Stories about Fionn macCumhaill (also known as Finn McCool) and his roving warrior band, the Fianna, have engaged audiences for more than a millennium. Fionn and the Fianna—Gaeldom’s defenders during a legendary third-century golden age—are the heroes of the most prolific body of narrative in the Gaelic tradition, spanning 1,400 years of oral and written transmission, from the earliest extant records to the present day. In this book, Natasha Sumner traces these stories across the centuries and throughout the Gaelic world, examining the fates of Fionn and the Fianna and investigating the persistent popularity of these tales.
Sumner describes the development of the Fenian tradition from early seventh-century texts through the medieval and early modern creation of its greatest literary achievements; the controversy stirred by James Macpherson’s adaptation of Fenian characters and plots in his popular eighteenth-century epic, Ossian; and the Fianna’s place in the modern Irish and Scottish nations, beginning with the Celtic Revival in the 1860s. Part (pseudo) historical fiction, part (proto) fantasy, these stories project perceptions of a bygone Gaelic heroic age through the lens of their contemporary realities. The Fenian tradition, Sumner argues, provides ample space for imaginative engagement with the narrative past, the historical present, and the aspirational future.
Natasha Sumner is associate professor of Celtic languages and literatures at Harvard University. She directs the Fionn Folklore Database and coedited the essay collection North American Gaels: Speech, Story, and Song in the Diaspora.
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"Natasha Sumner has produced a splendid and much-needed scholarly study of the long history of Fionn and his Fianna, the most important band of literary heroes in the Gaelic world. By examining the medieval sources and the later oral tales, as well as these figures’ complex reception in English-speaking culture, she has hugely expanded our sense of who Fionn and the Fianna are, and why they matter.”—Mark Williams, author of Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth
“Heroes of the Gael provides a rich and engaging history of the development and reception of the Gaelic Fenian Cycle, from its earliest beginnings to the present day. It is a milestone publication that will set research agendas in the coming years and it also serves as an introduction to the topic for all those who seek to have a better understanding of Fionn and his Fianna.”—SÃle Nà Mhurchú, University College Cork
“Heroes of the Gael is a wonderful addition to the growing corpus of Fenian studies. Engaging with a tradition spanning approximately 1,400 years, the volume’s particular focus on Fenian Cycle materials from the eighteenth century onwards is especially welcome. A thorough and thoughtful work of scholarship: highly recommended!”—Kevin Murray, author of The Early Finn Cycle
“A very exciting and innovative work, the fruit of exhaustive research, and likely to have a major scholarly impact. The author is a major researcher in the fields of Irish and Scottish Gaelic literature and folklore and the key scholar working on the Fenian tradition across these fields. This book will cement her reputation.”—Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, University of Notre Dame
“This volume is a significant contribution that will quickly become an essential point of reference in the growing field of Fenian Cycle Studies, as a cornerstone work of literary history.”—Geraldine Parsons, University of Glasgow
