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Issue 4 Introduction:
Celtic Science Fiction & Fantasy
A Paper Session at the Modern Language Association
Annual Meetings, Philadelphia, PA, 2004,
Sponsored by the MLA Discussion Group on
Celtic Languages and Literatures.
Brian ó Conchubhair
Issue 4 Contents
Garland Kimmer, "'For We Have New Worlds Here': Ireland, Myth, and Alternative Heroism in Fantasy Fiction"
Kate Hennessey, "Star-Crossed Lovers or Gun-Toting Gangsters?: Paul Mercier's Adaptation of The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne"
Philip O'Leary, "Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Irish Language"
C.W. Sullivan III, "Conscientious Use: Welsh Celtic Myth and Legend in Fantastic Fiction"
The Celts persist, if not in fascinating, then certainly in alluring the public. The commercial success of fiction drawing on themes and motifs from the Celtic countries is unmistakable. PlayStation—the most successful commercial video game—recently incorporated a 'Celtic' element into the latest version of Tomb Raider V. Lara Croft, the sixteen-year old hero, visits Southwest Ireland where she encounters "Celtic mythology, Munster superstitions and spooks n' specters [mixed] into a Gaelic brew." It is difficult to rationalize the commercial and popular success of Celtic fantasy and science fiction without patronizing and demeaning its authors and readers. The millions of readers that purchase such books undoubtedly constitute an eager audience. Whether such writing buffets against indifferent realities, provides solace midst the uncertainties of a secular world or merely allows fleeting escapism, it undoubtedly serves some need and answers some call. After a century of critics confidently declaring realism, then modernism, then postmodernism. etc., etc., as the new dominant literary mode fantasy, as evidenced by the recent success of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, remains a constant favorite with the great reading masses. Fantasy, whatever or not we approve, displays a marked capacity not only to survive, but indeed to thrive. This is true of Celtic Fantasy no less than any other sub genre.
Celtic Fantasy, despite its faults, inaccuracies and shortcomings offers Celtic Studies an unique opportunity to reach a novel audience and attract new students. A commitment to such popular fiction would attract students to scholarly Celtic Studies, entice them to explore the culture, history, religion and society of the Celts and to study the original texts. Alternatively, Celtic Studies may dismiss this phenomenon as infantile regression and lament the manipulation of commercial interest in things Celtic. and avert their eyes in airport bookstores from the ever expanding science fiction and fantasy section as they travel to and from academic conferences. Addressing the phenomenon and exploiting this latent and fallow market seems more productive in the long term and more likely to appease faculty administrators obsessed with statistics rather than scholarship.
"Celtic Fantasy and Science Fiction" provided the theme for the 2004 Celtic Languages and Literature panel at the 2004 Modern Languages Association annual meeting held at Philadelphia. An audience of approximately forty heard papers by Professors Carrie Prettiman (Cedar Crest Collage), C.W. Sullivan III (East Carolina University) and Philip T. O'Leary (Boston College) on the chosen topic. In the opening paper, Carrie Prettiman revealed that in excess of 40 million people have read Morgan Llewellyn's novels, most of which pertain to Irish and Celtic subject matter. Querying the understanding such readers gained from Llewellyn's portrayal of Celtic society, history and culture, Prettiman pinpointed the question at the heart of the session and at the heart of this issue. Who critiques the horde of contemporary writers who borrow, adopt, adapt and plagiarize Celtic material for characters, themes and plots? C.W. Sullivan III, a specialist on Welsh fantasy, stated in the opening essay:
Too many authors, looking for catchy or foreign-sounding names, raid the world's mythologies and use whatever names 'sound good' to them and seldom consider the story behind the name, the nature of the character who bears that name, or any cultural weight that that name might carry. To be sure, only the most amateur fiction writer would use a name like Thor or Zeus that way, but popular writers, Robert Jordan, for example, do take less well known names from mythology and legend and use them without consideration for the contexts from which they came.
