Cuchulain as an Epigone of Leopold Bloom? Irish Mythology and Alternative Irelands in Eimar O’Duffy’s Cuanduine Trilogy

In line with current developments in Irish and modernist studies, the article focuses on Eimar O’Duffy’s Cuanduine trilogy (1926–1933) to illuminate some facets of the legacy of James Joyce’s Ulysses in post-revolutionary Ireland and O’Duffy’s innovative relationship with the mythology of his nation. In the trilogy, O’Duffy draws heavily on Ulysses in terms of intertextuality and form, including the mimicry of different writing styles, but, above all, multifariously “receptionates” Joyce’s use of myths in Ulysses. Following Joyce’s example, O’Duffy blends characters from legend and contemporaneity to satirise whatever heroic pretensions the Free State could still have, since he describes the demi-god Cuanduine and Cuchulain – the mythological hero celebrated by Irish nationalism and the Literary Revival – wander through an impoverished Dublin marred by ethnoreligious sectarianism. Moreover, like Joyce, O’Duffy uses myths not only to ironically juxtapose heroic values with bleak contemporary realities: Ireland’s mythical tradition was created by a vital culture, characterised by equality and pluralism, from which contemporary Ireland should take inspiration. Hence, the analysis of the trilogy in light of Ulysses points out the innovative use of myth in that it is geared towards the creation of a new kind of community.