‘The “whorl” of Troy’: Celtic Mythology, Victorian Hellenism, and the Irish Literary Revival

Abstract

Remport provides the most far-reaching examination to date of noblesse oblige in the work of Lady Gregory. She presents an extraordinary new assessment of Gregory’s version of the Cuchulain legend in her Irish mythological writings. Remport discloses how Gregory modelled the Irish mythical warrior Cuchulain on British politicians Lord Wellesley, Sir Robert Peel, and William Gladstone. For the first time, Lady Gregory’s versions of Irish mythology are placed in relation to Heinrich Schliemann’s ground-breaking archaeological work in Greece on sources for the works of Homer, Lady Gregory having met Schliemann during her travels. Remport contextualises this in terms of the Hellenic Revival of the fin de siècle and Gregory’s interest in the London revival of ancient Greek ‘toga plays’ under the influence of John Ruskin.