Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth

by Mark Williams

Ireland's Immortals tells the story of one of the world's great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation's languages, the book describes how Ireland's pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era--and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams's comprehensive history traces how these gods--known as the Tuatha De Danann--have shifted shape across the centuries, from Iron Age cult to medieval saga to today's young-adult fiction.

We meet the heroic Lug; the Morrigan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the mist-cloaked sea god Manannan mac Lir; and the ageless fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal elves. Medieval clerics speculated that the Irish divinities might be devils, angels, or enchanters. W. B. Yeats invoked them to reimagine the national condition, while his friend George Russell beheld them in visions and understood them to be local versions of Hindu deities. The book also tells how the Scots repackaged Ireland's divine beings as the gods of the Gael on both sides of the sea--and how Irish mythology continues to influence popular culture far beyond Ireland.

An unmatched chronicle of the Irish gods, Ireland's Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world's imagination for so long.

Genres: History, Mythology, Nonfiction, Ireland, Religion, Folklore, Irish Literature

608 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Mark Williams is Associate Professor of Global Medieval Literature at the University of Oxford, specialising in Celtic languages and the medieval literature of Ireland and Wales.

Reviews

[ArwendeLuhtiene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5/5
*Warning - Lengthy review coming xD!*

This is an interesting take on the evolution of the figures of the deities of Irish mythology, from the literary works of the Medieval Christian times to the Celtic Revival of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, up to the present, also briefly commenting on their influence on 20th Century epic fantasy works (Tolkien makes an appearance and I agree with the author that there is an interesting analogy between the Tuatha Dé Danann/people of the Sidhe and Tolkien's Elves).

However, while I found the specific focus and take of the study to be interesting (I've been into Celtic Studies topics for as long as I can remember so anything Celtic and Irish-related is sure to spark my interest at least a little xD), I did not find this book as engaging as I had hoped. I ended up speed-reading some parts in order to finish all 600 pages of it, the writing style and organization sometimes didn't manage to keep me as hooked, personally.

From a feminist point of view, I also have a couple of aspects to comment:
-I sometimes found it a bit grating that the sexism and misogyny of some of these myths is hardly ever criticized. I'm aware that feminist analysis is not the focus of this study, but a passing mention would not have been amiss either. Some of these themes (such as double standards, sexual assault, objectification of women, and sexist stereotypes) are often retold without further comment in these academic contexts, and that is far from innocuous, as it can promote that they become even more normalized in our modern society as well. I'm a firm supporter of viewing the historical past from a critical standpoint in order to learn from old mistakes that are, in many cases, regrettably still very modern and very real problems.

-The author includes some women in his study, referencing both female characters (he seems to focus more on male deities, though), as well as a handful of women academics and writers. But he also often uses a masculine generic that invisibilizes women ("men of learning", "men of the Sidhe", etc), and it's not always only used in a generic way - In many cases, he seems to think that it’s logical to conclude that Ireland's 'men of learning' were all male, and seems to find it “unrealistic” to find some women poets, healers and the like featuring in the myths. A mindset which I found pretty grating and which contributed to my greater loss of interest in this book.

Even though Ireland's Ancient and Medieval society seems to have been in some respects better for women in contrast to others of the time, it is often also idealized, that is true. Irish and other Celtic societies were still patriarchal-based, and as such, it is true that the number of women poetesses-filidh/druidesses/leaders/warriors/healers/crafters/etc were far from a 50/50 ratio (hell, we don't have a 50/50 ratio now!), and probably quite rare in more than one case (and that’s without taking into account the innate erasure of women in history - without any doubt we don’t know of many historical Irish women who did rad stuff). But still, the fact is they're still there, rare as they might have been, and there *is* some historical evidence of them (as the author himself admits in a particular footnote, referring to women filidh, druidesses and doctors). We also find a handful of mentions of women in these roles in the mythology as retold in Medieval times, which presumably also harks in a sizeable part to how Ancient Irish society was.

