Читать книгу 366 Celt: A Year and A Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore - Carl McColman - Страница 55

Mythology lives. Sure, there may not be as many traditional storytellers as there were a century ago, and fewer people may speak the old Celtic languages, but the tales have a way of reinventing themselves or adapting for a new generation. Many Celtic authors, poets, and illustrators have reinterpreted the old tales in new ways, whether directly (as in the retelling of myths by Lady Gregory) or obliquely (as in the way James Joyce wove Fionn mac Cumhaill into his dark and puzzling masterpiece Finnegans Wake). Meanwhile, the explosion of interest in Celtic spirituality among the neopagan community has ensured that the old stories will continue to be told, perhaps with more feeling than has been the case for 1500 years. What’s important to remember is that the stories do not have to conform to a canon or critical edition of any sort. They are tales that live and breathe, and every storyteller who recounts these old adventures, whether aloud or in print, will put his or her own spin on how the tale is told. Details will change, plotlines will evolve, and characters will mature. It’s a mistake to worry about getting myth “right.” Far more useful is to continually ask, “What can this story tell me about myself, and my world?” For that is the mark of a true myth, even when the details are fuzzy.