Gwyn Jones

Thomas Jones

A collection of eleven medieval Celtic tales includes the stories of Arawn the hunter and his shining hounds, Rhiannon and his man-defeating horse, the warring giant king Bendifeidfran, and Math and Gwydion and their woman of flowers, in a new edition featuring a preface by John Updike.

The Mabinogion

Daryl Houston

I'm glad I read this, but I mostly didn't enjoy it very much. It was hard for me to retain specifics, in part because so many of the names were weird and in part because the stories' events often seem random, with cause/effect and time seeming sort of slippery. I did like some of the individual stories, and it was neat to read some of the Arthurian stories, but on the whole, I read these to get a flavor of some of the history of our literature more than for enjoyment.

Helen Jones

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Preface by John Updike The 11 stories of "The Mabinogion," first assembled on paper in the fourteenth century, reach far back into the earlier oral traditions of Welsh poetry. Closely linked to the Arthurian legends--King Arthur himself is a character--they summon up a world of mystery and magic that is still evoked by the Welsh landscape they so vividly describe. Mingling fantasy with tales of chivalry, these stories not only prefigure the later medieval romances, but stand on their own as magnificent evocations of a golden age of Celtic civilization. This translation of "The Mabinogion "has, since its first appearance in 1949, been recognized as a classic in its own right. It was last revised by Gwyn Jones and his wife, Mair, in 1993.