And yet-
“In terms of early Irish social norms, the text does not offer a realistic account – for a start, some of these men are actually women”

And yet, the author claims that it's 'unrealistic' to find some women among the áes dána (‘people of skill’) of the Tuatha Dé in the tale about the Second Battle of Moytura. I found it baffling (but unfortunately, not that surprising – this is not the first time I’ve encountered this kind of ‘logic’) that the author would think that the most notably unrealistic thing in a mythological tale full of gigantic deities, one-eyed antagonists and magic galore...is that among the vast majority of skilled and powerful men there are *gasp* a couple of women mentioned too. Well, as we know, either women hadn’t been invented yet, or their heads were too small (as Jacky Fleming so snarkily says in The Trouble with Women) for all the important stuff anyways *rolls eyes* xD

And we're speaking about a majority of MEN in these tales, nothing as utopian (heh) as a 50/50 ratio or anything remotely fanciful like that. In this particular story (I’ve read a few versions), I remember a couple of witches/druidesses (like Birog); a couple of warrior-women (The war goddess Mórrigán-Babd-Nemain; Cethlenn the wife of Balor; and Macha as wife of Nuada is also mentioned fighting in at least a version of the tale); a healer (Airmed); and a craftswoman (the goddess Brigid, who is not even mentioned as such in the tale). This is far from being an “unrealistic” number of women, in my opinion.

And actually, given what we know about women in ancient Celtic societies, the appearance of a small handful of women being leaders/warriors/teachers/poetesses/druidesses/healers/etc in mythological tales is probably more than reasonable. Celtic societies were still patriarchal-based, but some women did hold all these occupations and roles. I also personally don't quite see Irish monks (and nuns) inventing all these women in these roles out of thin air without them having heard of some precedent xD (if they did, we're before some seriously open-minded and progressive monks here! I mean, we know Irish monks were probably way more open-minded than the rest of European Christianity, seeing as they basically wrote down most info about Ancient Irish society in their mythological stories instead of erasing it all, but...yeah, historical evidence already offers us with some precedent, so xD)

But even if we didn’t have any historical data to back anything of this up – I need to highlight the fact that this author saw a COUPLE of skilled/powerful women in a much larger group of skilled/powerful men and felt the need to point out how unrealistic that was. This speaks a lot for female erasure in history, in my opinion. That particular comment made me view the book in a much warier and less appetizing way, to be honest.

The author does have to kind of grudgingly admit in a small script footnote that there is some historical evidence of some women poets, druids or doctors (among others), but that it is ‘rare in all cases’. But because patriarchy doesn’t limit the male/female parity at all and history has never been known to erase women at all, the fact that they were fewer than men somehow makes these existing women non-existent and invalid (seeing as how the author keeps talking about the ‘men(=males) of learning’, etc), as well as totally unrealistic when they appear in mythological tales.

Irish mythology harks back to Ancient Irish society, Medieval additions and changes non-withstanding – and many studies actually use the information found in these tales in order to reconstruct ancient societal aspects such as class hierarchy, clothing, war tactics and other customs. But apparently when it comes to women it’s a whole different story! I think it's a bit of a huge double standard that some (generally male) academics view mythology as a way to find out how a specific society actually was - But when it comes to women, then they suddenly find it 'unrealistic' that women appear doing anything other than being traditional wives/mothers/daughters/love interests/assault victims/femme fatales. In academic contexts, as in all things, we need less interiorized sexist bias and more objective, open-minded analysis.

[M F]

10/11/16: Despite some confusion about release dates, just ordered this from Book Depository. My dissertation supervisor / Old Irish teacher wrote it, and it covers a fairly similar ground to aspects of my dissertation, so I felt I had to buy it! Also because Mark is funny, and he promised us in today's lecture that the book contains the word "sexcapades" with regards to the Dagda. What's not to love? May take me forever to read even once it's arrived because it's HUGE, but eventually I'll actually review it...

--- --- ---
08/12/16 -- Finished it, at long last! Not that it was dull, but academic books are hard to read for long periods of time, and I've had a lot of brain fog lately, so I'm not even sure I took a lot of it in. I liked it, though. The first half is relevant to my dissertation and degree generally, the second half is just kind of interesting. Also funny, if you find the antics of romantic Celticists to be hilarious the way that I do (you might not; I'm weird). Pretty sure Yeats was high. Pretty sure I want some of whatever he was on.

