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Ireland and the Grail

by John Carey

This is the first book-length study of the origins of the Grail legend to have been undertaken by a specialist in medieval Irish literature. Drawing on a detailed reexamination of the relevant texts in Irish, Welsh, Latin and French, extensive sections of which are presented in new translations, the author argues that the roots of the Grail legend are to be sought in the lost Old Irish manuscript known as the Book of Druimm Snechtai. 396p, b/w illus, maps, 1 tbl. (CSP 11, Celtic Studies Publications 2007)

Review Quotes

"...Ireland and the Grail not only demands to be read, it deserves a thorough response and follow-up from both converts and critics. In fact, Carey's book is only one of several recent studies that focus on the Irish contribution to medieval Francophone literature..."

Matthieu Boyd, Harvard University
Arthuriana 19.1 (Spring 2009)

"...the first credible account offered by a seriously competent student of these texts, a highly salutary and useful exercise that will provoke challenges, qualifications and corrections on individual points, but provides a working model that advances our grasp of the evolution of the early legend of the Grail far beyond the state of the question before. Further scholarship on the origins of the Arthurian legend and its literary lineages will return to this monograph as a new starting point."

Craig R. Davis, Smith College
The Medieval Review (May 2009)

"gives a solid background on the often ignored literary relationships between medieval Ireland and the rest of Europe."

Antoine Minard
Speculum (January 2010)

Table of Contents

Foreword; In the Grail Castle; The Trance at the Feast; The Book of Druimm Snechtai; `I was with Brân in Ireland'; The Horn of Brân Galed; Kaer Sidi; The Land of Enchantment; The Epistle of Pwyll and Pryderi; Taliesin and the Irish Scholars; The Rich Fisherman; The Path Through Water; The Spear That Bleeds; The Ruining of the Land; The Knight in the Glass Barrel; The King of the Deep Folk; The Head and the Fish; The Wanderings of Bleddri; The Service of the Grail; The Secret of the Grail; An Imagined Book; Afterword; Maps: Places Mentioned in the Text: Ireland; Wales; France and Environs; Table: Patrons of the Grail Legend; Bibliography; General Index; Index of Scholars

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