Hound by George Green
01/04/2004 . Source: Jennifer Howell 
pub: Bantam. 410 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-593-05197-1. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.booksattransworld.co.uk
It's always a pleasure when a book completely defies expectations and George Green's 'Hound' is definitely a prime example. Being self-confessedly clueless to the ins and outs of Ulster mythology, I was personally expecting a hard slog through yet another Celtic myth-inspired fantasy.
Not that mythological re-tellings saturate the market these days or anything, but this back cover blurb is obviously catering towards those who like their mythology po-faced and stirring. So kudos to George Green for producing one of the wittiest, most exuberant books I've read in any genre, let alone mythology.
Yes, I'm sure it is 'thrilling and timeless', too, as the blurb would have it, but that's really not the point: it's funny and clever and that wasn't what I expected at all. Part of the pleasure is that Green chooses to retell the story of Cuchullain, the 'Hound' of the title, not directly or in classic mythic style, but through the eyes of Cuchullain's charioteer, Leary. Considering Leary was a German/Roman shipwrecked on Ulster, it's not your usual perspective.
Indeed, much of the time, it seems he's the only sane one in a land of lunatics and does he delight in telling us so. Cuchullain himself (whose name I finally know how to pronounce now) is basically a scary eight-year-old to begin with, who might be the son of a god, and is certainly capable of beating grown men to a pulp.
Not to mention prophesied to die young defending Ulster. We're treated to what I imagine is a whistle-stop tour of the most relevant bits of the mythology, made all the more entertaining for Leary's dry perspective. Not being an Ulsterman and especially not being a Champion, he's not all that keen on dying valiantly in battle. Everyone around him, unfortunately, seems to consider that quite the point.
If they're not fighting, they're drinking absolutely vast quantities of alcohol and listening to stories about fighting (it's telling that nearly every scene begins with every single character hung-over). By pairing Leary with Owen, an idealistic Bard who delights in making up history as he goes along, we get to see all sides of the myth.
When an outraged Leary, used to the Roman accurate recording of events, berates Owen for wild exaggerations, the bard really can't see the problem. As far as Leary's concerned, he's telling history as people will want to remember it, which is far more important than what actually happened.
It's interesting, given that Ulster was a culture with no ready form of the written language, to watch how its history and mythology at this point merge and become inseparable due to this attitude. Like Leary, it's something we as a modern reader find hard to conceive. Commenting on the mythologising also allows the author to slip between tellings effectively. There's a lovely moment when he wants to tell the first meeting of love interest Emer with Cuchullain from her perspective.
So we get Leary explaining the concept of plays and acting to Owen, who then tries it out at a feast as a monologue from Emer's viewpoint. Needless to say, it sends the entire audience of drunken warriors to sleep, but it's an example of using the form imaginatively that we don't see nearly often enough elsewhere.
By choosing the edited highlights, we get to hear the most effective parts of the tale. It not being entirely Cuchullain's, he disappears for years on end while Leary gets to play spy at the court of the quite unreasonably terrifying and temperamental Queen Maeve. She, being a little like Maggie Thatcher crossed with Xena: Warrior Princess, but even scarier with an 'origin story' that will stick in your head for a long, long time.
Especially, I imagine, if you happen to be a man. Admittedly, it does start to drag towards the end but, with mythology, it's hard to tell whether that's just due to the limitations of the source material. It's fair to say the ending hits just the right note of poignancy without ever being sentimental, which is a difficult balance to get amid all the histrionics of Heroic tales.
Of course, 'The Tain' has been around for centuries as a great story, but what Green has done is make it an entertaining and gripping read as well. Neatly side-stepping any problems with audience disbelief, it works equally well as a book about story telling and myths and how lives should be remembered.
Considering this is his first book, it's a huge achievement. Here's hoping he finds something else to re-invent soon. Although, as Leary's last line would have it, 'Telling stories isn't as easy as I thought it would be.'
Jennifer Howell |
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