I know this sucks as a review, but how do I even begin to review a non-fiction book? Mark's got a fairly readable style and doesn't obfuscate and overcomplicate things the way some academic writers do -- though it probably helps that I'm familiar with the topic and terminology already from lectures and supervisions. I would also quite like to push this book in the vague direction of some of the people I've come across online who claim to worship "ancient" Celtic gods, and hope that they get the hint. Far be it from me to disrespect their beliefs; I'm mostly just confused. Hence the vague nudging rather than hitting people in the face with it.

Also, this book may be a bit heavy to hold comfortably but it has really nice smooth paper.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Parnell Square, in the centre of Dublin, there is an emblem of the strong interconnection between Irish mythology and national politics. The Garden of Remembrance, created to commemorate those who died in the pursuit of independence for Ireland, features a large sculpture of the children of Lir, designed by Oisín Kelly. As it is often the case with the Irish myths also in literature, the story of the children converted into swans by their jealous stepmother functions as a symbol. It was chosen as a motif because it represents ideas of rebirth and resurrection: after many years dwelling in the lakes and seas of Ireland, the swans are turned again into people thanks to the arrival of Christianity, just as Ireland had also been reborn as a sovereign state in 1922.
Mark Williams, a self-confessed philologist and literary critic, “rather than a historian” (2016, p. xiv), stresses the religious, literary and mythological aspects of his topic, over the political, in an ambitious overview covering centuries, Ireland´s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth. His book is helpfully divided in two distinct parts. The first one is devoted to literature written in Irish, focusing on the medieval period, and provides detailed analyses of individual works. General readers outside Ireland are less likely to be already familiar with this material: “The Adventure of Connlae”, “The Voyage of Bran”, “The Wooing of Étaín”, ”The Second Battle of Moytura”, “Lebor Gabála”, “The Colloquy of the Elders”, etc... On the other hand, the second section deals with literature written in English, from around the seventeenth century to the present day. It is structured around key authors and, in the case of the Irish Literary Revival, their interactions. At the end of each chapter Mark Williams, who teaches at the University of Oxford, provides a useful summary to ensure his readers keep track with arguments and developments extended over very large periods of time.
All the written information we have about the Irish gods dates back to the Christian age, as Mark Williams takes pains to emphasize (2016, p.3), and thus what we have truly is Christian authors engaging with what they feared could be viewed mostly as Pagan traditions. Remarkedly, these chroniclers tried to dispel any possible doubts that could be harboured about their own position towards the Irish deities and, to that effect, they pointed out, “(…) though we enumerate them, we do not worship them” (cit. in Williams, 2016, p. 169). For this reason, and as part of the interactions between the old mythology and the newer Christian belief, the process is one of gradually lessening the divinity of these gods. In the earlier stories they appear indeed as gods of gigantic proportions, engaging in internecine wars and altering the geology of Ireland, in a traditional theomachy scenario. However, sometimes they come to interact with monks or saints, and can even, on occasion, be redeemed and humanized, so their souls can reach heaven. On the other hand, as part of the “pseudohistory” of Ireland, these supernaturals may also be noble ancestors of mysterious powers, involved in the formation of the country.
