Celticity and the Irish Diaspora: Rewriting Finn mac Cumhall and Cúchulain for American Youngsters

Fimi, Dimitra

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-55282-2_3

Dimitra Fimi⁴

Part of the book series: Critical Approaches to Children's Literature ((CRACL))

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Abstract

Chapter 3 explores Mary Tannen’s The Wizard Children of Finn (1981) and The Lost Legend of Finn (1982), alongside Henry Neff’s The Tapestry series (The Hound of Rowan, 2007, The Second Siege, 2008, The Fiend and the Forge, 2010, The Maelstrom, 2012c, The Red Winter, 2014). Both series feature American children of the Irish diaspora. In Tannen’s novels the children time-travel to mythical Ireland, relive the legends of the Fenian cycle, and inadvertently discover the close family bonds they share with this ancient and magical world. In The Tapestry, the teenage protagonist also discovers that he is the progeny of Irish mythological figures and emerges as an “epic” hero. But the series both explores and questions the concept of the hero by contrasting the “Celtic” past with modern sensibilities.

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Notes

1.
Mary Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981), 6.
2.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 6.
3.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 76–7.
4.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 78.
5.
Joseph Falaky Nagy, “Fiannaíocht,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. II, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 744.
6.
Joseph Falaky Nagy, “Finn and the Fenian tradition,” in A Companion to Irish Literature, Vol. I, edited by Julia M. Wright (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 30.
7.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 7 (emphasis added).
8.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 207.
9.
See Chapter 1.
10.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 82–3.
11.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 83.
12.
For example, as Finn explains: “You don’t have to like your enemy…but he should be someone you admire, someone who’s worthy of being your enemy,” Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 135. Fiona has already started realizing this when the two children are temporarily captured by Finn’s enemies and, when she hears Goll singing about heroic feats, she thinks to herself that Finn and his enemies are “really so much alike…they should be friends, not enemies.” Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 132.
13.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 85.
14.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 84.
15.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 85.
16.
Joseph Eska, “inscriptions in the Celtic world [1] ancient,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 965. In the same passage, though, Caesar adds that the Druids did use writing in other aspects of their everyday life, utilizing Greek letters. See Eska, “inscriptions in the Celtic world [1] ancient,” 965.
17.
Eska, “inscriptions in the Celtic world [1] ancient,” 965.
18.
Tom Sjöblom, “Geis,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006).
19.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 86.
20.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 151 (emphasis added).
21.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 199 (emphasis added).
22.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 11–12, 15.
23.
See Chapter 2.
24.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 16.
25.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 65.
26.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 209–10.
27.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 70. The “Formor” and the “Men of Dea” are Lady Gregory’s rendering of the demonic Fomoiri and the Tuatha de Danaan.
28.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 76.
29.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 82, 87.
30.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 41–2.
31.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 141, 190.
32.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 93.
33.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 176–7.
34.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 29.
35.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 134.
36.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 189.
37.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 190.
38.
Tannen, The Wizard Children of Finn, 203.
39.
Mary Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), 47.
40.
Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn, 37.
41.
Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn, 37.
42.
Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn, 55.
43.
Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn, 92.
44.
Joseph Falaky Nagy, The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn In Irish Narrative Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 78.
45.
See Lady Gregory, Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland (New York: Scribner, 1904), 469.
46.
