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The Tain | 
 enlarge | Creator: Thomas Kinsella
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 16078
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0192803735
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.6231
EAN: 9780192803733
ASIN: 0192803735
Publication Date: November 21, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Tain Bo Cuailnge, center-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's greatest epic. Thomas Kinsella's lively translation is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts, with elements from other versions. This edition includes a group of related stories which prepare for the action of the Tain along with brush drawings by Louis le Brocquy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 How does Kinsella compare to Carson? February 25, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
A few weeks ago, I compared (on Amazon under both versions) the new Oxford UP translation from the Middle Welsh by Sioned Davies of "The Mabinogion" with the standard edition by Patrick Ford, from U. of California Press. The Old Irish equivalent of a medieval Celtic epic that for most of us represents the epitome of ancient adventure and mortal combat, "The Tain," now can gain the same comparison and contrast. We can finally study Thomas Kinsella's 1970 Oxford UP edition next to Ciaran Carson's 2008 Viking-Penguin hardcover. As with my comments on Amazon about the two competing Mabinogi, I will select a favorite passage. I will transcribe how Kinsella and Carson render it. Poetic Champions Compose!
Kinsella (pp. 250-51): "Then Medb got her gush of blood.
'Fergus,' she said, 'take over the shelter of shields at the rear of the men of Ireland until I relieve myself.'
'By god,' Fergus said, 'you have picked a bad time for this.'
'I can't help it,' Medb said. 'I'll die if I can't do it.'
So Fergus took over the shelter of shields at the rear of the men of Ireland and Medb relieved herself. It dug three great channels, each big enough to take a household. The place is called Fual Medba, Medb's Foul Place, ever since. Cuchulainn found her like this, but he held his hand. He wouldn't strike her from behind.
'Spare me,' Medb said.
'If I killed you dead,' Cuchulainn said, 'it would only be right.'
But he spared her, not being a killer of women. [Cuchullain watches them depart. The battle is over, the Connacht forces defeated, as Medb tells Fergus. . . .]
'We have had shame and shambles here today, Fergus.'
'We followed the rump of a misguided woman,' Fergus said. 'It is the usual thing for a herd led by a mare to be strayed and destroyed.'"
Carson:(pp. 206-07)
"Then Medb got her gush of blood.
'Fergus,' she said, 'cover the retreat of the men of Ireland, for I must relieve myself.'
'By god',' said Fergus, 'you picked a bad time to go.'
'I can't help it,' said Medb, 'I'll die if I don't go.'
So Fergus covered the retreat. Medb relieved herself, and it made three great trenches, each big enough for a cavalcade. Hence the place is known as Fual Medba, Medb's Piss-pot.
Cu Chulainn came upon Medb as she was doing what she had to.
'I'm at your mercy,' said Medb.
'If I were to strike, and kill you,' said Cu Chulainn, 'I'd be within my rights.'
But he spared her, because usually he did not kill women. [. . . .]
Now that they had lost the battle, Medb said to Fergus:
'The pot was stirred, Fergus, and today a mess was made.'
'That's usually what happens,' said Fergus, 'when a mare leads a herd of horses -- all their energy gets pissed away, following the rump of a skittish female.'"
To me, Kinsella opts with alliteration like "shame and shambles," and "shelter of shields" to convey a balance, a slightly archaic register. Hypotactics heighten orderly parallelism like "strayed and destroyed" and "was stirred" and "was made." A dignity remains despite the scatological content. For Carson, an edgier, conversational tone stresses slightly the bitterness that Fergus feels, and the gloating that Cu Chulainn indulges, when the hero's finally cornered his arch-foe-- only to catch her with her skirt down.
The two editions complement each other. Carson notes in his introduction that he had resisted initially the temptation, but wound up peeking at his predecessor and eventually "checked every line of mine against Kinsella. I trust my translation is different." As I found with Davies and Ford, so with Kinsella and Carson. In the latter poet's estimation, you can see that "there are occasions when my words do not differ a great deal from his. That is inevitable when more than one translation emerges from more or less the same text. And for better or for worse, my translation will be seen as a commentary on Kinsella; I hope it will also be taken as a tribute." (xxv)
The two editions use the same base text, Recension I. Carson re-orders some episodes, and adds a bit to Kinsella's content. Both authors package the many small sections of the original Old Irish into chapters; Carson has one fewer than Kinsella. Kinsella prepared seven 'remscela' or prefatory tales; Carson summarizes these in end-notes. Both try for, Carson explains, a non-literal translation. But, where Kinsella allowed some "relatively free verse, I have kept to the original syllable-count of the lines," with a few exceptions that proved impossible. (xxvi) Rhyme and assonance, Carson adds, had to differ too from the original's 'aabb' pattern that would've been "difficult and tedious to replicate in English." He sticks to Cecile O'Rahilly's scholarly recensions in their spellings. These names dependably provided ironic commentary on the action, embedded for an Old Irish audience.
