Juvenile Nonfiction

52 Books in 52 Weeks, it's called. The challenge is simple: read a book every week for a year.

12. The Tain: translated from the Irish epic Tain Bo Cuailnge.

52 Books. | March 2009
Kinsella, Thomas (illus. Louis Le Brocquy)
London, England: Oxford University Press (in association with The Dolmen Press, Dublin), 1970 (1969)
1 Comment.

The TainI read this almost entirely due to the Decemberists. Appears to be an epic of ancient Irish myth about a national civil war over a bull, which was not what I initially expected given the lyrics to the above referenced EP; but upon reading the epic, the song opens up. Much is given over to the exploits of the Celtic hero, Cúchulainn, who slays 100s and 1000s handily but is ultimately laid low by his foster brother. The language is the stuff of myth and legend, with idiosyncratic customs and conceits; the descriptions of heightened rage and blood-lust are almost comically overblown. Certainly, now, I’ll have a mental image to go with Meloy’s Tain, should I ever hear it again.

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It is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.

  • The Irish band Horslips released an album called “The Tain” back in 1974. It’s a 40-minute prog rock/Celtic rock exploration of the Tain myth. It’s actually a very good album.

    Cuchulainn also puts in an appearance on The Pogues’ “The Sickbed of Cuchulainn,” from their 1986 album “Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash.”

    Andy Whitman. March 7th. 2009. 5:21 am.

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