- Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Irish Studies Emeritus
- cathas@fas.harvard.edu
Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Irish Studies, Emeritus has taught at Harvard since 1995. His research is devoted to early Irish narrative literature, including its politico-religious ideology, its relationship to mythology, and its thematic content and structure. He is interested in the ways in which language is used in the literary texts and has been applying rhetorical criticism to them. He has also worked on the political and dynastic elements in the early Irish origin legends. He teaches courses in Old and Middle Irish language and literature, early Irish historical tales, and Irish heroic saga. Tomás Ó Cathasaigh holds a graduate degree from the National University of Ireland. He taught at University College Dublin before moving to Harvard.
Selected publications:
"Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge’" A companion to Early Irish Saga (2013)
"Myth and Saga: ‘The Wooing of Étaín,’" in Why Irish: Irish Language and Literature in Academia (2008)
"Early Irish Literature and Law," lecture presented to the Finnish Society of Arts and Letters (2007)
"The Expulsion of the Déisi," Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (2005)
"Sírrabad Súaltaim and the Order of Speaking among the Ulaid", in A Companion in Linguistics: A Festschrift for Anders Ahlqvist (2005)
"Sound and Sense in Cath Almaine," Ériu 54 (2004)
"The Oldest Story of the Laigin: Observations on Orgain Denna Ríg," Éigse 33 (2002)
Gat and Díberg in Togail Bruidne Dá Derga in Celtica Helsingiensa (1996)
The Heroic Biography of Cormac Mac Airt (1977)