When they do appear as full-blown gods again, it is only to be completely defeated by the humans then inhabiting the land, named Sons of Míl. Ireland´s supernaturals are pushed to a form of internal exile, and they have lived in their hollow hills, called síde, ever since. At this point they seem to become more akin to the fairies of Irish folklore that many readers will be quite familiar with, found in the writings of Yeats and Lady Gregory, for instance. Each community, humans and defeated gods, keeps to “their own Ireland”, splitting the country into a physical and an otherworldly part in a very evocative way that intriguingly foreshadows social and political divisions, between Catholics and Protestants, between North and South, in later times.
The overall picture of the Irish gods that emerges from the medieval literature is one of confusion, vagueness and fluidity well-suited to inspire further literary creativity. As the Celtic Twilight began to glow, in the late nineteenth century, Yeats and others, such as George Russell and William Sharp (writing also as Fiona Macleod) tried explicitly to give corporeal form to these diffuse gods and to imagine what they would have looked like. Similarly, the very protean nature of the Irish deities allowed these artists to recreate them in their work for their own personal agendas and to make them into the symbols of their obsessions. It is argued that, as the Irish supernaturals were effectively neutral, pre-Catholic mythical material, Yeats and other Protestant writers could safely claim them in the process of reasserting their feeling of belonging to Ireland just as much as Catholics did (Williams, 2016, p. 292, p. 300).
There is a lot of very curious information to be amused about in Mark William’s book, although not necessarily related to Irish mythology. For instance, it is believed that Gaelic poets, the filid, used to compose their poems while lying in bed (Williams, 2016, p. 177). Probably, they could only retreat there, not having “a room of their own”. In a similar vein, linguists would be interested to learn that there is even a myth about the birth of the Irish language itself, told in a grammar book, The Scholars’ Primer, dating back to the seventh century. It is paraphrased by Williams (2016, p. 135): “At the disaster of the Tower of Babel, a Scythian nobleman named Fénius Farsaid (‘Irishman the Pharisee’) extracted all the best bits of humanity’s jumbled languages and from them pieced together the world’s first artificial, perfect language: Irish”. Clearly, language as a mark of national identity was already notable in remote medieval Irish monasteries.
There is plenty of amusement too in the sections devoted to the nineteenth century. In a medley of very idiosyncratic intellectuals, there is a married couple who stand out, James and Gretta Cousins. In a marital memoir superbly entitled We Two Together the Irish gods appear to be on a first-name basis with the Cousins. When these deities appear themselves to Gretta, they ask her to pass on their sublime messages “to Jim” (Williams, 2016, p. 423). It can be tempting to view some of these visionaries as childish, maudlin individuals, or even fraudsters. However, Williams does not contemplate the latter, and it must be remembered that occultism was a very powerful current of thought at times characterised by wars, disease and high rates of child mortality.
In modern days, according to Mark Williams (2016, p. 434), the importance of the gods in Irish literature has decreased, whilst they have continued to provide inspiration for writers of popular fiction outside of Ireland. Aficionados of fantasy books will be able to glimpse the Irish divinities in aspects of the fairies in the Shadowhunters sagas by American author Cassandra Clare, or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by British novelist Susanna Clarke. In one of her recent novels, Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare conjures up two fairies chuckling over words written by Yeats about their kind: “He didn’t know anything about faeries. Nobody grows bitter of tongue? Ha!” (Clare, 2017, 20: Evermore). Surely, any god would be delighted to see that they are so immortal that they continue to appear in books, both as fictional characters and as objects of academic study.

