The Four Branches of The Mabinogi: A Broadview Anthology of British Literature Edition

by Anonymous, Matthieu Boyd (Editor and Translator)

Set in a primal past, the Mabinogi bridges many genres; it is part pre-Christian myth, part fairytale, part guide to how nobles should act, and part dramatization of political and social issues. This edition of what has become a canonical text provides a highly engaging new translation of the work, an informative introduction, and a set of background contextual materials that help place the Mabinogi in the context of medieval Welsh history and culture.

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 14, 2017

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[✨faith✨trust✨pixiedust✨ Dead Account; Not Coming Back · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read my required fourth of the book.

This was one of the single worst things I've ever read. The translator should be ashamed of the butchering he did to a work of classic Welsh literature (unless the original was annoying and stupid, in which case, go off I guess). Honestly, this felt like something written with a 12-year-old in mind (in 2006), not a 20-year-old (so much for the "undergraduate" audience). If this was the only piece of Welsh literature I'd ever read, I would never want to read again.

[Mary Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This translation annoyed me to no end. First is the half-hearted attempts at modernizing some names—Pryderi becomes Carey, Math becomes Goode, and most annoyingly, Bendigedfran and his sister Branwen become Benedict and Blanche Crowe, all terrible puns on the meanings of their names, but others like Rhiannon, Manawydan, and Gwydion remain untranslated. Then you have a seesawing between what reads like traditional translation—lots of “my good lord” stuff—and awkward, slangy wording, like Aranrhod repeatedly referred to as a bitch, or Manawydan promising Cigfa—oh, I’m sorry, “Busty”—that he isn’t a “horny teenager”. It all comes off as a mess.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the text. This particular edition is useful when teaching to undergraduate students, but not really if the aim is to use it for scholarly research.

[abigail fathauer · Rating 1 out of 5]

the Mabinogi itself is a wonderful collection of Welsh folklore, genealogy, and law. however, Matthieu Boyd’s translation is genuinely the worst I have ever read. ignoring a long history of colonization of the Welsh language, Boyd chooses to anglicize most of the Welsh names in this book, morphing Cigfa to “Busty” and Branwen to “Blanche.” Boyd claims these changes are intended to allow North American readers to understand the meanings behind each name, which is not an inherently bad impulse, but his execution is VERY poor. similarly, Boyd’s translation leans heavily on modern slang terms that feel disjointed and disconnected from the original text. characters refer to each other as “kid.” a woman is called a “bitch” multiple times (despite the author’s own footnote, which explains that the original Welsh translates more closely to “wicked woman”). at one point, a man says that he is not a “horny teenager.” i plan to read the Mabinogi in a different translation someday, because i believe that this translation completely failed to communicate the beauty and complexity of this early Welsh text. 1/5

[SJ Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of unfair reviews of this book here, in my opinion. It’s one thing not to personally like something, and another entirely to infer that it’s inherently bad. Personally, I think there’s a value in considering the approach the translator takes as an art form, guided by artistic decisions. In this case, Boyd takes as a guiding principle that it would be advantageous for modern readers to not face as many barriers to entry in recognizing some qualities of the text. Take names: the point isn’t to dumb them down, but to place the reader in the same kind of place as the originally intended audience, who would have immediately recognized what the names of characters meant. If someone finds that heavy-handed, it’s an issue to take up with the original Welsh author, because anyone who reads the language well knows that’s exactly the experience of reading the original. The choice Boyd makes (and that personally, I find creative and bold) is to remove that barrier to entry for a modern audience because no such barrier existed when the text was living and thriving. At some point we have to ask ourselves: how enslaved are we to the norms of early, stilted, translations that are leading to a massive decline in reading these works? There’s not just something inherently interesting and daring and bold and useful about encountering the text on its own terms—it’s also necessary for it to live and breathe. Reviews here miss this point entirely, based on taste, not the scholarly merit of the translation or its artistic value. I’m weighing in after having read the whole thing—not a mandatory fourth that was assigned to me. (That comment in and of itself tells me all I need to know about snap judgments.) If you want a reliable translation that invites you to experience the ancient text in a way that’s closer to how it was received by audiences in its own day, this is very much worth the read.

[Kris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a version created with accessibility for US undergrads in mind, which is code for DUMBED DOWN and, honestly, insulting to undergrads everywhere. I'm not going to pretend that I read very much of this mess. But I have read pretty much every modern English translation available, and they are ALL ten times better.

Yes, Celtic-language names are difficult for English-speaking readers. Difficult, but not insurmountable. Altering names of characters to "catchy" and noticeably childish names in English is cringe-inducing. Modernising language used in the text is a good idea (see translations by Patrick Ford, Sioned Davies, or John K. Bollard to see how that can be done sensitively and readably). Turning it into comic-book level dialogue when it's not a comic book just makes it read as adolescent.

If you want to read the Four Branches, or the whole Mabinogion, there are many excellent choices at affordable prices. Don't waste your time and money on this.