Imagining the Celtic past in modern fantasy
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Imagining the Celtic past in modern fantasy
(Perspectives on fantasy / series editors, Brian Attebery, Dimitra Fimi, Matthew Sangster)
Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
- : hardback
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Focusing on representations of Celtic motifs and traditions in post-1980s adult fantasy literature, this book illuminates how the historical, the mythological and the folkloric have served as inspiration for the fantastic in modern and popular culture of the western world. Bringing together both highly-acclaimed works with those that have received less critical attention, including French and Gaelic fantasy literature, Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy explores such texts as Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Alan Garner's Weirdstone trilogy, the Irish fantasies of Jodi McIsaac, David Gemmell's Rigante novels, Patricia Kennealy-Morrison Keltiad books, as well as An Sgoil Dhubh by Iain F. MacLeoid and the Vertigen and Frontier series by Lea Silhol. Lively and covering new ground, the collection examines topics such as fairy magic, Celtic-inspired worldbuilding, heroic patterns, classical ethnography and genre tropes alongside analyses of the Celtic Tarot in speculative fiction and Celtic appropriation in fan culture.
Introducing a nuanced understanding of the Celtic past, as it has been informed by recent debates in Celtic studies, this wide-ranging and provocative book shows how modern fantasy is indebted to medieval Celtic-language texts, folkloric traditions, as well as classical sources.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Series Editors' Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on Spelling
Introduction, Dr Dimitra Fimi (University of Glasgow, UK)
Part 1: Celticity as Fantastic Intrusion
1. Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Celtic Fairy Realm in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Dr K. A. Laity (College of Saint Rose, USA)
2. The Evolution of Alan Garner's Celticity in Boneland, Gwendolen Grant (Independent Scholar)
3. Woman as Goddess in the Irish Fantasies of Jodi McIsaac, Kris Swank (Pima Community College, USA)
Part 2: Celtic Fantasy Worlds and Heroes
4. The Heroic Biographies Of Cu Chulainn and Connavar in the Rigante Series, Alistair J. P. Sims (Independent Scholar)
5. Classical Ethnography and the World(s) of the Rigante, Anthony Smart (York St John University, UK)
6. Celts in Spaaaaace!, Cheryl Morgan (Independent Scholar)
Part 3: Celtic Fantasy Beyond the Anglophone
7. From Vertigen to Frontier: The Fate of the Sidhes in Lea Silhol's Fiction, Viviane Bergue (Independent scholar)
8. 'Chaidh e nas doimhne agus nas doimhne ann an seann theacsaichean': Gaelic history and legend in An Sgoil Dhubh by Iain F. MacLeoid, Duncan Sneddon (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Part 4: Fantastic Perceptions of Celticity
9. The Celtic Tarot in Speculative Fiction, Juliette Wood (Cardiff University, UK)
10. Celtic Appropriation in Twenty-First-Century Fantasy Fan Perceptions, Angela R. Cox (Ball State University, USA)
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"