from: Oxford University Press, USA
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.663
EAN num: 9780199218783
ISBN number: 0199218781
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: May 11, 2008
Publishing house: Oxford University Press, USA
Sale Popularity Level: 136719
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
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Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, Welsh history--these are just some of the threads woven into the eleven magical tales that make up The Mabinogion. Here are stories full of colorful characters, such as Gwydion the shape-shifter and Math the magician. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honor, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence. This magnificent new translation, the very first in thirty years, recreates this fantastical blend of myth, folklore, legend, and history. Davies' introduction places the tales within their oral storytelling context and illuminates their central themes and the key role that public performance played in their evolution. Invaluable explanatory notes shed light on aspects of medieval Welsh society and highlight the relationship between the tales, cross-referencing them in a way that has never been done before. The book also includes glossaries of personal names and place-names, a map showing the locations mentioned in the tales, and a guide to pronunciation.
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Rated by buyers -
How does this handsomely bound new rendering by Sioned Davies, Chair in Welsh at Cardiff, compare with the standard edition widely used and often praised, Harvard professor Ford's? Will his "30th Anniversary" U of California paperback reissued edition find itself in a dead heat with Davies in this elegant Oxford U.P. offering? The race may prove a photo finish!
I compared their translations of a favorite passage of mine early on in the First Branch, Pwyll's tale. Arawn's just been reunited with his queen after the year's test by unwitting yet steadfast doppelganger Pwyll. She wonders, post-coitally after a long year's lapse, why it's been so long since her husband made love with her.
Here's Ford (1977 ed., p. 41) very first at the starting line.
"Shame on me," she said, "if from the time we went between the sheets there was even pleasure or talk between us or even your facing me-- much less anything more than that-- for the past year!"
And he thought, "Dear Lord God, it was a unique man, with strong and unwavering friendship that I got for a companion." And then he said to his wife, "Lady," he said, "don't blame me. I swear to God," he said, "I haven't slept with you since a year from last night nor have I lain with you."
And he told her the entire adventure.
"I confess to God," she said, "as far as fighting temptations of the flesh and keeping true to you goes, you had a solid hold on a fellow."
"Lady," he said, "that's just what I was thinking while I was silent with you."
"That was only natural," she answered.
--You can feel the hesitant insertion of the teller's dramatic pauses implied with the "saids." These intensify rhythms of the poet's strong, confident prose. A few contractions and the well-placed dashes quicken the dialogue's pace. The language avoids the flowery exactitude and chivalric diction that marked Gwyn and Thomas Jones' 1949 Everyman edition. But, neither does Ford choose an entirely modern register. He keeps a slightly elevated style while emphasizing verve and a gently sophisticated voice for the couple.
--Compare and contrast Davies (2008 ed., p. 7). As in other pages I spot-checked, the two professors run neck and neck and overlap considerably-- a sign of how both scholars channel what Ford calls the "restraint" in this passage as well as its humour and tension.
"Shame on me," she said, "if there has been between us for the past year, from the time we were wrapped up in the bedclothes, either pleasure or conversation, or have you turned your face to me, let alone anything more than that!"
And then he thought, "Dear Lord God," he said, "I had a friend whose loyalty was steadfast and secure." And then he said to his wife, "Lady," he said, "do not blame me. Between me and God," he said, "I have neither slept nor lain down with you for the past year."
And then he told her the whole story.
"I confess to God," she said, "you struck a firm bargain for your friend to have fought off the temptations of the flesh and kept his word to you."
"Lady," he said, "those were my very thoughts while I was silent just now."
"No wonder!" she said.
--Davies in her preface emphasizes the "performative" qualities in her edition. In this passage, she appears to let the lines go longer rather than reining them in to English syntax. They drift away slightly before coming back to us. Perhaps this echo demonstrates Davies' own scholarship in the medieval Welsh interplay between orality and literacy. The author of two books on the Mabinogi, she stresses the "interactive" nature of the manuscript to be read aloud for the "acoustic dimension" embedded in the Welsh texts and through alliteration, tone, and beat, she tries to give us a feel for this tempo, albeit imperfectly conveyed perforce into our clunkier English.
--Both Davies and Ford include the four branches: Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math. Both include Lludd & Llueyls. But, reflecting textual differences in the original manuscript anthologies, they also differ. Ford's tales attributed to Gwion Bach & Taliesin, Culhwch & Olwen, and his appendix on Cad Goddeu do not appear in Davies. She provides Peredur, The Dream of the Emperor Maxen, The Lady of the Well, Geraint, and Rhonawby's Dream.
--Both editors explain their textual choices and open with prefaces. They both add glossaries, pronunciation guides, and bibliographies. Ford situates the tales in Indo-European contexts and Davies delves into their delivery as recited stories. Ford begins each tale with a short introduction; Davies adds explanatory notes in a detailed appendix, keyed to asterisks in the body of the text. Davies keys her "Index of Personal Names" to pages in the text while Ford does not. For study and teaching, it looks like the ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Where can I begin? The newest translation of the Mabinogion, those famous medieval Welsh stories is more than expected. Sioned Davies, chair of Welsh at Cardiff University certainly is within her element in bringing these stories into English. Her prose is poetic and crisp, and a delight to read. Her endnotes are informative and the pronunciation guide one of the clearest I've ever come into contact with. And that's just the translation itself! The stories are, of course, classics of literature the equal of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, or even (in my not-so humble opinion) Shakespeare. If you choose to purchase a translation of the Mabinogion, you can't do much better than the sublimity of Sioned Davies'.
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