Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland ed. by Sarah Sheehan and Ann Dooley (review)

Abstract

sarah sheehan and ann dooley, eds., Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. xv, 219. isbn: 978-0-230-11525-5. $90.In this collection of essays, part of Palgrave Macmillan's The New Middle Ages series, the editors aim 'to address an omission in the existing criticism of gender and medieval texts' (1), specifically in relation to medieval Ireland, making the observation that 'medieval Irish studies have benefited little from the deployment of critical methods and perspectives such as poststructuralist analysis, postcolonial theory, and gender studies' (1). While their observation is, indeed, true, the uneven quality of the essays detracts from the success of their endeavor.The volume contains an introduction by the editors, nine essays (each more or less taking a different critical approach to early Irish literary, legal, and religious texts), a bibliography, notes on the contributors, and an index. The index, despite typographical errors, is very useful in helping the reader navigate through themes and texts which are often mentioned in more than one essay. As such, it goes a long way towards making the volume feel much more cohesive, although it could have been more substantial in terms of length and detail.The first two essays, 'Travelers and Settled Folk: Women, Honor, and Shame in Medieval Ireland' by Mairin Ni Dhonnchadha and Catherine Swift's 'Sex in the Civitas: Early Irish Intellectuals and Their Vision of Women,' both deal with the construction of gender roles and use early Irish legal material as sources. Both, however, also have a very dated feel. Even if neither scholar agrees with recent scholarship on the topic of women in medieval Ireland, each does need at least to engage said scholarship. For example, Ni Dhonnchadha's analysis of material relating to marriage contracts with various classes of women found in the law tract Recholl Breth (31) would have benefited from the discussion of the same material to be found in Keltische Forschungen 3 (2008): 33-43. Ni Dhonnchadha and Swift both reference the law tract Gubretha Caratniad [The False Judgments of Caratnia], but neither cites Rudolf Thurneysen's edition in the Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie 15 (1925): 302-370; Swift does mention (45 n. 27) Liam Breatnach's unpublished edition of the text, but this does not help the reader unfamiliar with early Irish legal sources. Of note is that the legal text in question is spelled variously as 'Gubretha Carat Niad [The false judgments of Carat Nia]' by Ni Dhonnchadha (28) and in the index, and as 'Gubretha Caratniad [The false verdicts of Caratnias]' by Swift (45).The next three essays are concerned with early literary texts. Joanne Findon's 'Looking for Mr. Right in Tochmarc Becfhola' uses speech act theory and performativity to analyze the use of Becfhola's speech as she creates and reshapes her own world, arguing that Becfhola has much more agency than previously thought (59). Taking a similar approach to performativity and gender, Amy C. Mulligan's 'Playing for Power: Macha Mongruad's Sovereign Performance' builds on the author's previous scholarship on female sovereignty figures and argues that Macha Mongruad should be viewed more as a sovereign figure despite her gender rather than as a sovereign goddess figure (80). In one of the stronger essays in the volume, Sarah Sheehan's 'Feast for the Eyes: Visuality and Desire in the Ulster Cycle' analyzes the descriptions of beautiful men in the Ulster Cycle from the perspective of the visual arts and the theory of the gaze. Sheehan argues that the men are depicted as objects to be gazed upon and physically desired, not only female characters (95). …