Both editions feature brief introductions, a translator's prefatory note, end-notes, and a pronunciation guide. The elegant design in the earlier Oxford UP paperback that incorporated Louis le Brocquy's magnificent brush drawings, and the typographical elegance of the 1969 Dolmen Press original, along with three handsome maps. Kinsella matches his denser end-notes to the text's pages; Carson uses numerical indicators keyed to fewer end-notes. Kinsella remarks on topography and the manuscript's tradition. Similarly, Carson discusses "landscape as metronymic map" and the concept of 'dindsenchas,' or place-name lore, helpfully. Neither translator gets bogged down in this topic, but they nod to it meaningfully. Their end-notes treat it at more length. Therefore, both poets strive to keep the integrity of the text primary, and relegate helps for us today to their own separate niche, as is both helpful and proper.
Carson's book weighs in at just over two hundred pages, about eighty less than Kinsella's. That version, of course, featured illustrations and typographically and graphically keeps its advantage. Carson's, smaller in heft and on less durable paper (even in the hardcover, disappointingly), otherwise remains neck-and-neck in both style, scholarship, and swiftness.
 Tain't for me! January 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this while going through a "what haven't I read that maybe I should have" period. If you are really interested in this period of Irish history, I can see where it will be of use. If not, unless you go through a period like mine, don't bother. It isn't particularly fun to read and without that driving interest it isn't that good a read.
Irish Bull-Fighters on Bloody Fields... December 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Tain (or 'Tain Bo Cuailnge) is an 8th century mythical epic of Ireland, contained in the Ulster cycle of heroic tales. This version is a modern prose translation by a highly creative and respected poet; Thomas Kinsella. The story revolves around the passionate pursuit of a huge mystical bull by Ailill and Mebh the respective king and queen of Connacht. In order to acquire the famous beast they must first conquer and subdue the rival kingdom of Ulster, but they are prevented from doing so by the brave and immensely strong 17 year old hero Cuchulainn.
Those of you more used to the Greek epics such as the Odyssey and the Iliad will probably find a stony maze here. Names, places, voices and descriptions are all in the old Gaelic vernacular, and it seems like a dense fog completely surrounds the work like a bristling fence to ward off unwelcome guests. Yet is is truly a marvelous and original tale that is worth the effort of rereading in an attempt to understand... because it is simply a brilliant gem from the Western European cultural tradition, full of distinctive character, poetry and thrashing snarls.
So don't be subdued before you even read this; command your mind with the tactical skills of a great general, tread with certainty amongst the ancient Irish Gaelic warriors across damp green plains, sharpen your glinting sword with fine wit, murmur curses and dissolve with the magic of bejeweled druid-bards... but dive right in and absorb it all after a fine feast or lightly inspired by the warmth of a good malt. The 'inner secret' of the text begins to unfold in the third reading, the reason why it has survived over two thousand years... be diligent and study with perception!
 Beautifully Translated December 27, 2007
I really loved this book and the Translation was really good. The notes at the beginning atnd the end were excellent. What knocks this book down to a four is excluding sections of the book.
Why would Kinsella take out the most important part- Culainn's death? It makes no sense. Why take out his weakness when betraying Emer? These are the things I want to know.
It ends shortly after Ferdia's death and plods on through battle. You can practically feel how worn Culainn is, but you feel no more interes to follow the battles. It isn't because of the translator I'm sure, but the battle scenes just seem so out of place after a very long death poem and lots of mourning by Culainn.
Cuchulainn June 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
To keep it short and sweet this is a must read for anyone interested in Irish history and culture, Celtic Heathenry, Odinism, mythology or general Celtic studies. One of the most essential texts for learning about any of these things but besides that the saga of Cuchulainn is a great entertaining story too.
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