This dissertation presents a study of the shared themes and parallel narrative structures of a set of
stories about extraordinary birth. Stories about extraordinary birth form a universal story-type
that displays widespread and striking similarities in narrative traditions throughout the world.
Stories of this nature are typically told about…[Read more]

Mess Gegra is known for the role that his brain plays in the death of Conchobar mac Nessa, but the story of his own death, which is found in Talland Étair, is perhaps less well-known. Mess Gegra faces Conall Cernach in single combat and loses. Knowing that Conall Cernach will behead him, Mess Gegra instructs him to place his severed head on top…[Read more]

The central relationships in Math uab Mathonwy, the ‘Fourth Branch’ of the Mabinogi, are those between uncles and nephews. Although other connections are also present in the text –between siblings, between mother and son, and between husband and wife – these are presented as subordinate to the more prominent uncle-nephew relationships. The narrati…[Read more]

The theme of “failed birth and rebirth” was first described by Stephanie Jamison (1991) and later
characterized as a narrative pattern of Indo-European origin by Angelique Gulermovich Epstein (1994).
In this study I present further evidence for the pattern in Celtic and Greek sources, discuss some non-
Indo-European comparanda, and evaluate Gul…[Read more]

This paper addresses two questions. The first is whether the life of Deirdriu, as described in Longes mac n-Uislenn, can reasonably be said to correspond to the narrative pattern commonly referred to as the ‘heroic biography’. I argue that Deirdriu’s biography is, indeed, a heroic one, at least at the level of narrative structure, and can be shown…[Read more]

The Irish Tale-Lists provide the names of five compert texts, which are present in the List B recension, but are absent from List A. Of these five, only Compert Conchobuir and Compert Con Culainn are preserved, while the substance of two others, Compert Conall Cernach and Compert Cormac hui Cuind are found in other sources. The fifth text,…[Read more]

Regarding the prose of the LL Táin Bó Cúailnge, Mac Gearailt (1992: 168) has remarked that there are “significant differences in style between self-contained sections” of the text. This paper examines the description of the Dond Cúalnge in this recension from the perspective of Indo-European poetics, specifically, the structures and convent…[Read more]