Themes in Celtic Literature: The Otherworld Journey by Professor John Carey

Disclaimer: All the information on these pages is from my studies with Dr. John Carey in various classes at University College Cork and all credit for the ideas should be given to him. Any misinformation and errors on these pages are my fault, likely due to poor note-taking or simply ignorance. That said, I have tried to make them as accurate as possible and welcome any corrections/addendum. The pages are best viewed with Internet Explorer, as Netscape Navigator tends not to display special characters such as are used in writing Irish properly. Aside from these typographic errors, however, the pages should function fine in any browser. It is recommended that the texts be read in the order in which they are given here, as the ideas build upon each other and elements common to all tales are not always repeated every time they appear, although there is a certain amount of repetition and overlap.

From CC3004 Themes in Celtic Literature: The Otherworld Journey, with Dr. John Carey.

Texts & Commentary Recommended reading
Most of these links go to pages containing both
the text of the story and accompanying notes
taken from class. Texts which are both too large
to merit retyping here and generally also available elsewhere, such as Echtra Nerai and Serglige Con Culainn, have been omitted. In these cases, I have provided only my notes and references to decent translations.

Some background/general reading:
  • "The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition" by John Carey in Éigse 17 (1982) p. 36-43.
  • "On the Interrelationships of some Cin Dromma Snechtai Texts" by John Carey in Eriu 46, (1995) p. 71-92 Very helpful!
  • "The Semantics of síd" by Tómas Ó Cathasaigh in Eigse 17, (1978).
  • The Otherworld Journey in Early Irish Literature edt. Wooding. 2000. A collection of essays on this topic,including some of those mentioned below. Highly recommended.

    • Echtrae Chonlai-The Adventure of Condlae
  • "The Rhetoric of Echtrae Chonlai" by John Carey

    • Two Conversations:
    1)Colum Cille and the youth at Carn Eolairg and
    2) Between Bran's Druid and Febul's Prophetess
  • "The Earliest Bran material" by James Carney in Otherworld Journey, above.

    • Immram Brain: The Voyage of Bran

  • "On the Prehistory of Immram Brain" by Proinsias Mac Cana in Eriu 26 (1975) p. 33-52.
  • "The Sinless Otherworld of Immram Brain" by Proinsias Mac Cana in Otherworld Journey, above
    • Two Raids on the Otherworld:
    1)Forfess Fer Fálgae and
    2)Madochód i n-echra n-áin
    The Adventure of Loegaire son of Crimthann
    Serglige Con Culainn:The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn

  • "The Uses of Tradition in Serglige Con Culainn by John Carey
  • "Cu Chulainn as ailing hero" by John Carey

    • Echtra Nerai:The Adventure of Nera

  • "Sequence and Causation in Echtra Nerai" by John Carey

    • The Wooing of Becfhola

  • "Time, Space and the Otherworld" by John Carey in the Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Collquium, 7 (1987).
  • "Otherworlds and verbal worlds in Middle Irish narrative" by John Carey

    • Baile Texts
    1)Baile in Scáil: The Ecstasy of the Phantom
    2)The Ecstasy of Conn of the Hundred Battles and
    3)Tucait Baile Mongán Inso:
    The Cause of the Recounting of Mongán's Frenzy
  • "The Narrative Setting of Baile Chonn Chétchataig by John Carey

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