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Folklore of Clare
by Thomas Johnson Westropp
Irish Times, April 2001
Folkore of Clare by T.J. Westropp, CLASP
Press The undisputed contribution
of Thomas Johnson Westropp to our knowledge of the folklore of Clare and
Limerick should never be underestimated, neither should it be forgotten.
In this, the eleventh major publication from CLASP Press, an adjunct of
the Clare Local Studies Project in co-operation with FÁS, due cognisance
is taken of that work through the reprinting of Westropp's original articles
on Clare folklore which, ironically, were first published in the journal
of the English Folklore Society between 1910 and 1913. The Folklore Society
of Ireland was not founded until 1927 and the next tranche of collected
folklore of Clare did not emerge until Séamas Ó Duilearga began working
between 1930 and 1943. Ó Duilearga himself paid tribute to Westropp, "a
great man in his own way", but a collector who was handicapped in
his lack of knowledge of the Irish language. Nevertheless, Westropp's
collection of folk-tales and myths (about subjects as diverse as fairies,
magical rite and the Red Branch heroes) still exerts a fascination and
an authority deservedly honoured in this attractive volume.
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