Cuchulainn, the Irish Achilles

by Alfred T. Nutt

52 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, one-dollar bin deals. I probably should have picked up a Cuchulainn picture book or video to learn of his heroics. This reads like hackwork, or like the author wanted to hurry up and publish something on Cuchulainn before his contemporaries did. The first half is an incredibly dense summary of the life of the hero; the second half is basically a scholarly article guessing when the tales were transcribed and how they've been altered, then comparing the hero to Achilles. I had to re-read the first half and take notes in order to make anything stick in my brain. Footnotes and/or a glossary of mythical beings would have helped. Really the whole thing needs re-structuring, maybe with the stories as excerpts amid the analysis. There's some interesting stuff in here, but there must be better ways to hear these tales.

[Aleria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this book out from the library, I was interested in it since it was another version of Achilles. It did tell stories of the character but it was also very informative. Basically a study on the history and the character.

Interesting none the less, the more you know.