Are such authors free to ransack Celtic mythology, history and literature, to pillage and carry off what ever booty appeals to them to serve their own literary purposes with scant regard for context, scholarship, critical interpretation or factual accuracy? Patrica Kennealy-Morrison attempts to deflect such criticism in her work by referring to her books as Keltic rather than Celtic, thus granting herself license to appropriate material, words and names from several Celtic languages. In his thoughtful and provocative essay, Sullivan establishes criteria not alone to define fantasy writing but to critique its faithfulness to the original text and plot. He provides, in addition, a detailed overview of Welsh fantasy writing. This synopsis of Welsh writing offers a backdrop to Philip T. O'Leary's essay that sketches the literary history of science fiction and fantasy in Irish language literature. O'Leary queries why Irish-language authors since the late nineteenth-century revival have, by and large, avoided fantasy and science fiction since it solves the dilemma urban realism poses for that particular language. The answer, he argues, lies in Ireland's intellectual climate.
Garland Kimmer considers the correlation between dragons and Celts in English writing and discerns a distinctive Irish mode of hero formation that differs from 'the decent chap' so prevalent in English adventure novels. Accordingly, Irish fantasy writers resort to the outlaw and oppose state institutions by appealing to traditional morality. To illustrate, his thesis draws on the Lord Dunsany (Edward Plunkett) and the Eoin Colfer. The selected stories, he argues, suggest a heroic tradition that pursues thievery and greed as desirable traits as opposed to those traits of self-sacrifice and restraint imposed on their more heroic fantasy counterparts.
In the fourth and final essay, Katherine Hennessy tackles Paul Mercier's adaptation and reworking of the classic Irish tale Toraíocht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne and assess his faithfulness to the original script. Mercier, a dramatist regarded for his gritty urban realism and distinctly unheroic characters, reworks this material to speak to Celtic Tiger Ireland and its attendant social ills - drugs, prostitution and gang warfare. The result is a stunning adaptation of the original that not only addresses contemporary Ireland but demonstrates that Celtic material still contains insights into human nature. Hennessy's conclusion returns to a fundamental issue: what is the value of reworking and modernizing earlier Celtic texts? The further extremes of fantasy and science fiction, it appears, may not always produce the most spectacular results. Loyalty to the text and careful modification may often prove as successful - if not more successful - than those infused with imagined technological advantages.
The hope for this issue is to draw attention to the multitude of fantasy and science fiction novels that exist, many of which are highly marketable and widely read. Such literature represents for many readers their sole exposure to Celtic culture and society. Much of the more far-fetched claims need to be met, challenged and dispelled, if not out-rightly contradicted, but this genre may provide an opportunity for Celtic Studies to engage with cultural studies/popular studies. Celtic Studies, perhaps more than most academic disciplines, suffers from a fringe following - misguided amateurs and conspiracy sleuths as definite in belief as misguided in their detail. The 40 million readers who purchase, read and enjoy Morgan Llewellyn represent an unexploited market for Celtic Studies and an appeal to such readers on the basis of their reading interests may represent a potential market for Celtic Studies, as it seeks to increase students enrollment, save departments and retain faculty. The success of authors such as Kenneth C. Flint, "Caiseal Mór", Lynn Flewelling, Rick Sutcliffe, Andrew M. Greeley, Patrica Kennealy-Morrison, Juliet Mariller, Anne Kelleher, Katherine Kerr, Jack Whyte, Randy Lee Eickhoff and the afore mentioned Morgan Llewellyn testifies to the popularity and extent of Celtic fantasy and science fiction.
In offering four essays by a variety of scholars who focus their attentions on different texts and aspects of Celtic fantasy writing, this issue of Celtic Cultural Studies demonstrates some of the advantages of bringing scholarship and critical acumen to bear on such texts. It is to be hoped that this venture may initiate a dialogue between Celtic scholars, writers and readers in an effort to popularize Celtic Studies and underpin fantasy fiction with Celtic scholarship.
Copyright © Brian ó Conchubhair, 2005
This edition copyright © Celtic Cultural Studies, 2005
ISSN 1468-6074
The moral, intellectual, and other universally-recognised copy rights
of the author are hereby registered and asserted under the terms of
UK, European Union, and other internationally valid copyright laws.
All rights reserved.
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