The Tain

(Paperback)

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Description

A major new translation of Ireland's great epic of heroism, magic, bloodshed and betrayal - now in paperback The Tain Bo Cualinge, centrepiece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's great epic. It tells the story of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, Queen and King of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cualige. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick.

Reviews

"Carson's landmark translation, the first in forty years, brings this literary gem to life in a fresh, modern retelling that rivals Thomas Kinsella's classic translation of 1969."
- Booklist "In vivid prose Carson has harnessed . . . the tale's tremendous artistic power."-Irish Voice

Author Bio

Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948. His poetry collections include The New Estate; The Irish for No, Belfast Confetti, which won the Irish Book Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize; First Language, which won the T.S. Eliot Prize; Opera et Cetera, which was a UK Poetry Book Society Choice; and The Twelfth of Never and The Ballad of HMS Belfast. He has written two prose books, The Pocket Guide to Irish Traditional Music and Last Night's Fun and one novel, Shamrock Tea. He is a member of Aosdana and lives in Belfast. Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948. His poetry collections include The New Estate; The Irish for No, Belfast Confetti, which won the Irish Book Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize; First Language, which won the T.S. Eliot Prize; Opera et Cetera, which was a UK Poetry Book Society Choice; and The Twelfth of Never and The Ballad of HMS Belfast. He has written two prose books, The Pocket Guide to Irish Traditional Music and Last Night's Fun and one novel, Shamrock Tea. He is a member of Aosdana and lives in Belfast.