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Hisperica Famina I: The A-Text

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The title translates into to something like "Western Speech" from something like Latin. "The A-Text" along with its companion volume presents some of the most curious literary creations of the medieval era, and some of the wildest uses of the Latin language to be found anywhere.

The poems constituting the Hisperica Famina, like the related poems in Volume II, were written at an uncertain time by an unknown Irish author or authors, possibly by students composing poetry as an exercise. That is not to say that these poems lack the touch of poetic skill. Craft and ingenuity project from these pages in abundance. The poets, whoever they were, revel at all points in a freedom and creativity of composition not to be found in Europe again until James Joyce, coincidentally(?) Irish himself.

Like Joyce, the Hisperica poets have no reservations about coining new words tailored to suit their whims. Every line offers a small feast to the etymologist, a spark of inspiration to the poet, and at once a clue and a question for the literary historian. Ample notes in the back of the book supply explanation for most every curiosity.

I must however, give this warning: To the less specialized reader, and to the reader who doesn't know Latin, the book dims a shade or two. A very adequate translation faces the Latin, but no translation can reflect the grammatical and lexical games that play out here before the Latin-reading eye. The result of any translation is, sadly, a complete loss of the magic that sustains the Hisperica. Had Joyce approached this book with his meticulous mastery of English and Latin, he might have made something comparable to the original, however different. Without the language to reward the reader, the flaws of the text become more annoying: There is no connection at all between sections, no unity of purpose. Furthermore, the poetic meter is irregular and often more like prose, which results in an English translation that reads like awkward free verse (not at all the fault of the translator).

In Latin, I reiterate, this is nothing less than the Medieval Finnegan's Wake, likewise accessible to a scarce few, but greatly rewarding to these. Anyone looking to tour the evidence that supports the popular (and somewhat ridiculous) theory that "the Irish Saved Civilization" should make at least a brief pitstop here. To all rare word hunters and lexical sleuths: Bon Appetite.