TITLE: Celtic Myth in the 21st Century
AUTHOR: Emily Lyle (Editor)
PUBLISHER: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 9781786832054
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and Their Stories in a Global Perspective is a 2018 book from the University of Wales's New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology Series. The series is dedicated to providing accessible, cutting-edge scholarship on the contemporary issues facing Celtic Studies. In particular, the series focuses upon the early and medieval period of Celtic history and how to accurately reconstruct pre-Christian Celtic beliefs.
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century, edited by Emily Lyle, collects 12 essays on a wide range of topics on the early to medieval period of Celtic history. Did entheogenic mushrooms contribute to the imbas of poets? How did time pass in the otherworld and can that be understood as a metaphor rather than reality? How was the dragon a metaphor of the nature of oral storytelling? And how was The Second Battle of Mag Tuired intertwined with the very geography of Ireland itself?
The throughline of all of these essays is Emily Lyle’s Eightfold Theory of textual analysis. To truly understand an oral culture, Lyle posits, it is necessary to approach it within the context through which the culture conceived of their world. This is achieved through understanding the relatively short time period through which they judged history (going back no further than four generations, and often including a god within the pantheon of their sovereignty) and applying a new mental map to the structure of their myths.
The Eightfold Model of mental mapping involves identifying structural oppositions (e.g. social cohesion/social antagonism) and then applying them to the central and secondary characters within the story. This model has not been applied in any widespread way yet, but is done very evocatively to the Táin Bó Cuailnge by James Carney. Carney makes a convincing argument that increased application of his and Lyle’s Eightfold Method could allow better study of the more challenging oral mythologies in the coming years.
Celtic Studies has long stagnated as a scholarly field for a number of reasons, the bulk of which are well-enumerated within the opening essay of this book. This collection of essays makes a sound argument as to how the field of study can improve and even flourish in the 21st Century. Through better examination of the pre-Christian Celtic past, other Indo-European traditions can be better understood, and indeed, celebrated. The Eightfold Technique mentioned in this book could be applied to any oral culture, and the parallels drawn between earlier Indo-European pantheons and the Celtic gods is eye-opening. I eagerly await what future revelations come from this series, and look forward to seeing the Celtic Studies field come into its own.
AUTHOR: Emily Lyle (Editor)
PUBLISHER: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 9781786832054
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and Their Stories in a Global Perspective is a 2018 book from the University of Wales's New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology Series. The series is dedicated to providing accessible, cutting-edge scholarship on the contemporary issues facing Celtic Studies. In particular, the series focuses upon the early and medieval period of Celtic history and how to accurately reconstruct pre-Christian Celtic beliefs.
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century, edited by Emily Lyle, collects 12 essays on a wide range of topics on the early to medieval period of Celtic history. Did entheogenic mushrooms contribute to the imbas of poets? How did time pass in the otherworld and can that be understood as a metaphor rather than reality? How was the dragon a metaphor of the nature of oral storytelling? And how was The Second Battle of Mag Tuired intertwined with the very geography of Ireland itself?
The throughline of all of these essays is Emily Lyle’s Eightfold Theory of textual analysis. To truly understand an oral culture, Lyle posits, it is necessary to approach it within the context through which the culture conceived of their world. This is achieved through understanding the relatively short time period through which they judged history (going back no further than four generations, and often including a god within the pantheon of their sovereignty) and applying a new mental map to the structure of their myths.
The Eightfold Model of mental mapping involves identifying structural oppositions (e.g. social cohesion/social antagonism) and then applying them to the central and secondary characters within the story. This model has not been applied in any widespread way yet, but is done very evocatively to the Táin Bó Cuailnge by James Carney. Carney makes a convincing argument that increased application of his and Lyle’s Eightfold Method could allow better study of the more challenging oral mythologies in the coming years.
Celtic Studies has long stagnated as a scholarly field for a number of reasons, the bulk of which are well-enumerated within the opening essay of this book. This collection of essays makes a sound argument as to how the field of study can improve and even flourish in the 21st Century. Through better examination of the pre-Christian Celtic past, other Indo-European traditions can be better understood, and indeed, celebrated. The Eightfold Technique mentioned in this book could be applied to any oral culture, and the parallels drawn between earlier Indo-European pantheons and the Celtic gods is eye-opening. I eagerly await what future revelations come from this series, and look forward to seeing the Celtic Studies field come into its own.