3 - Exploring Cath Maige Tuired through the Concept of Hybridity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2021
Summary
Abstract
This chapter examines the contemporary Irish identity and social reactions to the process of cultural hybridization, as they are depicted in the late Viking-Age narrative Cath Maige Tuired. The tale is a product of a transitional era whose preoccupations and prejudices are reflected in the narrative representations of the Fomoiri and the Tuatha Dé Danann. This chapter considers Cath Maige Tuired within its historical context as a narrative of hybridity in which the pivotal cultural identities are built on an ongoing comparison between the tale's representations of the Self and the Other. At the same time the narrative illustrates a number of other cultural concerns at the forefront of the collective intellectual consciousness.
Keywords: pseudo-history, literary theory, medieval Irish literature, postcolonialism, identity, hybridity theory
The cultural context of late Viking-Age Ireland, to which the tale Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Mag Tuired) belongs, is one of interaction and integration. This creates an environment in which cultural hybridity becomes paramount. Examining premodern texts in the light of postmodern hybridity theory is relatively rare at present; this chapter makes a case for using hybridity theory in analysing premodern literatures in situations where ample parallels can be drawn between the cultural dynamics of the medieval context and the postcolonial experience. Cath Maige Tuired presents us with the ideal literary platform for considering cultural identity and hybridity since the tale is a product of a transitional era whose preoccupations and prejudices are clearly reflected in the narrative representations of the Fomoiri and the Tuatha Dé Danann.
Cath Maige Tuired has been repeatedly identified as one of the key narratives of Irish pseudo-history. The term ‘pseudo-history’ refers to accounts of history which distort the commonly accepted facts by, for example, accepting legends and myths as reality. Through intricate intertextual referencing pseudo-history has the potential to become accepted as fact; especially as it instinctively avoids questioning its sources of history. The sense of reliability is increased by plotting the pseudo-historic accounts on commonly known and accepted classical works in order to achieve literary coherence. In the Irish context, the term pseudo-history refers to a corpus of literary material which outlines a fictional origin story of Ireland and its peoples.
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- Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions , pp. 71 - 94Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021