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The Mabinogion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Welsh stories of Arthurian romance and Celtic mythology created in the oral tradition for centuries before being written down in the Middle Ages.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the eleven stories of Celtic mythology and Arthurian romance known as The Mabinogion, most of which were told and retold for generations before being written down in C14th. Among them are stories of Pwyll and Rhiannon and their son Pryderi, of Culhwch and Olwen, of the dream of the Emperor Macsen, of Lludd and Llefelys, of magic and giants and imagined history. With common themes but no single author, they project an image of the Island of Britain before the Anglo-Saxons and Normans and before Edward I's conquest of Wales. They came to new prominence, worldwide, from C19th with the translation into English by Lady Charlotte Guest aided by William Owen Pughe.

The image above is of Cynon ap Clydno approaching the Castle of Maidens from the tale of Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain

With

Sioned Davies
Professor in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University

Helen Fulton
Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol

And

Juliette Wood
Associate Lecturer in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Available now

48 minutes

Last on

Thu 10 May 2018 21:30
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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LINKS AND FURTHER READING

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READING LIST:

John K. Bollard (trans.), The Mabinogi: Legend and Landscape of Wales (Gwasg Gomer, 2006)Μύ

Rachel Bromwich (ed.), Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain (University of Wales Press, 2006)

Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman & Brynley F. Roberts (eds), The Arthur of the Welsh: Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (first published 1995; University of Wales Press, 2008)

Sioned Davies (trans.), The Mabinogion (Oxford World’s Classics, 2008)

Dimitra Fimi, Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children's Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)

Helen Fulton (ed.), Urban Culture in Medieval Wales (University of Wales Press, 2012)

Helen Fulton, Dafydd ap Gwilym and the European Context (University of Wales Press, 1989)

Alan Garner, The Owl Service (HarperCollins, 2017)

Ralph Griffiths and Phillip Schofield (eds), Wales and the Welsh in the Middle Ages (University of Wales Press, 2011)

Revel Guest and Angela V John, Lady Charlotte Guest: An Extraordinary Life (The History Press, 2005)

A. O. H. Jarman and Gwilym Rees Hughes (eds), A Guide to Welsh Literature, vol. 1 (University of Wales Press, 1992)

Dafydd Johnston, The Literature of Wales (University of Wales Press, 2017)

Gwyneth Lewis, The Meat Tree: New Stories from the Mabinogion (Seren, 2010)

Saunders Lewis (trans. Joseph P. Clancy), The Woman Made of Flowers: Blodeuwedd 1947 (Dinefwr Publishers Ltd, 2016)

Scott Lloyd, The Arthurian Place Names of Wales (University of Wales Press, 2017)

Proinsias Mac Cana, The Mabinogi, Writers of Wales Series (University of Wales Press, 1992)

O. J. Padel, Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press, 2000)

Patricia Skinner (ed.), The Welsh and the Medieval World: Travel, Migration and Exile (University of Wales Press, 2018)

C. W. Sullivan III (ed.), The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays (Routledge, 2015)

Gwyn Williams, An Introduction to Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press, 1992)

Juliette Wood, The Holy Grail: History and Legend (University of Wales Press, 2012)

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Credits

Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Interviewed Guest Sioned Davies
Interviewed Guest Helen Fulton
Interviewed Guest Juliette Wood
Producer Simon Tillotson

Broadcasts

  • Thu 10 May 2018 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Thu 10 May 2018 21:30
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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