TeamWales: Welsh Books
Friday, May 4Welsh Books
Welsh mythological works are not as well known (nor as old) as those of the Greeks or Romans - but they do exist!
The following description is extracted (some verbatim, some paraphrased) from a publication by Everyman Classics in 1949 entitled 'The Mabinogion - translated by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones'.
The principal work of eleven stories (collectively and commonly) known as THE MABINGION were written down in the 14th Century.
The stories have been preserved in two Welsh collections, the White Book of Rhydderch (Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch) written down about 1300-1325 and the Red Book of Hergest (Llyfr Coch Hergest) of 1375-1425. In addition, manuscripts Peniarth 6,7,14 and 16 (the 'Four Branches') contain portions of stories, some written down in the 1200s. However, some stories are reputed to be from as early as 1050 - or even 100 years before that!
For reasons not to be belabored here, the term 'Mabinogi' is deemed applicable only to four works - "The the Four Branches of the Mabinogi": 'Pwll - Prince of Dyfed', 'Branwen - daughter of Llyr', 'Manawydan - son of Llyr' and 'Math- son of Mathonwy'.
Four or the remaing seven (of the eleven) comprise two short stories, 'The Dream of Macsen Wledig' and 'Lludd and Llefelys'; an unclassifiable and incomparable work called 'Culhwch and Olwen', the earliest Arthurian tale in Welsh; and 'The Dream of Rhonabwy' - known collectively as as the "Four Independant Native Tales".
The three remaining later works, collectively "The Three Romances" are: 'The Lady of the Fountain', Peredur - son of Efrawg', and 'Geraint - son of Erbin' are Arthurian with Norman-French influences.
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In the early 1970s, Pan/Ballantine Books published four books (by Evangeline Walton) 'based on / drawn from' the Mabinogion.
They are titled (and the Branches they pertain to) are:
'Prince of Annwn' (first Branch)
'The Children of Llyr' (second Branch)
'The Song of Rhiannon' (third Branch)
'The Island of the Mighty' (fourth Branch)
A review in 'Prince of Annwn' states: "J.R.R. Tolkien and Joy Chant have both made use of magical archetypes found in 'The Mabinogion' to enrich their own books; Evangeline Walton's books, on the other hand, are actual retellings of these diverse legends in novel form".
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In 1939, Berkley Medallion published T.H. White's 'The Once and Future King' - a classic novel about the court of King Arthur. The Arthurian legend of course is steeped in connections to Wales and Welsh characters.
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While it may be difficult to locate copies of these various books (though Amazon.com can be a treasure trove!) their acquisition will be well worth the search.