A History the Gods of Irish Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016); Xxx, 578 Pp., $39.50 (Hardback)

[The Pomegranate 20.1 (2018) 122-124] ISSN 1528-0268 (print) https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.36649 ISSN 1743-1735 (online)

Mark Williams, Ireland’s Immortals: A History the Gods of Irish Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016); xxx, 578 pp., $39.50 (hardback).

The academic study of the pre-Christian religion of the “Celts” is a peculiarly difficult field that is riven with scholarly conflicts, incon- clusive textual evidence, and disputed archaeological finds. Mark Williams’ book is an ambitious exercise, and he expresses the hope that, in addition to a scholarly audience, “it will be entertaining and accessible to the general public” (xvii). The book is in two parts: the first six chapters focus on the literary sources for the Irish gods and myths; and the second six chapters consider the modern reimagining of the deities in terms of nationalism, the occult, and the aesthetics of the nineteenth century Celtic revival. The first chapter, “Hidden Beginnings,” considers archaeology and etymology in the quest for two deities, the god Lug (often claimed as pan-Celtic and a model of both craft skills and kingship) and Loigodeva (who does not play a role in the texts but survives as an inscription on an Ogam stone from Kilkenny as Logiddeas). The disputed and partial nature of the materials is made clear. The second chapter, “Earthly Gods,” tack- les the fact that the texts were written by Christians after the con- version of Ireland, through an examination of the notion that there are human-like beings living in the síd mounds of the Boyne Valley (the Irish sídhe, Scottish Gaelic sith, the fairy folk or people of the hollow hills). Williams steers a course between the nativist and anti- nativist dispute, seen in the discussion of “The Adventure of Conn- lae” where the otherworldly woman is interpreted simultaneously as a version of the sovereignty goddess and as the personification of the church. Readers with no background in medieval Irish history, religion, and literature would likely give up at this point. Chapters 3 “Divine Culture” is an in-depth examination of two texts, “The Wooing of Étaín” and “The Second Battle of Moytura,” both of which are fascinating but illustrate the radical difference in trying to pin down the “Irish pantheon,” in the way that it is possi- ble to speak of the Greek gods, the Roman deities, or even the Scan- dinavian pantheon (which is similar to the Irish, in that the texts date from after the Christianisation of Scandinavia and the evidence from archaeology is partial). Next is “New Mythologies,” which

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2018. Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. Review 123 is focused on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a sprawling epic that consti- tutes an elaborate pseudohistory for the inhabitants of Ireland, and concretises the main personnel of the Tuatha Dé, the pantheon of “gods.” Williams discusses the social function of filid, the poets, including “the outmoded idea that the filid were ‘Christian druids’” (169), and deflates the idea that there was an ancestral deity called Danu, Donand, or Danann. Chapter 5, “Vulnerability and Grace,” examines the “Finn Cycle” of stories, about the band of wild young men living on the margins of Irish society under the rule of Finn Mac Cumhaill, through the lens of another two texts, “The Colloquy of the Elders” and “The Fosterage in the House of Two Vessels.” The texts analysed are complicated and the argument is convoluted, reinforc- ing the impression that this is a book for experts, not interested ama- teurs. The final chapter in the first part is “Damaged Gods,” which covers the beautiful and well-known story of “The Children of Lir.” The second part has as its narrative arc the formation of the Irish nation in the modern era. Chapter 7, “The Imagination of the Coun- try,” shifts from texts in Irish to texts in English, as both Protestants and Catholic authors sought to re-create the Tuatha Dé Danann as a national pantheon for Ireland as an emergent modern polity. Chap- ter 8, “Danaan Mysteries,” is about the Irish literary revival and the relationship between George Russell (Æ) and William Butler Yeats, who were both deeply involved in the occult. Yeats joined the Her- metic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1890 and conducted a mysti- cal marriage with his great love Maud Gonne (though he married Georgiana Hyde-Lees in 1917). Yeats remained involved in esoteric groups, and both he and Russell re-imagined the Tuatha Dé Danann in different ways; Russell was heavily influenced by the Indian gods that were a major element of Theosophy, and Yeats engaged with visualization rituals to bring the Irish gods to life. Williams offers the example of Aengus, a modern form of Óengus, the divine son of the Dagda, the “Good God,” from the medieval texts. Chapter 9, “High- land Divinities,” discusses the Celtic revival in Scotland; Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica, with its traditions of St Bride and the alleged sea-god “Shony,” is deflated; William Sharp’s literary mas- querade as “Fiona MacLeod,” which involved the invention of new gods including “Dalua” is similarly exposed; and the dreamily beautiful images of John Duncan, the greatest artist of the Celtic revival, are linked to these authors’ modern recreations of the gods. Chapter 10, “Coherence and Canon,” considers Augusta Lady Gregory’s Gods and Fighting Men (1904), Walter Evans-Wentz’s The

Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries (1911), James Cousins’ The Wisdom of the West (1912), and James Stephens’ In the Land of Youth (1924). The next chapter “Gods of the Gap” concerns operas about the Irish deities that follow the model of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelun- gen (1876), such as Rutland Boughton’s The Immortal Hour (1914) and Arnold Bax’s The Garden of Fand (1913), in addition to retellings of the legends in modern form, emphasising the erotic for adults and also children’s versions. Chapter 12. “Artgods,” is a brief conclusion to Williams’ weighty survey. This book is important and worthy, and those with knowledge of the history of the Irish myths will appreci- ate its strengths, while perhaps regretting some of its evasions and retreats. However, the general reader and the modern Pagan with an interest in Celtic/ Irish mythology and gods will find this a difficult book, and not one that is especially enlightening. Williams admits that “most Irish deities could benefit from full-length studies com- bining the medieval and the modern” (xvii). Until that is achieved our knowledge remains partial; but even after that is achieved, the needs of a popular readership will remain unmet. For scholarly audiences this is a major achievement, and one that should ignite a conversation that takes the study of Irish gods and Irish mythology forward into the future.

Carole M. Cusack University of Sydney