Irish authors and their use of Irish mythology in their novels

How did Irish mythology shape Irish storytelling? 

• Myths as resistance — mythology became a means of preserving Irish culture. Using mythology and bringing it to the forefront emphasised their national pride. 
• Myths as story‑building — authors used Gael gods, heroes, and creatures to build heroes and villains
• Myths as metaphor — Authors use mythic figures to explore modern issues like identity, trauma, and social change.
• Myths as magic realism — Many Irish novels blend everyday life with supernatural themes, creating an Irish form of realism.

I shall show just a few Irish authors who drew on mythology to enhance their works. 

 Lady Isabella  Gregory

Lady Gregory collected and retold Irish myths, preserving stories of heroes and villains.  Her work made these legends accessible to all people, and she was a major influence on the writers who followed. She was a leading figure in the Irish Literary Revival in the 19th century.  The Irish Literary Revival emphasised folklore and tradition, and so gave a romanticism to the nationalist cause, which was opposed to British oppression. 

James Joyce 

Joyce’s work is steeped in mythological ideas and not just Irish. While Joyce's  Ulysses mirrors the Greek writer, the author also cleverly intertwines Greek and Irish mythology through his use of heroes and characters.  

W.B. Yeats

Yeats was fiercely proud of his heritage and openly included characters from Irish folklore. For Yeats, using mythology was part of his  Irish culture. He directly takes from Irish culture in  "The Wanderings of Oisin"  where Oisin's 300-year journey into another world is reflected upon. 

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde's mother, Lady Wilde, collected and published Irish myths and fairy tales. Her influence is obvious in his short stories, where the retelling of myths is the theme. In The Picture of Dorian Gray,  Wilde uses the idea of a changeling, which is common in Irish myths. The Selfish Giant has a myth structure in that it has a moral and an element of the supernatural. 

Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker

20th and 21st stories have vampires set in Eastern Europe, and this is purely because Bram Stoker based his Dracula stories there.  And yet, Sheridan Le Fanu had written Carmilla the Vampyre     (1872 )  decades before Stoker penned his vampire tales.  (1897 )

One of the oldest Irish myths is that of the Abhatach (avotar ), a spirit who rises and drinks the blood of the living to hang on to life. There was also a female blood-sucking spirit called the Dearg due  ( which in Irish translates approx as blood sucker) . These myths were around hundreds and hundreds of years before Stoker wrote his story, basing his vampire in Eastern Europe. Le Fanu and Stoker were both Dublin-born and would have grown up listening to Irish mythology. There is also a female blood-sucking spirit in Scottish mythology called the Baobhan- sith.  (bavan she)

Le Fanu also made his vampire Carmilla a shape shifter and shapeshifters occur throughout Irish myths. 

Leading to the conclusion, Irish mythology is used in other media in later centuries.

The Bard, Shakespeare himself in  "A Midsummer Night's Dream"  uses the mischievous fairy Puck as a shapeshifter. In Irish mythology, one of the shapeshifters is called a Pucca. - Pucca/ Puck 

The Pucca also appears in the 1950s comedy film  "Harvey"  where the invisible shapeshifter appears to  Elwood P Dowd as a rabbit. 

This is just another example of the influence of ancient Irish mythology on our literature and media. 

The author of the play "Harvey " was an American-Irish lady named Mary Chase  born Mary Agnes McDonough Coyle. Irish mythology, as passed down through her family, greatly influenced her writings. 

In my opinion, these two vampire stories are not influenced by Eastern European counts or nobles. The concept of vampires harks back to Irish mythology. Several Irish authors got their inspiration from their culture and mythology.  Le Fanu and Stoker are no different.