References:
Clare, Cassandra (2017) Lord of Shadow, [ebook reader] New York, Simon and Schuster
Williams, Mark (2016) Ireland´s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press

[Shashi Martynova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I'd give 10 stars if I could. Possibly THE book to start personal Irish studies, for any amateur. Immense work, fantastic scope of knowledge and literary sources for further investigation.

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due to two recent excellent explorations of Irish mythology - first Dr. Dimitra Fimi's brilliant course for Signum University 'Celtic Myth in Children's Literature' (www.signumuniversity.org) and secondly her newly published must read monograph Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Literature Idealization, Identify and Ideology from Palgrave (www.dimitrafimi.com) I have become very interested in Irish mythology and language; even to the point of trying to 'make an assault' on the bewildering grammar and syntax of Old and Middle Irish. Therefore Professor Mark Williams book came just at a time that found me reading some of the original sources of Irish mythology; especially in the brilliant edition The Celtic Heroic Age edited by John T. Koch and John Carey. Williams excellent work is one of the most scholarly treatments I have read to date of both how the body of Irish myth and legend grew (or perhaps was invented) by the Christian monks who looked to take a body of oral tales and pagan myths and form them into a coherent and consistent system. Williams takes a forensic approach to charting the different historical layers of these myths drawing upon textual, cultural and archaeological evidence to examine how pagan deities were given Christian meanings. This is truly a history of how the Gods of Irish myth were invented. In Part Two of this book Williams turns to exploring how these system of mythology were forged into a national pantheon as Ireland sought a national identity and became linked to 19th century construct of 'Celtology'. Williams gives special focus to the mytho-centric and occult nationalism of W.B. Yeats, George Russell and perhaps one of the most interesting writers that had not hit my radar until to now the Scottish writer William Sharp who published under the name 'Fiona Macleod' who was part of the 'Celtic' revival in Scotland and published several works that drew on Irish myth to invent a pantheon of other Irish gods (echoes of Dunsany and Tolkien!). Williams concludes by exploring how the reinvented Irish myths were adapted in modern Irish literature (including briefly in children's literature). This book is quite detailed and I will leave it for 'Celticists' more experienced than me to dig into the details. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in myth and legend and how mythologies are invented. A brilliant scholarly work that offers much to dig into and explore!

[Joseph F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

So! You think you are an aficionado in Celtic mythology; an expert on the Irish gods. Well, think again. I thought I knew a thing or two on the subject, but this scholarly dense book taught me so much of what I knew through the years to be wrong.
In the first half, Williams gives us a very detailed understanding of the gods based on the early literature. Although even with this grand literature, the gods are always rather vague: they are never fully fleshed gods that we get in other mythologies, but made human by early Christian writers.
This I have always known.
But what I didn't know was just how little there is in the myths of a remembered pagan past. The stories are more Christian allegory than we thought, only with characters from a very ancient past.
There are many other slaps in the face concerning these cherished myths:
The Danann part of the Tuatha De Danann came rather late. The gods were merely Tuatha De. But not to get them confused with the "God people" of the Bible, danann was tacked on. Indeed Danu is a reconstructed, or just constructed, word by philologists.
What!!!
The idea that the sons of Mil came from Spain is not a dimly remembered belief, but the result of bad etymology between the words Hibernia and Iberia.
Head explosion!!
Brigid may not have been originally a fire goddess at all as she is depicted in modern imagery, but a goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing. As a matter of fact, the much beloved goddess of today's pagans hardly had anything about her in the old writings.
The horror.

But for those of you who dare to get to know the real gods, this book is a must have. (Although I wonder how much of what the author says is still debated among scholars).
It only covers Ireland and a tiny bit of Scotland (in the second half), so don't expect anything concerning The equivalent gods of Welsh mythology and the Mabinogion.
The second half deals with new takes on the old myths due to romantic, spiritual and occult concerns starting in the eighteenth century. Some of this stuff is really out there, with people making up all kinds of gods and stories and acting as if it's part of the tradition. Many even literally believed in the gods and myths, as many do today. The author is particularly funny in dealing with this section.

A few names I have come across before in this section. Although he had his reasons, the author was rather critical of Donald A. MacKenzie. Even so, I enjoyed this author's many classic books on world mythology. Conversely, he was a little too kind on Lady Gregory. Although she gave us a very readable and accessible account of the Celtic myths, I felt she cleaned them up too much. Celtic mythology has some very harsh and grotesque moments. It's part of their beauty. She sanitized the tales and at times gave us more gentle, romantic versions rather than the more gut wrenching ones. See for example her treatment of the death of Deirdre in her book on Cuchulainn (as well as her skipping his frightening description during his battle fury, something I always relished), and how Diarmuid and Grainne first had sex in her Gods and Fighting Men (Hint: she doesn't tell the humorous naughty version)
Williams says nothing about this.

A bit overwhelming at times with the amount of material covered here, but always fascinating.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phew! This was a hefty book. To be completely honest, I skimmed most of the last few chapters (I was significantly less interested in the contemporary literary resurgence of "Ireland's Immortals" than I was in the rest of the book).

Williams is an impressive scholar, and a great and quite often humorous writer. He is able to write as a literary scholar and philologist, touching on topics as varied as the Christian doctrine of deification and 19th-century occult practices and offering linguistic analysis for everything from Old Irish to Greek to Latin to potential Old Norse cognates.

