Many scholars of Finnegans Wake have long suspected that a key to the Wake lay deep within the core of Irish myth. George Gibson proposes a new interpretation of the novel, based upon a previously unrecognized paradigm from Irish mythology underlying...
more
Many scholars of Finnegans Wake have long suspected that a key to the Wake lay deep within the core of Irish myth. George Gibson proposes a new interpretation of the novel, based upon a previously unrecognized paradigm from Irish mythology underlying the entirety of the work. This mythic structure derives from the ancient rituals and events collectively known as the Teamhur Feis (the Rites of Tara), the most important religious festival conducted in pre-Christian Ireland
Table of Contents; List of Figures viii; List of Tables ix; Foreword xi; Preface xiii; List of Abbreviations xv; 1. Introduction 1; 2. The Day of the Wake 25; 3. The Sigla Group at the Teamhur Feis 35; 4. The Fall of the All-Father 91; 5. The Funeral Games at Valleytemple 134; 6. The Return of Solsking the First 179; 7. The Etiological Myths 209; 8. The Recovery of the Dark Tongue 219; Coda: The Meta-Celtic Canon 237; Notes 239; Bibliography 249; Index 261;