Back in the days when I was super into Celtic mythology, looking for connection with my ancestors and the vague feeling that gods and spirits might be out there but no idea where or how to look for them, and before there was an internet, I was a fan of Morgan Llywelyn — a historical fantasy novelist who wrote retellings of Celtic myth, and some stories where legends came from the lives of hypothetical actual people. Red Branch, about Cú Chulainn, was the first of those and probably the best I’ve read, with a narrative voice for the Morrigan which spookily felt dead right (so to speak). I think it was The Lion of Ireland which was about a trickster-warrior with a streak of good luck who managed to sort of accidentally build a larger-than-life legend around himself, which only grew in exaggeration as others retold it… pretty clever writing I thought.
The earliest one of those books she wrote was The Horse Goddess. Presumably about Epona (with Cernunnos as an antoganist and other gods as secondary characters), it was really more the story of the Hallstatt C culture transitioning to Hallstatt D — the clash of early Celtic and Royal Scythian cultures at the dawn of the Iron Age (and some interaction with surrounding cultures). As that sort of story, it is pretty fascinating.
But it’s also icky. These were not particularly progressive cultures, especially toward women. As depicted, Kelti women were theoretically “free” and had rights and status, but the inciting incidents of the story were example of how this wasn’t actually true. The protagonist fled a life where she’d have been forced to live with and study under a creepy, sadistic, rapey authority figure only to end up in a culture where women were considered property, and all property was (A) stuff taken from others by force and violence and not treated with any particular respect, and (B) ultimately all property belongs to the Prince. I am not asking for a fantastical, sanitized and idealized version of history, but a more sensitive treatment in terms of writing style.
I may have to read some Becky Chambers next to wash this out of my system.
My Linnstrument 128 just arrived, and I’m still working for the next 90 minutes so I shouldn’t play with it too much, but I’ve plugged it in and Bitwig immediately detected it and it works. More later!