The stereotype of the red-haired “Celt” seems to go back to classical commentators: Tacitus describes the Caledonians as having red hair, and Dio Cassius depicts Boudīca as having long red hair. See Philip Freeman and John Koch, “Tacitus,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. V, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 1645; and John T. Koch, “Boudīca,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 235.
47.
Finn’s dog, Bran, also appears in The New Policeman.
48.
Tannen, The Lost Legend of Finn, 136.
49.
Cited in Anne Commire, Something about the Author, Volume 37 (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1985), 185.
50.
Gregory, Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland, 175.
51.
Paula Powers Coe, “Lochlann,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 1187.
52.
Powers Coe, “Lochlann,” 1187.
53.
Donnchadh Ó Corráin, “Ireland, Wales, Man, and the Hebrides,” in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, edited by Peter Sawyer (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 88.
54.
See Chapter 2.
55.
E.g. “Review of The Hound of Rowan,” Kirkus Reviews, 1 September 2007. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/henry-h-neff/the-hound-of-rowan/.
56.
A.H. Alton, “Playing the Genre Game: Generic Fusions of the Harry Potter Series,” in Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter, edited by E.E. Heilman (New York; London: Routledge, 2009).
57.
Henry H. Neff, The Hound of Rowan (New York: Random House, 2007), 12.
58.
Nigel, the Recruiter who tests Max as a “potential,” hears of Max’s vision and remarks: “Ah, it seems someone needs an introduction to Celtic mythology! That’s a most unusual vision, Max, involving the Cattle Raid of Cooley.” Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 28. However, it is not clear to the reader at this point that Nigel provides a translation of the tapestry’s title, and Nigel only gives a hint of the mythological tradition it belongs to.
59.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 339–44.
60.
In a note at the end of the book, Neff acknowledges Thomas Kinsella’s translation of the Táin Bó Cuailnge, which “served as the backdrop” for his own synopsis of the life and deeds of Cúchulain, which Max reads. Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 419.
61.
The men of Ulster are affected by Macha’s curse to suffer the “pangs of labour” at their hour of need – see Chapter 2.
62.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 344.
63.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 339–44.
64.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 50.
65.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 12.
66.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 298.
67.
Antone Minard, “Games,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 793.
68.
Thomas Kinsella, trans., The Táin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969), 83.
69.
Henry H. Neff, The Second Siege (New York: Random House, 2008), 14. Dame Mala, the witch who calls him thus, addresses him with a greeting/blessing in Irish: “Rath dé [sic] ort, Cúchulain. Saol fada chugat,” Neff, The Second Siege, 14, which translates as: “The grace of God be with you, Cúchulain. Long life to you.”
70.
Henry H. Neff, The Fiend and the Forge (New York: Random House, 2010), 161.
71.
Henry H. Neff, The Maelstrom (New York: Random House, 2012), 405.
72.
Neff, The Maelstrom, 407.
73.
Kinsella, The Táin, 153.
74.
Kinsella, The Táin, 158.
75.
Henry H. Neff, The Red Winter (New York: Random House, 2014), chapter 12.
76.
John T. Koch, “Breislech Mór Maige Muirtheimni and Oidheadh Chon Culainn,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 240.
77.
The supernatural female is usually washing the hero’s own blood-stained clothes, thus prophesying his death. See Patricia Lysaght, The Banshee: The Irish Supernatural Death-Messenger (Dublin: O’Brien Press, 1996).
78.
Ruairí Ó hUiginn, “Cú Chulainn,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. I, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 508. This conclusion brings to mind the American mythographer Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth,” which concludes the hero’s journey with the hero’s ascent to the state of a deity.
79.
In the case of Cúchulain, Deichtine also swallows “a tiny creature” in her drink before Lugh visits her in her dream.
80.
Neff, The Second Siege, 373.
81.
Alfred Nutt, Cuchulainn, the Irish Achilles (London: David Nutt, 1900).
82.
Neff, The Second Siege, 418–19.
83.
Neff, The Red Winter, chap. 19.
84.
Ann Dooley, “Táin bó Cúailnge,” in A Companion to Irish Literature, Vol. I, edited by Julia M. Wright (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 22.
85.
As early as the first book, the traitor Marley Augur urges Max to “not be so hasty” but consider that “Revenge is a powerful force, a force that has birthed many great things”; Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 378.
86.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 537.
87.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 180 (emphasis added).
88.
Neff, The Maelstrom, 338.
89.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 53, 340; Neff, The Second Siege, 92, 339; Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 179, 434; Neff, The Maelstrom, 57, 210; Neff, The Red Winter, chapter 11, chapter 28, Epilogue.
