EUGENE O’CURRY AND THE OLD IRISH TEXTS IMMRAMA (THE VOYAGES)

Abstract

A group of Old Irish texts known as the Immrama (in English the Voyages) is telling about sea journeys to some distant islands. Eugene O’Curry (Irish name – Eoghan Ó Comhraidhe, 1794–1862) is an important figure for Immrama’s scientific tradition and for Irish Studies in general. There are paradigms to estimate O’Curry’s ouvre from biographical and illuminate positions, while making an attempt to scan O’Curry’s works to recognize his countribution to the learning of specific items (the Immrama for example) was insufficient. To create such a new experience is the main aim of this article. The task is not only to depict O’Curry’s contribution to the process «make the Immrama accessible», but to explain how the Immrama correlate with theoretical fund of his works (namely, «Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history» (1861) and «On the manners and customs of the Ancient Irish» (1873)). The first part of the article is devoted to theoretical Immrama’s context in Lectures. Here Eu. O’Curry stated his understanding of definition, composition, date and the problem of maintaining general criteria. The second part is about his practical experience in his trying to consider the Immrama, first of all, as a Historic Tale, where in tales were always a historical basis or a background. The source base was not limited by Old Irish literature or Annals; archaeological and the Old Irish Law tracts were also in usage.