I found his historical analysis of Ireland's Immortals to be interesting. His reading of the voyage of Bran and the adventure of Connlae were particularly good, and I appreciated the way he approached the stories within their historical context. One of his basic theses, that it is virtually impossible to disentangle Ireland's original deities from their Christianized reinterpretation, was solidly persuasive, and he goes to great lengths to show the inherent Christian themes even in the earliest texts we have. The historical development was a really helpful lens, and offers a clarity and a lens through which to view Irish and Gaelic mythology that I have not found elsewhere. Would definitely recommend, though with the warning that it is a scholarly work written to be accessible to the intrepid amateurs willing to put in the time and effort.

[Justin Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent material to help with understanding irish mythology

This is an excellent reference and work on Irish mythology and how it evolved from ancient times in classical era to the modernist reformation. Must read quite a heavy read evoking lot's of thoughts and questions

[Dianne Trautmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that the title of this very academically oriented book is misleading. It really focuses on the history of the writers of the tales. There is scant info or descriptions of the ‘immortals’ of said stories. A few are singled out as examples: Aengus Og, Midir, Manannan, and even Bridget toward the end, but they are passing glances. I was hoping for more.

[Michael H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of information but pretty dry. I expected this book would be about the myths themselves, but it focused more on how information about the myths has been obtained and how the myths compare with other tales.

[Eduardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was working on the sporking again, and I keep thinking I’d like a book on Irish mythology that is based on the source materials and without a touch of New Age misconceptions (no, Hearne, Flidais is NOT a hunting goddess!!!), and I saw this referred to in a thread about Irish mythology books. So I thought I’d pick it up, since the library system had it. But, uh… it’s a bit more scholarly than I was expecting. If you’re looking up the subject as an academic, this book is very good for you! But as a guide to the subject of Irish mythology, it’s difficult to get through at times.

But it IS very good at its mission, which is not to retell Irish myths or catalog its figures, but to chronicle how Irish mythology and its deities have been viewed throughout history. Which is quite interesting! Unlike Greek mythology, we have no religious records from the pre-Christian peoples of this location, so we don’t have anything close to a clear picture as to what the beliefs were. We have some of the gods, and bits of story, but that’s it–and we don’t know how much was added later by Christian writers. What’s really not helping is that in the 18th and 19th century, there was a revival of interest in the mythology, and a lot of those writers sort of… made up a lot of stuff to fit the gods into occult, nationalist, and/or modernist modes of thought.

UGH, Yeats…

It’s a lot of information to sort through, but it isn’t too dry. Williams has a sense of humor at times–he mentions specialists “breaking out in hives” at the mention of one topic, and in one footnote he makes a point to emphasize that sometimes the Irish gods are depicted as GIGANTIC, and he’s not sure why no one else seems to talk about it.

And it goes into modern day and talks a little about modern depictions of Irish deities! I was very happy to see that “Hounds of the Morrigan” got a mention, as it was a surprise favorite of mine when I read it.

This is a good text and a good resource! However, it’s not easy reading, so I wouldn’t chuck it at anyone unless they were really interested in the subject or, of course, doing academic work on it.

[Peter McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two books in one: a literary history of the mediaeval Irish ‘Mythological cycle’ (and a few related works), followed by a mostly-separate history of how the Gaelic Revival repurposed the material. The first half comes highly recommended to anyone who—like me—knew a lot of ‘Irish myth’ from childhood but grew sceptical of its provenance in adulthood; I only wish there was a book this good about the Ulster or Fenian cycles. In the second half, Williams (fascinatingly) credits Yeats with formulating the threefold identity of the Tuatha Dé Danann of mediaeval literature, the fairies of folklore, and the deities of pre-Christian religion. This was fundamentally correct, and represented a major historical insight (albeit one in need of qualifications that were quickly buried under Revivalist twaddle). But Williams tiptoes around the implications, scared of being accused of the sin of ‘pagan survivalism’. He grants that the Tuatha Dé are based on literary memory of pagan gods (he couldn’t have written the book without this premise!), but the exact same reasoning tells us that fairy-stories are linked to folk memory of pagan gods. By leaving them out, Williams leaves out half of the history of ‘the gods of Irish myth’.

