduction to the subject is provided by:

Gwara, Scott James. "Gluttony, Lust, and Penance in the B-Text of Aislinge Meic Conglinne." Celtica 20 (1988), 53-72.

McKenna, Catherine. "Vision and Revision, Iteration and Reiteration, in Aislinge Meic Con Glinne." - Heroic Poets and Poetic Heroes in Celtic Tradition. A Festschrift for Patrick K. Ford. CSANA Yearbook 3-4, Joseph Falaky Nagy and Leslie Ellen Jones, eds. Dublin, 2005, 269-282.

A sound theoretical background to the similar sort of literary productions that became quite prominent in the early Renaissance European milieu is provided by:

M. Bakhtin, Rabelais and his world (translated by Hélène Iswolsky), Bloomington, Indiana, 1984.

Select a Week:

Week 1 Introduction go
Week 2Encounters of saints with heroes go
Week 3The Ulster cycle of tales go
Week 4Early Irish native literary tradition go
Week 5Middle Irish satirical wiritngs go
Week 6Middle Irish romances & Fenian lays go
Week 7The penetration of saga material into the folklore tradition go
Week 8Irish historical and pseudo-historical writings go
Week 9The Irish lords on the continent go
Week 10The decline of the bardic tradition go
Week 11Late nineteenth century Irish literary revival go
Week 12Twentieth century Irish literature go