Abstract
How to approach an early mediaeval Irish narrative? Is there an ultimate way to approach it? Is one method of approach better than the others? Can every approach be justified or worth attempting? It is difficult to give a universal answer to these questions; one that would always remain true and valid. By way of examining individual texts from different vantage points than the traditional ones, however, it is hopefully possible to contribute to a more inclusive view on the fields of literary analysis and interpretation within Celtic (and Irish in particular) scholarship.
This thesis presents an alternative method of approach to one of such texts Fallsigud Tána Bó Cúailnge . The tale gives an account of how the Irish living in the other half of the seventh century became aware that one of their greatest epics ( Táin Bó Cúailnge ) was no longer known to them in its entirety and how they retrieved it from one of its main characters revived from the dead. Fallsigud Tána Bó Cúailnge survived to the present time in several versions incorporated in different manuscripts dated from the twelfth to the early sixteenth century.
The analysis of the relationships between these versions is based on two notions drawn from M. M. Bakhtin s work: dialogism and polyphony . In light of the former we observe how the dialogic forces at work both inside the tale (numerous dialogues between different aspects and elements of the content) and outside it (dialogic bonds existing between the tale and other texts of early Irish corpus). The latter notion helps us to examine the relations between the versions and their role within the whole of the text understood as the polyphony of versions . The choice of Bakhtin was dictated by his appreciation of the manifestations of multi-voicedness and heterogeneity in literature.
In addition, the thesis seeks to demonstrate how the polyphonic structure of the text is not an exceptional phenomenon, but rather a visible sign of the tendencies prevailing at that time; how it is rooted in the tradition favourable toward polysemy and variant forms of expression.