I can’t really think about Halloween, or Samain, if you prefer, without thinking of the ballad of “Tam Lin,” especially this part: And ance it fell upon a day A cauld day and a snell, When we were frae the hunting come, That frae my horse I fell, The Queen o’ Fairies she caught…
Category: Games Fairies Play
In my dissertation, The Games Fairies Play: Otherworld intruders in Medieval Literary Narratives, I argue that otherworld intruders intrude upon mortals and the mortal world in search of game (using every conceivable meaning of game) where they enter into agreements and bargains with mortals in their pursuit of “game.” These bargains are exceedingly carefully, and legally constructed contracts.
I examine the games, bargains and contracts between otherworld intruders and mortals in various medieval Celtic and English texts, but particularly in the medieval Welsh mabinogi of Pwyll Pendeuic Dyfed, the Middle English texts of Sir Orfeo, Thomas of Erceldoune, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I examine these texts in order to show how an understanding of how the story pattern of an otherworld intruder who strikes a bargain with a mortal as part of a game works illuminates and removes some of the difficultie critics have had in understanding my central text, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the role played by Morgan le Fay.
The following are posts that relate to my dissertation topic.
Halloween, Samhain, and such
It’s the time of year when I start seeing incredibly daft posts about the antecedents of Halloween, particularly Samain (Samhain, for you moderns). This year, I’ve created an FAQ about Samain, and what it means. For those of you already in the know, here’s a link to a translation by Kuno Meyer of the very…
The Otherworld, White Horses, and Genetics
She turned about her milk-white steed, And took True Thomas up behind, And aye wheneer her bridle rang, The steed flew swifter than the wind. “Thomas the Rhymer A” Child 37 The horse she rode on was dapple gray, And in her hand she held bells nine; I thought I heard this fair lady say…
They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die: Speech and Silence in Medieval Fairy Narratives Kalamazoo 2008
I’m going to be doing a link-post to others who are blogging Kalamazoo, and maybe add some general impressions of my own, in a bit. I’ve uploaded my paper on medieval fairies, and speech and silence in Sir Orfeo, Thomas of Erceldoune, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight “‘They are fairies; he that speaks…
Bridget Cleary, Sex, Death, Fairies and Other
This is the third in a series of posts about fairies as other. I promised, in my first post, to concentrate on fairies as other, particularly in the context of sex and death, because, as MacAllister Stone notes “other is all about sex and death.” Last time I looked at the tragic death of Bridget…
Bridget Cleary: Fairy Intrusion in Nineteenth Century Ireland
Are you a witch? Are you a fairy? Are you the wife Of Michael Cleary? —Children’s rhyme from Southern Tipperary, Ireland I promised in my first post on fairies as other to look at a fairy intrusion in nineteenth century Ireland, specifically, the fairy burning of Bridget Cleary. In March of 1895 Bridget Boland Cleary…
Medieval Fairies as Other
MacAllister Stone has been posting a series about the roles of the other in spec fic. I wanted to pick up on two observations MacAllister makes that particularly intrigued me because they deal with the role of fairies as the øther in medieval literature. It’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot. First, MacAllister…
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien’s ‘game with rules’,
I’ve posted my Kalamazoo paper “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien’s ‘game with rules’,” here, such as it is. There’s a handout, too! Technorati Tags:Gawain, Kalamazoo
Gawain and Gough
In a 1990 seminar Derek Pearsall made a passing reference to the Gough Map, in a discussion of the journey Gawain makes across the realm of Logres, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Gough Map is the oldest surviving road map of Great Britain, dating from around 1360. It’s roughly oblong in shape,…