Irish
Fairy & Folk Tales
ISBN: 158663609X
Format: Hardcover, 416pp
Pub. Date: January 2002
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books
Adventure and Mystery in Ireland
Leisure Reading off the Beaten Path
Review by Daniel Muniz
Irish Fairy & Folk Tales by
Nobel-Prize winning poet—William Butler Yeats is perhaps the most
entertaining book I have read all year. I am not much into folklore
but I do have an appreciation for it since the literature classes of
my college days and buying this book was more out of a whim.
Like everyone else I am
familiar with fairy tales from my childhood, although I vaguely
understood what a banshee and a leprechaun and other Irish figures
were until now.
In fact, I was surprised at how similar Irish
legends and myths were to the Hispanic folklore known as cuentos.
Being Hispanic, I grew up with cuentos which had a deep European
root although cuentos were more of Catholic morality plays.
But the Irish fairy tales
definitely have a different flair.
W.B. Yeats collected a rich
diverse assortment of the finest in Irish folklore that I found
quite enjoyable. This compilation captures the vivid imagination of
the rich Celtic heritage. But most importantly, you don’t have to be
a literature snob to enjoy these fanciful tales of myth and legend
and that is perhaps what I enjoyed the most out of reading this book.
The casual reader, Irish or
not, will find this collection engaging and fascinating as I often
did many a late night when I wanted something different to read. And
it was worth it.
The numerous short stories are grouped together into categories
of alike genre which makes it easy to pick out a tale that strikes
your fancy. As a result, it is easy to browse through the pages
until you find a story that you like.
The varied topics are broad enough to cover just about anybodies
taste in literature.
If you are interested in
reading material that is off the beaten path, then Irish Fairy &
Folk Tales is the book you need to get.
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