Incredibly pleased to have the author of Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound and one of Ireland’s leading field archaeologists, Paul Duffy, on the blog today to answer a few question about the crossover between his work as an archaeologist and his writing of historical fiction.
(Time) Travelling through Medieval Ireland
What came first for you - archaeology or writing? And how well do they compliment each other?
Hard to untangle that one...apart from the fact that archaeology, in essence, is storytelling, I wrote
my first, published short story while at college in Galway...studying archaeology. Stepping back
further, a childhood full of ruins and mounds was woven through with the books of Morgan Llywelyn
and Michael Scott, to the extent that I'm not quite sure where one starts and the other ends. In both
fiction and archaeology, there is a need to explore and communicate complexity in a way that can be
grasped and hopefully absorbed. In that sense, archaeology and literature are layers in the same
stratigraphic sequence...if you can forgive that analogy!
There is a lot of interest at the moment in the medieval period with TV shows such as the Last Kingdom and Vikings and films such as the Northman enjoying a moment. Where does your book fit with this trend?
As it happens, I live in the Wicklow Mountains amongst the places where much of Vikings is filmed.
Strangely though, in many ways, the story of medieval Ireland has yet to be told and Ireland rarely (if
ever) features in productions such as the ones you mention. I suppose the medieval world of
England and France is seen as more relatable or at least better understood by the general public.
Ireland during this period was a land of a very long and different tradition and it is perhaps too
daunting a prospect to try and present this on screen. I can’t think of many novels that have really
engaged with medieval Gaelic Ireland either (with the exception of a rich vein of Irish Language
writing from recent decades).
In a broader sense, I find there is a tendency to value violence over character, to focus on a proto-
patriotism that inspires heroic gests as opposed to dealing with day-to-day motivations and
grappling with more human stories. Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound, I hope, gets closer to
the lived reality of turbulent times in all of its action and drama, but also in the uncertainty, the quiet
between, the relationships formed in the margins and the fluidity of peoples and loyalties in a time
long before Nation States. Throughout this first novel, I have tried to create a sensory and, at times,
meditative experience rooted in the environment and languages of the time. That is not to say that
the book, set on the rails of historical incident with a clear destination in sight, is without pace, but I
hope that in its reading, there is an element of transportation at play, along with some reassurance
that all of the detail presented is based on a lifetime of reading, digging and touching the medieval.
Fun fact: The phrase "run with the hare, hunt with the hound" means to support both sides in an argument in order to make your own life easier.
For more information about Paul Duffy and a chance to win a copy of his latest book, visit Book Spotlight + Giveaway: Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound.
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