4 - The uses of exaggeration in Merugud Uilixis Meic Leirtis and in Fingal Chlainne Tanntail

Summary

Introduction

Merugud Uilixis Meic Leirtis (The Going Astray of Ulysses son of Laertes) and Fingal Chlainne Tanntail (The Kinslaying of the Family of Tantalus) are medieval Irish adaptations based on Classical narratives. Although Merugud Uilixis has been the focus of several studies, its author’s original take on the story of the return of Homer’s hero remains a source of wonder; on the other hand, the account of the tragedy of the Mycenaean royal house presented in Fingal Chlainne Tanntail both deviates less markedly from its underlying narrative(s) and has received very little modern critical attention.

The significant number of unique aspects of Fingal Chlainne Tanntail and Merugud Uilixis (including both unorthodox details which are present in, as well as orthodox details which are absent from, these medieval Irish adaptations) may suggest a combination of deficient sources and limited authorial skill. Authorial deficiency may be most keenly felt in the case of Merugud Uilixis, which contains several elements which are wildly unorthodox, even diametrically anti-Classical. Modern scholarship on this tale to date has tended (with the exception of W.B. Stanford and, to a lesser extent, Kuno Meyer) to give a very low assessment of the author’s Classical knowledge. Barbara Hillers has stated that:

As a version of the Odyssey, Merugud Uilixis is a disappointment … the Homeric content of Merugud Uilixis is so slim that we have to conclude that it could not have been based on any complete version of the Odyssey …

Moreover, most damningly for the author’s status as a classicist, in the view of Hillers,

The omissions and misunderstandings [in relation to the Cyclops incident] indicate that the author did not have the text [either of Virgil’s Aeneid or of the Irish Imtheachta Aeniasa] in front of him to verify his account: he either read the text some time previous to the composition of M[erugud] U[ilixis], or heard it read.

However, any explanation of the content of either tale which is predicated on deficiency is unlikely to explain all of the material which is present in each text.