The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal, to the Land of the Living: an Old Irish Saga, with an essay upon the Irish vision of the happy otherworld and the Celtic doctrine of rebirth

by Kuno Meyer (Editor and Translator)

paperback

Genres: Medieval, Ireland, Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1106

About the author

Dr. Kuno Meyer, Ph.D. (University of Leipzig, 1884) was a scholar of Celtic philology and literature; lecturer in Teutonic languages at University College, Liverpool, England; and Todd Professor in the Celtic Languages at the Royal Irish Academy, later serving as Professor of Celtic Philology at Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin. During WWI, he lectured widely in the U.S., causing controversy for his pro-German views. Dublin councilman W.T. Cosgrave called Meyer, "the greatest Celtic authority since the death of Whitley Stokes."

Reviews

[Phoenix Ocean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much like The Voyage of Malduin but mostly in verse and much much more condensed. This gains points for clarity and nice language but loses points for not having as interesting of a plot.

[Katie]

The first full book I read for my class on Celtic literature. I was actually surprised how positive my reading experience was. Meyer's translation feels very idiomatic, which made reading and understanding the tale quite easy. Of course, as I do not know Old/Middle Irish, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this translation, but I can say that Meyer makes it a point to mention whenever something is unclear. Moreover, there is a detailed introduction that mentions the difficulties one encounters when dealing with this text and all its transcriptions and translations. All in all, I am very glad my professor picked this particular edition for us to read.

[Charlie Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard this tale until I came across an online version of this public domain book. Kuno Meyer is presumably attempting to translate as literally as possible, and consequently, the whimsical, rhyming, nature of the original gaelic text is lost.

The fault belongs to no one other than the passage of time, but a lot of the words used within the text are fairly difficult to understand. I'm pretty thankful the book was available online, as in many instances, I found myself having to google words to determine whether they referenced places or things.

After the actual voyage, the appendixes give you a look at what is probably the basis for the bulk of Arthurian legend. This book is worth reading, but if you can find a more up to date version of the stories of Bran and Mongan, get it.

[Lulu]

late 7th / early 8th - survive first c. 1100 Lebor na hUidre (old Irish?) http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/bran_meyer.pdf