laila
12 August 2009 @ 04:57 pm
Why did nobody tell me this was awesome?  
I don't use this icon enough, which is a shame because it's an extremely pretty one and one of my especial favorites. I just keep forgetting it's there. Sigh.

Anyway. This post is made in my capacity as 'aspiring author' rather than Weiss Kreuz fanficcer or resident bringer of extremely TL;DR metarants about bad fan writing and/or Gaia Online. If anyone doesn't want to be bored to death as I go on about world-building and research materials and how there are these awesome sites I managed to get hold of with a little help from the knowledgeable, they may wish to look away now. I won't mind if you do.

Okay, anyone still here? Right then. One of the major aspects of the story I'm writing is Ireland. I know a decent amount about Irish history - not enough, but a tolerable amount - and about the same tolerable amount about the Irish in London. This is pretty good for a kick-off, but clearly not quite enough. Not when I know precisely nothing about Irish folklore and legends and I seem to remember Irish folklore and legends as being extremely interesting and pretty hardcore when they're not being misappropriated by fluffy Pagans.

So I took myself over to random_lounge on Journalfen, where clever people go to snark about things, and begged for some halp.

Hope this isn't too out-there, but does anybody know of any good books or websites on the subject of Celtic mythology and folklore? I'm trying to get hold of it for a story I'm in the process of researching, and I was wondering if anybody here could offer any pointers. Specifically I'm after information on Irish folk tales, heroes and myths - preferably not sanitized to make them kid-friendly - though more general overviews would be absolutely fine as well. I'm totally new at all this, and I don't even know where to start.

Any recommendations or hints on where to begin looking would be really appreciated.

After hesitating for a while over whether or not I dared speak up there - Journalfen communities intimidate me a lot, I never feel quite smart or witty enough to actually start posts there - I posted that begging letter yesterday, and since then I've got a good few responses. It's no epic rec post, admittedly, but this is actually pretty fortunate as I have a ton of history books to read as well... when they get here from Amazon, anyway.

I got linked to a couple of websites that I already love, and I'm just going to leave these links here in case anything happens to my bookmarks...

I've already read a couple of Irish folktales and I seriously love them already. The Irish version of The Gingerbread Man is very similar to the version that's better-known over here, it just seems to involve a cake rather than anything man-shaped, but it was the Irish take on the Cinderella story that I really flipped over. It's called Fair, Brown and Trembling and you need to read it. It is one of the most amazing fairy tales I have ever read - not least of which because it's about an awesome prince who has swordfights and gunfights and hangs onto fleeing horses by the riders' legs, not just a handsome one who dances at girls and moons over shoes. Now that's the kind of guy you marry.

[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: there's an Irish version of Cinderella where they see the girl at Mass rather than a ball and then there's a swordfight
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman:and the girl gets swallowed by a whale and it is SO MUCH MORE EPIC than the classic version
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: Swallowed by a whale?
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: seriously, that is so much cooler than 'she goes to a ball and loses a shoe'.
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: in this version she loses a shoe because she's riding off and the prince HANGS ONTO HER FOOT.
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: Ireland, I love you.
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: they knew how to tell a story over there
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: That's a very Irish attitude to have really. "You'll have to fight if you want to marry her." "Alright then, let's be having you."
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: I know, seriously. How much more AWESOME would the Disney Cinderella have been if they used that version?
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman:Less padding, less mouse singing, just asskicking, horsechases and whale fights.
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: and the prince is BADASS, not some effete thing who dances at her.
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: Especially given Prince Charming is by far the most pointless prince.
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: All the other ones have to do at least some fighting. All his work is done by mice
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: And then he has a gunfight with a flipping whale
[livejournal.com profile] rokesmith: And when that story says 'gun', it blatantly means a matchlock pistol or something.
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: exactly!
[livejournal.com profile] quietladybirman: HE HAS A GUNFIGHT WITH A WHALE.

I've got a dictionary of Celtic mythology on order from Amazon as well now, and there are a couple of other things I need to look into getting a hold of. I'm planning on going into town and looking for a copy of The Tain sometime this weekend: I'd like to take a look through that before I buy it for some reason, though I do intend to buy it. Not so sure about The Mabinogen yet as from all I've heard that was a Welsh legend and I don't know how relevant it would be, but on the other hand I'm half Welsh and I'm curious as to what it says. Besides, since I'm here...

I also discovered that a poem my father used to recite to us as kids because my brother liked it and which I still pretty much know off by heart was based on the story of Oengus Mac Og. Suddenly I feel a lot more reconciled to having it in my head and am almost considering going and looking it up again to refresh my memory about what happens after he hooks a berry to a thread and before the girl with apple-blossom in her hair shows up. It's a decent way to get back to grips with his story, after all.

There's only one problem with all this. My sudden interest in the books I'm using for research after favoriting quite a lot of classic sci-fi appears to have confused Amazon to the extent it's asking if I want to read Pax Britannia: Unnatural History. Oh, God.

Also, who sings in Gaelic aside from Enya? She's the only one I know of, dammit.
 
 
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