[Sherry Sharpnack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reviews of this book were glowing. It is recommended as a reliable source by the Irish Pagan School.
Perhaps I needed to start at a more basic level w/ translations of the actual stories of the Túatha Dé Danaan - the possible native "gods" of Ireland, b/c this book was a look at the LITERARY mentions of the "gods" throughout Irish history, not an actual tale ABOUT them. Between trying to correctly pronounce the old Irish in my head (w/ the help of a short primer at the beginning of the book), and reading these stories for the first time, this was a HARD book for me. In this edition, the footnotes were all at the bottom of each page, as opposed to listed together at the end, so I slowed myself down even more by reading those, hoping for additional enlightenment. I was happy that I had read Hutton's "Blood and Mistletoe: a history of the Druids" at the end of 2020, b/c Hutton is referenced as a source multiple times in this book, and it did increase my familiarity w/ some of the literary names referenced in this tome.
If you like REALLY detailed, highly-footnoted, exhaustively sourced books (and generally, I DO), this is the book for you. I felt like I was reading a textbook or even doctoral thesis more than just an entertaining book. Again, I probably just needed to find a translation of the stories of the gods before I read this.

[Glinsky]

Well informed, yes, but shallow, the author mistakes not only his own aesthetic impulses for cultural insights, but also his own specialism with a far more extensive competence than he actually possesses, and helps himself in the process to dismissive judgements concerning predecessors and protagonists to which he imagines himself mysteriously immune.

For that reason he is often not merely unpersuasive, but also distasteful, immature. Less condescending than, say, Hutton, but no less self-regarding. Of course, a reader wants to learn what a knowledgeable author has to say about a topic of mutual interest, but that is where this author’s true interests lie: in what he has to say, much more obviously than in what he has to say it about.

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is divided into 2 parts i.e. the 1st part covering the Irish 'gods' in pre-1500 literary sources and the 2nd part covering the literary sources dated for the most part after 1850. I was very much interested in the 1st part, the second I read because I forced myself to, I really could not care less about Madama Blavatsky, theosophism and esotheric blah. The author too is clearly critical, which was a relief, but I just would have liked more part 1. Besides I have an unexpainable aversion to the poet Yeats. This review is completely based on my own preferences, for those interested in the material treated in part 2 I think the author covers it really well but I was a lousy audience.

[Everett Trechter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it should be clear that this is more a history of the literary treatment of what are sort-of considered the Irish gods, since reading the blurb here on goodreads might be a little misleading. I'd recommend having a basic familiarity with some of the concepts, characters, and major stories before jumping into this book, but having that, it's a really fascinating read. A little dense, but very full of information, written with an approachable joviality that gets you through the dry bits, and with an interesting perspective.

[Pat Druid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very comprehensive book, written in an accessible but academic style, containing a wealth of knowledge such as I will probably never amass in a lifetime - I love it! The author has clearly been a total completist about his subject, and it is marvellous to get the perspective on the figures of myth and legend through from the earliest manuscripts to modern pop culture.
I use this as a reference book and dip in and out regularly. I think this book will be a companion for years to come.

[Liam Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellently researched history of Irish mythology as told through the lens of Christian authors; Williams does a superb job highlighting how the historicity of these accounts is dubious, sometimes contradictory, and heavily influenced by the Christian chroniclers, yet contains truth hidden within. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mythology and is looking for a change from the standard Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies.

[Edward Woeful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little is known for certain about the gods of Ireland. The author draws the reader into an amazing and almost detective story about how the spiritual heritage of Ireland was collected bit by bit, and sometimes even invented. The book is not easy to read: many references, quotes from medieval sources, immersion in the subtleties of the Gaelic language, and more than a thousand footnotes. But it is worth it.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers an interesting topic. It isn't comprehensive, though Williams is very up front about that. His writing style is engaging and flows very well, despite the highly academic topic. Williams is very informative. It's disappointing that so much of pre-Christian Ireland has been tainted by later Christian and Romantic writers, but clarifying this issue is still a beneficial endeavor.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, in-depth, academic look at Irish folklore. It's a lot to take in at once, and I took quite awhile to read this one, but well worth the effort. Extremely thorough and well-researched. I learned quite a bit.

