"Gregory Schirmer provides a stimulating account of eleven key translations into English by Irish writers, including Frank O'Connor, Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney and Ciaran Carson." -Mairin Ni Dhonnchadha, History IrelandMany translations into English verse of Brian Merriman's celebrated eighteenth-century narrative poem Cirt an Mhen Oche (The Midnight Court) have been made by Irish poets over the past two centuries.All translators have tackled the problem of being Irish poets working in English and drawing upon the Irish-language tradition in various ways, as well as having to negotiate between Merriman's world and their own historical moments. This tension in translation is the major focus of The Midnight Court: Eleven Versions of Merriman.According to Mirn N Dhonnchadha, "Schirmer's book is of great value in keeping Merriman and his translators in view, and in recalling the reader to one of the masterpieces of Irish literary tradition."
