Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-203) and index.
Contents:
4. The Wasting Sickness of Cu Chulainn: The Language of Desire. 2. Bricriu's Feast: Women's Words as Weapons -- 3. The Death of Aife's Only Son: 'Do not slay your only son' -- 4. The Wasting Sickness of Cu Chulainn: The Language of Desire.
Summary:
"A Woman's Words is the first in-depth analysis of Middle Irish literature from a feminist standpoint, and the first formal critical discussion of the representation of female speech in medieval Irish literature. Joanne Findon analyses the representation of Emer, the wife of the great Irish hero Cu Chulainn, in four linked medieval Irish tales, and discusses Emer's ability to use powerful, effective words to change her fictional world and the audience's reading of that fictional world." "A Woman's Words considers Emer as a literary figure rather than a mythic archetype or a reflection of a pre-Christian Celtic goddess. Emer and the narratives she inhabits are discussed as literary constructs, and are considered within the historical and legal milieu in which these tales were told, recorded, and read."--Jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.