185: #185 | Last Orders - The Grass Beard: Finn Longman and Queer Readings of An Táin

Motherfoclóir

Join us for the final episode of Motherfoclóir, live on Zoom tonight: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55377967
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Every artistic/visual representation of Cúchulainn presents him as a hulking, ultra-masculine figure. But is this interpretation justified by the text? In the Táin, Cúchulainn is frequently described as a small lad, girly in some ways, a person who has to change his appearance to present as a "normal man" but does not wear this disguise when he does not have to.
In today's episode of Motherfoclóir, Darach talks to Masters student Finn Longman about queer readings of the Táin. Once we suspend assumptions about binary genders when considering a work of literature that predates this construction, we are free to engage with the deeper meanings of the Táin. Why is the "pillow talk*chapter only in one version of the Táin? What is the significance of Cúchulainn's relationships with Ferdiad and Laeg? And why does this Irish legend talk about bodies and feelings so much?
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