[Andy Leavy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely massive but brilliant book that chronicles the history of Irish myth and legend with a focus on the literary.

A really great jumping on point for Irish mythology and the extensive footnotes means you have plenty of resources for more reading.

Really great.

[Bill Cass · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was excited about this book, but it was a slog. A lot of minutia.

[Mick Gaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting academic study of Irish mythology and its study and retelling

[Mordsith Cutler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please read my review at Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions

[David Melbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. Just when I think that I know enough about a subject, along comes a book like this one to prove me wrong. Thanks to Mark Williams, I am now better informed on this fascinating topic. Unequalled by any other western culture for Its vast amount of literature on the subject of local myths, Williams points out that Irish myth is pretty much cut out of whole cloth. Well-researched and well-written, I recommend this book to all scholars of myth. You will not regret it.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extensive history of the Irish gods in literature, from the early Middle Ages up to the present day. As a layman, it is the most comprehensive book I have come across on the subject. Unfortunately, we have no contemporary accounts of pre-Christian religion in Ireland, so most everything we know has been filtered through Christian monks, who were not interested in the religious aspects of Irish mythology or, generally, in providing any kind of encyclopedic account of the pantheon. Rather, what they were were interested in is retelling stories that amused or moved them, or in adapting the gods to tell Christian stories. (And, of course, who knows how many accounts were lost forever when manuscripts were destroyed?) After the English came to power in Ireland, the gods disappeared from literature altogether, and then were adapted in more recent centuries to serve the political and aesthetic goals of modern writers. Mark Williams does a heroic job of wrangling all of the different versions of stories over more than 15 centuries, and, while he gives his own interpretations of the texts (which I cannot judge, as a layperson and non-Irish speaker), he also sets out where there are differences of opinion in the academic world. Ultimately, the Irish gods remain a mystery, or, from a different perspective, whatever we want to make of their traces. Williams, in clear and imminently readable (i.e. non-academic) prose (and gently humorous when dealing with the occult extravagances of 19th and early 20th century mystics) gives the reader everything he or she needs to dive in and start forming his or her own vision.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written and does a great job of looking at Irish gods and goddesses through the lens of literature, from the early medieval manuscripts to the 21st century. That said, it's strongly anti-nativist rhetoric got tiresome after a while.

I've come back to edit this review five years later. Yes, the scholarship here is good, and the author makes some interesting points, and I learned a few things. What concerns me, is that this book is marketed to a non-academic audience who don't realise that they are getting is the anti-nativist viewpoint on Irish medieval mythological literature, not the "correct" or only point of view. The stance that this body of texts are simple literary productions of the monasteries, which are only borrowing the trappings of pre-Christian tales, has been growing in popularity since the 1980s - but this is more of an academic fashion than some absolute truth. Most people currently working in Celtic studies would at least say that the arguments for or against that viewpoint are highly nuanced, and others take the more traditional view which prevailed for over a century, that there is a clear lineage (not without change, obviously) from pre-Christian material to medieval texts.

Unfortunately, Williams fails to really let his lay readers know that there is any debate going on about the things he states as outright facts. I frequently hear this book spoken about by non-academics as having "opened their eyes about where Celtic mythology really comes from." Oh dear.

[Bruce Macfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of us who brought up on irish mythology in the 60s and 70s this book is essential reading. Like Dumville who challenged the Arthurian writers, Williams points out, quite simply, that our knowledge of irish mythology is through the pen of those who could write. i.e. the Christian Monks. And thus what we see of the stories is through the eyes of those monks. Rarely from those who weren't. Sadly we cannot cross the event horizon to see the people described in those stories. But we are free to imagine. And that is the pleasure. An excellent book that needed telling.