A stunning new translation brings Ireland's greatest epic tale alive for a new generation

Dating from the eighth century, Tin BCailnge is the oldest Irish epic, a heroic mythic tale on par with Beowulf and The Aeneid. The sprawling, dramatic tale of the legendary warrior CChulainn and his battle against the invading army of Connacht over the fabled Brown Bull of Cooley, The Tin is an enthralling epic of heroism, magic, bloodshed, and betrayal. The wellspring of Irish literature from Yeats to Joyce, The Tin is the story of the emergence of a hero with superhuman strength and supernatural powers. It is a paean to the Irish landscape and a bawdy and contentious marital farce. Filled with phenomenal battle scenes of hand-to-hand combat and clashes between massive armies, CChulainn's heroic exploits contain the historical seeds of the struggle for Irish nationalism as well as the mythic roots of the traditional Irish love of nature. Carson's lively, conversational rendition of The Tin will bring the adventures of the legendary Irish hero to a new generation of readers interested in epic poetry and Irish history. In the first translation in forty years, Carson brings this seminal work of literature fully to life, capturing all the visceral power of the ancient epic. It is truly a classic for our time.

"Loosely translated as 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley,' the Tin B Cailnge is part of the 80-story, multiauthor Ulster Cycle, an Irish epic that dates to the eighth century. Rendered in laconic vernacular prose by veteran poet and translator Carson, The Tin (pronounced 'toyne') opens on the 'pillow talk' of King Ailill of Connacht and his boastful wife, Queen Mebd. Reckoning that her husband has one greater asset than she, namely, the prize white-horned bull, Finnbennach, the queen enlists the entire army of Connacht to wage war against Cailnge, a province of Ulster, in order to secure its fine brown bull. As the army moves into Ulster, it is led by Fergus, a former king of Ulster now in exile who remains sympathetic to the Ulster side and to his 17-year-old foster son, C Chulainn, whose youthful exploits Fergus recounts. Three-day hand-to-hand combat pits C Chulainn against his beloved foster-brother, Fer Diad Mac Damin; at the climax, the white and brown bulls come face to face. The narrative revels in place names and their etymologies, telling story upon story. Carson's version is a lively and vivid journey through a mythic landscape." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Ciaran Carson is a poet, translator, novelist, and essayist who has written extensively on Irish history and mythology. His nine collections of poetry include a T. S. Eliot Prize winner. His translation of Dante's Inferno was awarded the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize.