Fingal Rónáin: a Transactional Analysis Christopher Guy Yocum 5th August 2012 While in other disciplines of literature, the use of psychoanalytic techniques and methodologies is a regular occurrence. ffn early ffrish literary studies, psy- choanalysis has not frequently been put to use as a means of interpretation and analysis. is is likely due to the still nascent understanding that scholars have of early ffrish literary sources, coupled with the symbolically dense nature of many of the stories and tales wrien in Old ffrish. However, the psychoanalytic ana- lysis, which aempted here, widens the scope for the critical reader of early ffr- ish literature through a psychoanalytic lens. Moreover, it forgoes the sometimes tedious debate surrounding the Christian versus native context of early ffrish lit- erature. ffndeed, the psychoanalytic critic can instead focus their energies on the structure of the texts in light of the theory rather than aempting to constrain characters and their actions into a binary, Christian or pagan context. is paper demonstrates the use of psychoanalytic method called ‘Transactional Analysis’ (hereaer, TA) on the Old ffrish tale, Fingal Rónáin (hereaer, FR), 1 to acquaint the reader with a psychoanalytic methods which may prove useful in other areas of early ffrish literature. FR was chosen for analysis as it is well known, short, has few characters and does not display the dense symbolic tendencies that other famous early ffrish stories have. ese traits make it amenable for analysis of this type. Several scholars have used FR as a basis for their analysis. For instance, Melia considers the author of FR an artist in the modern sense. 2 T. M. Charles-Edwards 1 David Greene. Fingal Rónáin and Other Stories. Dublin: Dublin ffnstitute for Advanced Studies, 1955 2 Daniel Melia. “Remarks on the Structure and Composition of the Ulster Death Tales”. ffn: Studia 1