In Search of the Irish Dreamtime: Archaeology and Early Irish Literature by J.P. Mallory

In Search of the Irish Dreamtime: Archaeology and Early Irish Literature Reviews

• 
  Corey Wrenn

  A thorough account of the construction of Irish history and legend across the millennia, this is an interesting account of how histories, knowledge, and cultures are built. It is also a chronicle of how colonization, war, religion, class, and global connectedness influence this construction. Rather ambitiously, Mallory explores the major historical accounts and legends, and then compares them to the archaeological evidence to ascertain fact from fiction. I certainly learned a lot about ancient Irish texts and life (both real and idealized), but it was difficult to follow at times, and sometimes just plain boring. For instance, only a committed cadre of Irish archaeologists would be interested in pages upon pages of detailed descriptions of Iron Age weaponry. This is a valuable read and will assist me in my research (and I agree with other reviewers that their writing style is academic, but they often crack a joke), but it isn't exactly a book for pleasure reading.
• 
  Sarah Adair

  This book examines early Irish literature in order to determine how much of its contents is based on history/oral tradition and how much was coloured in by the medieval monks who first recorded it.
  
  There are sections on different kinds of clothing, weaponry, animals...the author looks at the swords, for example, found in the Ulster Cycle and then compares them to what we know of iron age swords, what we know of medieval swords, what we know of swords from classical literature/the bible, in order to determine their most likely source. To make this simpler, they've divided possible Irish sources into three periods.
• 
  Renée

  Who would've thought I would roll from my chair reading this book. Mallory has such a witty writing style, I love it. Besides that it was an interesting read, with, to me, not too shocking results. I was wondering though why he did not take into account the fact that in the Middle Ages many stories (incl. Bible) we put in a contemporary setting as regards clothes etc ... just look at pictures where you might find eg a blonde Maria, or Roman soldiers fitted out with mediëval weaponry. I am not surprised then that the same happened to the stories of the Mythological and Ulster cycle.
• 
  Marianne

  The argument is very thorough and well constructed. While I think many readers would have shared my hope that Mallory would find that the Irish tales do reflect real memories of the Iron Age and earlier, it's better to learn the facts based on detailed study and comparison with the archaeological record. Mallory also does a great job breaking up some of the drier parts with funny asides and analogies.
• 
  Cian

  4/5
  Excavating the Dreamtime of the Ancients: The medieval Irish world-builders may well be the greatest imaginative creators and storytellers in history. In their anonymity and across centuries they compiled a lore, a Secondary World (which they believed to be based on real events descended from Bronze-Iron Age oral traditions) that has scholars to this day completely at odds - baffled as to what is an imagined world, and what is Ireland's prehistoric past. Endless tales that depict inspired events, ancient recollections and current (as in from the Medieval Irish cultural lense) projections back into the past of these collective stories - thereby generating a huge imaginary world based upon the residual traces and echoes of the real worlds of antiquity long forgotten and vanished entirely if not for what the Gaelic Cycles have preserved.
  
  Regardless of the truth the contributors to these scores of hundreds and thousands of tales created and/or built upon (from millennia past) an immense and culturally interlinked written tradition the likes of which is not seen anywhere else. This book itself is fascinating scholarship. It is quite like 'Why Homer Matters' in examining the etymology of ancient, heroic epics. Particularly the Táin, and the Ulster Cycle is investigated. Cross-examined between the literary archaeology (never heard of this field before, sounds very attractive) and the physical archaeology of which there is a distressing lack with regards the Iron Age (plenty remains of the Neolithic and Bronze Age though!) where the Ulster Cycle is meant to be based.
  The etymology of words is used to establish chronological markers, like whether they are descended from ancient Celtic language or if some parts/phrases are loanwords from later on. The material culture, the built environment, all the components of these tales are discussed and compared with the physical evidence in an effort to asses the validity and the truth of what is been conveyed. Of which there is much left to be discovered.
  
  I felt I enjoyed this book so much but it indicates inescapably so, all that is left to be done. All that is not yet understood, and what might not ever been absent innovative and creative methods. A grand inspiring read for would-be creators too! Especially when all conclusions are gathered and cross-compared.
• 
  Maya

  Please see my review at
  Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions
• 
  M F

  Surprisingly readable and in places even funny, for an academic book, although some of the more detailed archaeological info was hardgoing for me as I haven't got any preexisting knowledge in that area beyond what I've picked up along the way. I can imagine it would make a pretty useful resource for someone trying to write a historical novel inspired by medieval Irish Lit -- it explores the potential realities behind the literary tropes in a fair amount of detail, insofar as that's possible.
  
  Unfortunately, I can't remember why my dissertation supervisor told me to read this, and since I only found about one sentence in the whole thing that was directly relevant, I'm wondering if he did so at an earlier stage before we narrowed down my topic. That said, the general approach to dating and understanding texts is probably helpful, it's just not as immediately useful.