The Gaelic Finn Tradition
Sharon J. Arbuthnot & Geraldine Parsons, editors
‘This latest offering of thirteen essays scrutinizing the Finn Cycle … bring[s] a wealth of detail that would delight the curious … This collection will continue to stimulate an increased interest in the Finn Cycle, which alongside the Ulster Cycle have influenced not only Irish but Celtic literature in general for so many centuries. A challenge to the novice but gold to the initiated this volume has much to commend. That the stories about Finn and his fían manage to generate continuing scholarship are a testament the allure of ancient Irish legends', Patrick Coleman, Australasian Journal of Irish Studies (2012).
‘The individual papers cover a wide chronological and thematic range, from the Common Celtic and Indo-European background of the fían as a social institution to Agallam Oisín agus Phádraig, a nineteenth-century re-working of Fenian lays. The additional focus on the concept of the cycle provides a welcome innovative methodological perspective … the hopes of the editors, that “this volume will be of use to a wide range of readers and that it will contribute to the ongoing emergence of Fíanaigecht Studies as a distinct and fruitful area of research within the field of Celtic Studies” have been admirably fulfilled', Erich Poppe, Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie (2012).
‘An intricate and multi-layered examination of a central theme of Gaelic civilization’, Books Ireland (March 2012).
‘This collection of thirteen essays on Gaelic literary analysis provides an updated look at modern scholarship on historic Gaelic-language texts surrounding the important and enduring literary character and theme, Finn mac Cumaill … English translation of important texts and quotes is provided throughout the volume. Contributors include academics in Irish language, Celtic studies, and related disciplines from several US, Irish and UK universities’, Reference & Research Book News (April 2012).
‘Taken together, the thirteen essays in The Gaelic Finn Tradition constitute something close to a chronological survey of texts pertaining to Finn mac Cumaill and the fiana … The essays represent a wide variety of critical approaches to Finn texts … this book is a fine introduction to the vast body of Finn lore, and the cumulative and comprehensive bibliography of the works cited by all thirteen authors in their chapters is an excellent resource for anyone who wishes to do further research into this rich mine of material’, Catherine McKenna, Speculum (July 2013).
‘The present volume is a sequence of sharply focused individual studies … These are essays of high scholarly quality, most attractively and accurately presented in the distinctive style of Four Courts Press', William Sayers, Mediaevistik (2013).
