The Midnight Court / Cúirt an Mheán Oíche by Brian Merriman

The Midnight Court / Cúirt an Mheán Oíche by Brian Merriman

Originally written in the Irish language by the 18th-century poet Brian Merriman (circa 17451805), The Midnight Court is here translated by one of Ireland s distinguished contemporary poets, Ciaran Carson. This extended satiric poem assesses the growing economic, political, and familial constraints of late 18th-century Catholic Ireland under British colonial rule, while subversively playing on the tradition of the aisling (or vision) poem in which a beautiful woman represents Ireland s threatened sovereignty. At the beginning of The Midnight Court, a dreadful female envoy from the fairies appears in a dream to the unmarried poet. She summons him before the court of Queen Aoibheall in order to answer charges of wasting his manhood while women are dying for want of love. He listens to complaints that vary from the celibacy of the clergy to marriages performed between old and young for purely economic reasons. In all their bawdy tales, the female courtiers praise fertility, as well as sexual fulfillment, and condemn the conventions of the day. At last the Queen pronounces judgment on the poet, who awakens as he is being severely chastised by all of the women of the court. While containing many insights into 18th-century social conditions, The Midnight Court is also an exuberant, even jaunty work of the comic imagination. As the translator Ciaran Carson states in his foreword: The protagonists of the Court, including Merriman himself, are ghosts, summoned into being by language; they are figments of the imagination. In the Court the language itself is continually interrogated and Merriman is the great illusionist, continually spiriting words into another dimension.

Presents Merriman’s achievement to all, whether in North America or anywhere else, who have an interest in Irish language, Irish history and Irish literature and who have a sense of humor to matchThe inclusion of essays, an additional reading list, the timeline of events and the publication history of the poem add significantly to its usefulness for students. For many it will serve as a springboard to further study but for all it will be a thoroughly good read. Ó Conchubhair’s Midnight Court fills a much-needed gap . . . and is a model for how Irish scholars can produce critical editions of the highest standard.

Brian Merriman (1749–1805) was an Irish-language poet and teacher.

David Marcus (1924–2009) was the literary editor of the Irish Press, helped found Poolbeg Press, and edited over thirty volumes of Irish short stories and poetry. He authored several novels, short story collections, and the autobiography Oughtobiography: Leaves from the Diary of a Hyphenated Jew.

Brian Ó Conchubhair is associate professor of Irish language and literature at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous articles and Irish-language instructional materials, and the editor of Why Irish? Irish Language and Literature in Academia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780815632603
ISBN 10	0815632606
Title	The Midnight Court / Cúirt an Mheán Oíche
Author	Brian Merriman
Series	Irish Studies
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Syracuse University Press
Year published	2011-10-30
Number of pages	178
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.