A Jewel In The Crown Of Welsh Literature

WENVOE COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Tel: 02920 594176 – during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

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Click and Collect

We are still operating our Click and Collect service. Order online or phone in your orders on Tuesdays between 10-12 and we will let you know when to collect your books.

New book

Local author and songwriter Philip Thomas has written two short stories in a new publication entitled Lockdown Number Two: a collection of fifteen winning short stories. These short stories, based on “Lockdown Number Two” and “General” themes, are innovative, amusing and captivating to read. It is interesting to discover, particularly, how people spent their lockdown periods during 2020 in either real or imaginary situations. You can purchase the book from Amazon.

Volunteer contribution

Alina Trigger recounts how the earliest prose stories of the literature of Britain became widely influential and remain to be actively read many centuries since they were written.

The Story of the Story

Once upon a time, Wales was a land of magic and mystery, of wizards, giants and princes. One such prince was a young man, Pwyll, who ruled Dyfed. His name means carefulness, but the prince was anything but careful. He was lively and tended to do things without thinking them over. And so, one day he rides off with his hounds to hunt…

It is his impulsiveness and its consequences that introduces readers to The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, considered one of the jewels in the crown of Welsh literature. They are a combination of heroism, fantasy worlds and magic on a par with Homer’s Odyssey or the Scandinavian Sagas.

It was not until the mid-19th century that the stories were introduced to the English-speaking world by Charlotte Guest who translated them from the original Welsh. Since then Y Mabinogi have been translated into many European languages and are firmly on the list of ‘world classical literature’, where they are revised and updated for modern readers both adult and children.

The origins of Y Mabinogi remain extremely vague. Although the first written version dates from around 1350, historians are certain that the stories already existed for centuries, being passed down orally by the Cyfarwydd, storyteller poets who would entertain Welsh princes and courtiers during banquets.

The books have formed a base for many of today’s fantasy literature, like The Lord of the Rings and not only. Tolkien’s Silmarillion was inspired by Y Mabinogi. King Arthur and Merlin make their first appearance in Y Mabinogi, long before they became heroes of the Round table.

What makes Y Mabinogi so special are the superb stories that are gripping, full of tension and action. They are a masterpiece of raw feeling: love, hate, destruction and redemption. They look at the relationship between men and women, politics and guilt, magic dreams and cruel reality. In fact everything that is still relevant today. Well worth a read.



Wenvoe Community Library ‘Browsing’ Times
During May
Thursdays 10am till 12pm
Saturdays 9am till 1pm