The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the dead, who could reveal some insight from the past that needed to be rediscovered by forgetful contemporaries. Conversing with angels and ancients, medieval Irish writers boldly inscribed their visions of the past onto the new Christian order and its literature.
Nagy includes portions of the original Latin and Irish texts that are not readily available to scholars, along with full translations.
The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the dead, who could reveal some insight from the past that needed to be rediscovered by forgetful contemporaries. Conversing with angels and ancients, medieval Irish writers boldly inscribed their visions of the past onto the new Christian order and its literature.
Nagy includes portions of the original Latin and Irish texts that are not readily available to scholars, along with full translations.
Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland
376Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland
376Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780801483684 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Cornell University Press |
Publication date: | 08/14/1997 |
Pages: | 376 |
Product dimensions: | 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d) |
Lexile: | 1500L (what's this?) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |