Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Medieval Irish Odyssey

The Medieval Irish Odyssey

Hillers, Barbara

Paperback

Series: Celtic Studies Publications

Fiction Anthologies

PREORDER - Expected ship date December 31, 2026

ISBN10: 1891271318
ISBN13: 9781891271311
Publisher: Celtic Studies Publications
Published: Dec 31 2026
Pages: 360
Language: Irish
The Middle Irish saga Merugud Uilixis meic Leirtis, 'The Wandering of Ulysses Son of Laertes, ' composed around 1200, is a showcase for the complex interaction between oral and written tradition, between folk and elite. The short prose saga, which is here translated in full for the first time in over a century, is one of the earliest vernacular adaptations of the Odyssey in medieval Europe and evidence of the Irish elite's indebtedness to classical literature and learning. Into the framework of the Homeric story, however, the medieval author inserted a narrative drawn from a radically different milieu. The odyssean outline is augmented by a tale drawn from oral storytelling, the international folktale of The Master's Good Counsels (ATU 910B), and the adventures of the folktale hero, whose life and happiness are saved by three wise counsels, are here attributed to Ulysses.

The book explores the saga's two-fold heritage, which challenges our assumptions about elite/written and popular/oral interactions, by investigating, in turn, its literary and oral roots.

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