A Lyrical Retelling of the Celtic Dream Angus Myth

I’ve always liked mythology in a very abstract way. I enjoy the stories of gods and goddesses with very human flaws, but never enough that I delved past the surface of stories known to most. When I picked up Alexander McCall Smith’s Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams, I did so only because I was interested in reading a book about a god I’d never heard of before. It was only after I got the book home that I learned Smith was the author of a series of books I’d heard much about, though I’ve yet to read, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

In this very slim volume, Smith retells the myth of Angus, who in Celtic mythology is the very attractive, playful man who gives us our dreams. In an introduction, Smith admits that though he tried to stay as faithful as he could to the original story, he takes many liberties, especially with the supporting characters.

Of the ten chapters in the book, six of them tell stories of Angus in a chronological fashion. His mother was a beautiful water spirit named Boann who was tricked by the selfish, cruel god Dagda. Though Boann tried to conceal her pregnancy from Dagda, he eventually found out and took Angus from Boann, giving Angus to his son Midir to raise. Once he finds out of this deception, Angus finds a way to trick Dagda into giving him what he believes is his birthright. Once happy in his castle, he can concentrate on finding love for himself and bringing pleasant dreams to all around him.

Four chapters in the book are stories that take place in present times. Though they abstractly deal with Angus in that often times there is a dream giver, or a god-like presence, they are short stories that could stand alone easily. One is about a honeymooning couple. Another tells the story of another boy who has parental issues. The third demonstrates how strong familial bonds can be and the last is about men and pigs. Well, it’s a little deeper than that, but that’s the gist of it.

I was able to sail through this book in less than an hour, but picked it up again the next night to read more carefully. Smith writes with a skillful, lyrical style that draws in the reader and can be taken at face value or analyzed more deeply. As much as I enjoyed the book the first time around, I found that I loved it even more after the second reading. I enjoyed the stand alone stories almost more than the longer story of Angus, but I mostly loved how Alexander McCall Smith wove the stories together with such a beautiful prose.

Highly recommended!