Folk tales of Ireland (Spring term) (LIT 18(z))

  • Day and time: Monday 15:00 - 16:30
    Weekly
  • Length of course: 1 term. Spring (10 Weeks)
  • Number of places: 25
  • Start date: 13 January 2025
  • Description:

    Irish traditional tales have a character all of their own, even though the stories themselves often have equivalents throughout the Indo-European area. We shall read together, and I will facilitate discussion, on Zoom, stories from Kevin Danaher's "Folktales of the Irish Countryside" and Eamon Kelly's "Ireland's Master Storyteller". Both are available cheaply (new or second-hand) on Amazon or AbeBooks. The tales collected in Danaher's book were told to the author when he was young by family members and neighbours in County Limerick in the 1920s. These stories include: The horse that excreted gold, The tub of unblessed feet-water that let supernatural beings into the house, The fate of the man who had no story, and The man who built a house on the path of the fairies. Kelly's book includes local legends, the anguish of emigration, and killing the family pig in November. Both accounts are superbly narrated.

  • Format: Taught course or activity

  • Tutor: Chris Jones
  • I fell in love with traditional folk tales (i.e. those which are passed on orally in a "native" culture) as a child, and have loved them ever since.


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