90.
See Kim McCone, “Aided Cheltchair Maic Uthechair: Hounds, Heroes and Hospitallers in Early Irish Myth and Story,” Ériu 35 (1984): 1–30.
91.
John Carey and John Koch, “heroic ethos in early Celtic literatures,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 909.
92.
This dichotomy between dog or wolf, hero or “god,” is also played in the binary of human or demon. When in the third book Astaroth takes over the world and, between them, the demons divide the earth to rule, the demons see something of themselves in Max, who has an “aura” like theirs. See Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 76.
93.
See Chapter 2.
94.
Charles Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance (London: The Gresham Publishing Company, 1910). The first edition was published in 1905 as The Mythology of the British Islands.
95.
Dimitra Fimi, “An interview with Henry Neff: Celtic myth, liminal times and fantastic creatures,” 2016, http://dimitrafimi.com/an-interview-with-henry-neff-celtic-myth-liminal-times-and-fantastic-creatures/.
96.
See also Chapter 2.
97.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 90.
98.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 90.
99.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 91.
100.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 93.
101.
Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, 135–7.
102.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 4.
103.
Neff, The Maelstrom, 462.
104.
Neff, The Second Siege, 332.
105.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 309–10.
106.
Dimitra Fimi, “An interview with Henry Neff.”
107.
See James P. Byrne, “Ireland and the United States of America,” in Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia, edited by James P. Byrne et al (Santa Barbara, CA; Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2008), 28. Neff has actually specified on his blog that Solas fell in 1649, and has added that he intended a parallel “between those settling in the New World as refugees from political or religious persecution and those fleeing supernatural assailants,” Henry H. Neff, “The Hound of Rowan: Inside Scoop,” 2012, http://www.henryhneff.com/user/scoop/24.
108.
Neff, The Red Winter, chap. 12. Note that Neff’s spelling is “Fionn,” in contrast to Tannen’s “Finn.”
109.
Neff, The Red Winter, chap. 11.
110.
Neff, The Red Winter, chap. 23.
111.
Neff, The Second Siege, 346.
112.
Neff, The Red Winter, Chapter 5. The notion of Lugh as a sun god comes from old-fashioned interpretations of Irish mythology, in which deities were often classified according to classical models (e.g. in Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, which Neff read; see also Chapter 4). This idea was given new impetus in 1946 by Irish scholar Thomas F. O’Rahilly, who claimed that the three young warrior figures of Irish mythology, Lugh, Cúchulain, and Finn mac Cumhall, were variations of the same solar deity. He based this view on a number of similarities between them, including that Lugh’s weapon Gae Assail (“lightning spear”) is reminiscent of Cúchulain’s gae bolga, and that Lugh and Finn’s names have similar meanings (“bright, shining, light” and “white, bright,” respectively). See Simon Ó Faoláin, “Lug,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 1201.
113.
Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, 62.
114.
Neff, The Red Winter, chap. 12.
115.
Kinsella, The Táin, 132–3.
116.
Dimitra Fimi, “An interview with Henry Neff.”
117.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 371, 402.
118.
Dimitra Fimi, “An interview with Henry Neff.”
119.
Henry H. Neff, “About the Author,” 2012, http://www.henryhneff.com/user/aboutauthor/ (emphasis added).
120.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 89.
121.
Neff, The Second Siege, 302.
122.
Neff, The Second Siege, 305.
123.
Henry H. Neff, “The Second Siege: Inside Scoop,” 2012, http://www.henryhneff.com/user/scoop/25.
124.
Neff, The Second Siege, 348.
125.
Neff, The Hound of Rowan, 372.
126.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 474.
127.
Neff, The Fiend and the Forge, 489.
128.
Raimund Karl, “Torc,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, edited by John T. Koch, 1681–3. (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 1682.
129.
Flemming Kaul, “Gundestrup cauldron,” in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. III, edited by John T. Koch (Santa Barbara; Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2006), 854–7.
130.
S. Nielsen et al., “The Gundestrup Cauldron: New Scientific and Technical Investigations,” Acta Archaeologica 76 (2005): 1–58.

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Department of Humanities, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Dimitra Fimi

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Fimi, D. (2017). Celticity and the Irish Diaspora: Rewriting Finn mac Cumhall and Cúchulain for American Youngsters. In: Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55282-2_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55282-2_3
Published: 04 February 2017
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