The Tain: Translated from the Irish Epic Tain Bo Cuailnge

The translator, Thomas Kinsella, didn't even attempt to give an accurate translation from the original Irish-language manuscripts. In fact, he states in the Introduction that "no attempt has been made to preserve the actual texture of the Irish narrative. Sentence structure and tense, for example, have been changed without hesitation; elements are occasionally shifted from one sentence to another; proper names have been substituted for pronouns, and vice versa; a different range of verbs has been used; and so on." So, take this entire translation with a pinch of salt.As to translating the poetry from Old Irish into English, Kinsella hilariously warned readers that because he hadn't a clue what the original poetry meant, his "aim has been to produce passages of verse which more or less match the original for length, ambiguity and obscurity," and stressed that the poems he attempted to write instead of the originals "are highly speculative and may reproduce little if anything of the original effect."Also, be aware that Kinsella failed to transfer the séimhiú from the original Irish manuscripts. Séimhiús are vital to the correct pronunciation of words, and should be included in modern translations as the letter 'h'. Thus he incorrectly rendered Queen Medbh (pronounced 'Maeve') as 'Medb' (pronounced 'Mabe'). I have an Irish-language version of the Tain and was able to compare Kinsella's translation with the original, and found many little errors in this way. Perhaps this is why he couldn't make head nor tail of the poetry.Despite my complaints, however, I would never be able to translate the documents as well as Kinsella did -- not even close. I found this to be a delightful account of the events and people surrounding the Cattle Raid of Cooley (an Tain Bo Cuailnge). Kinsella combined scattered tales and edited out the boring repetitions, and replaced pronouns with nouns for clarity. It was a difficult and tedious job, and I'm glad Kinsella took it on.

The old story features some surprising themes especially with regard to sexism and gender issues. The young queen, daughter of the high king of Ireland, "Madb" has agency, liberty and power unknown in the post Christian collections of classical literature. Those interested in women's perspectives and avoiding the usual stereotypical roles as applied to a younger and transitioning Ireland, would find this work inspiring and enjoyable.While the over the top battle scenes seem to go on and on and on and on, Madb's appearances throughout the text make this a worthwhile read. Her discussions and approaches to love, marriage, sexual liberties, politics, property rights, unpreventable reproductive cycles during battle, despite the zealous efforts of a young patriarchy speak volumes regarding where we are, where we've been and where we want to go. I have yet to see such attention to the female voice, agency and autonomy in other classical characters. Make no mistake, the paternalistic players, not yet established as the favored group, demonstrate a perniciousness in their competition and effort to shift the formerly fair distribution of power.

I read this classic many years ago in a class of Irish Literature at the University of Michigan. Since I was holding a class on Ancient Epic Literature, I decided to try to read this book with my students. It fit right in with other epic literature that we had read; The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Beowulf. You get a chance to see an ancient culture in Ireland and what they valued and how they thought, and the heroes that they emulated. The names are somewhat difficult to pronounce, but other than that, it was a great translation and a unique coming together of some of the old stories of Ireland.

I really loved this book and the Translation was really good. The notes at the beginning atnd the end were excellent. What knocks this book down to a four is excluding sections of the book.Why would Kinsella take out the most important part- Culainn's death? It makes no sense. Why take out his weakness when betraying Emer? These are the things I want to know.It ends shortly after Ferdia's death and plods on through battle. You can practically feel how worn Culainn is, but you feel no more interes to follow the battles. It isn't because of the translator I'm sure, but the battle scenes just seem so out of place after a very long death poem and lots of mourning by Culainn.

Many, many stories that weave together, thanks to the care taken by the author.I find myself trusting the translations, but at times the poet in me wonders if the original scribe got it right. Of course, that's the record that has survived, sometimes literally in fragments.If the Celtic oral tradition of Ireland is new to you, the names of people and places can be troublesome. The stories serve in part to document genealogy, one of the functions of oral history. I find myself wishing for a comprehensive key to the names, both for relationships and for pronunciation. That does not take away from the story, which is truly epic.The motivations of characters are sometimes plain, sometimes inferred, and at times remarkably obscure. In that respect it is a fine springboard for a modern thinker.

This is the epic story of the the Tain Bo Cuailnge or the Battle of Cooley. Featuring Cuchalain, there is so much history and metaphor in this book. I used it for a few reading assignments and absolutely loved the whole thing. Buying used was no problem either because the book was in great condition.

I am not qualified to judge the translation, but the result is a great book. Passed my copy on to some grandkids who are also enjoying it.

Kinsella's Tain is the gold standard of epic Irish poetry. I've read this version many times and still get caught up in the language. It's written in an accessible style, but keeps the strange beauty of the myth. Highly recommended.

Love this book an absolutely fun and enjoyable read, highly recommend

The best translation out there. Great and greatly explained.It includes lots of short translations of other texts relating to the Táin, and I would even love some more.

I found this book a wonderful description because it includes the seven pre-tales to the Táin story/epic which provide the context for the events that happened. I used this for an interpretation of the Táin called 'Awakening the Beasts of the Dream' (Shannon Pot Books 2015) which uses these seven pre-tales and adds in one other story which is recognised as a precursor -the Cattle Raid of Fróech (Táin Bó Fróech). Together all of these seem to present us with a 'creation myth' - the way that the ancestors understood the creation of the world before the coming of Christianity and we must remember that the scribes were writing down the tales in the new culture and philosophy. I am grateful to Kinsella for his brilliant and clear translation which as he explained in the book's notes - altogether took a lot longer and was more complex a task than originally thought - I can well understand why as he had to take the 'mangled' remains of old texts and place them into a sequence that makes sense to the modern reader. A great work, for which we are eternally grateful.

The book was not exactly in good conditions, so I emailed the seller and they sent me another copy of the book in no time for free! I really appreciated that.

Love this book. Excellent price, arrived early.