Tag Archives: Welsh mythology

Various authors: An omnibus review featuring Lloyd Alexander, Evangeline Walton, et. al

Patrick Ford, translator and editor’s The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales (University of California Press, 1977) John Layard, editor’s A Celtic Quest: Sexuality and Soul in Individuation (revised by Anne S. Bosch) (Spring Publications, 1975) Lloyd Alexander’s The Black … Continue reading

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Kath Filmer-Davies’s Fantasy Fiction and Welsh Myth: Tales of Belonging

Contemporary fantasy writers such as Susan Cooper and Jane Yolen are drawing more and more on ancient Welsh mythic tales and folklore as the basis of their stories. (See Grey Walker’s review of Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series.) … Continue reading

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John Matthews’s The Song of Taliesin: Tales from King Arthur’s Bard

Lisa Spangenberg wrote this review. The Song of Taliesin: Tales from King Arthur’s Bard is a collection of retellings, loosely based on medieval Welsh and Irish texts, that John Matthews sees as related to the myth of Taliesin. Green Man … Continue reading

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John Matthews’ Taliesin: The Last Celtic Shaman

Lisa Spangenberg wrote this review. John Matthews, like his wife Caitlin, is prominent in Neo-Pagan circles, and they have separately and together written an enormous number of books regarding Celtic, Arthurian, and spiritual subjects. You can find reviews here on … Continue reading

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Graham Anderson’s King Arthur in Antiquity

Why are the King Arthur stories so enduring in the popular imagination? And why did they captivate mediaeval Europe? Did the crusaders bring these stories to the middle east, or were the stories waiting for them when they got there? … Continue reading

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Donna R. White’s A Century of Welsh Myth in Children’s Literature

The prospect of an adult discussion of some of my favorite childhood authors has great appeal, if only because it legitimates my occasional re-reading of Alan Garner and Lloyd Alexander as an adult. Although my adult self wishes to quarrel … Continue reading

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Jeffrey Gantz’s The Mabinogion & Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones’ The Mabinogion 

Grand quests, swords, sorcery, gods, mortals, love, war, and a healthy sense of mystery can all be found in The Mabinogion. These eleven ancient Welsh tales date back to somewhere around 1200 in written form and are classics of the … Continue reading

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Alan Garner’s The Owl service audiobook

I must have first read Alan Garner’s The Owl Service some forty years ago when I was interested in all things concerning Welsh mythology. I wanted a hardcover first edition which cost a pretty penny at the time. I mention … Continue reading

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Alan Garner’s The Owl Service

This is a magical book, and the finest of Alan Garner’s young adult novels. Now, a lot of people associate magic with ethereal forces, great quests and spells and all that, and indeed spells can be found in several of … Continue reading

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