Crefft y Cyfarwydd: Astudiaeth o dechnegau naratif yn Y Mabinogion

Folklore, Annual, 1998 by Thomas Charles-Edwards

Creft Cyfarwydd: Astudiaeth o dechnegau naratif yn y Mabinogion. By Sioned Davies. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1995. x + 261pp. Pbk. 14.95 [pounds sterling]. ISBN 0 7083 1319 1

For some years Sioned Davies has been the leading younger scholar working on medieval Welsh prose narrative. This excellent survey of the storyteller's craft (Crefft y Cyfarwydd) will undoubtedly become a central point of reference in future studies. Not only is it an excellent survey of research to date, much of it by Sioned Davies herself, but it has the authority and balanced judgement to provide a launching-pad for the future. Moreover its clarity of organisation and expression will also make it an invaluable text for students. For them, it will offer the opportunity to stay in contact with the latest research in the field.

After a general introductory chapter, Sioned Davies tackles, first, the structure of the tales; then, in a long and detailed chapter, their use of formulae; and, finally, dialogue. The texts conventionally included under the heading of The Mabinogion are perceived as literary compositions but as influenced by the expectation that they would be recited orally. As with almost all medieval written compositions, they looked to an audience as well as to a readership. The material of the tales was taken in part from oral sources, so that the influence of oral delivery and aural reception, seen in their chronological and episodic structure, may derive from the genesis and from the destination of the texts. The chapter on formulae covers a lot of ground including such formulae as greetings and oaths, which were arguably part of ordinary language at the time and not devices peculiar to narrative, modes of description of horses and armour and the structural expressions used in opening and closing episodes. Dr Davies very nicely demonstrates the way in which use of dialogue divides The Mabinogion into two groups: the majority of the tales which make much use of direct speech (generally not far short of 50%); and a smaller number of texts, notably the two described in their titles as "Dreams," which use it only sparingly. An effective aspect of this chapter is the way in which it is shown that skill in conversation was a contemporary social requirement, especially for women. In this, as in many other ways, the texts were rooted in their social context.

This book deserves to see many editions. In that hope, it may be reasonable to offer some suggestions. First, the discoveries of Daniel Huws about the date of the White Book of Rhydderch have not been taken to heart. Opinions about the date of the manuscript are still quoted from articles that appeared before his conclusions were made public. It must be emphasised that the White Book cannot now be dated to the late-thirteenth century, since one of the scribes who participated in its production was the anchorite of Llanddewi Brefi who wrote the colophon to Jesus College, Oxford, MS 119 in 1346. Secondly, one of the principal keys to an understanding of the techniques of medieval Welsh narrative is the part of Peredur contained in four manuscripts (most of the tales are in two copies at best). The differences between Peniarth MSS 7 and 14 and the White and Red Books are explained by the editor of the tale, Glenys Goetinck, as a normal case of scribal copying, the White and Red Books being opposed to Peniarth MSS 7 and 14 as two distinct branches of the tradition. An alternative, and to my mind preferable, account would see Peniarth MS 7 as containing an early and relatively unpolished version which was successively improved in, first, Peniarth MS 14, and then in the version contained in the White and Red Books. The revisions may have been carried out by scribes who were also reciters or, at any event, attuned to the needs of the reciter. If this interpretation is anywhere near to the truth, it would imply that this text would provide perhaps our best insight into the techniques of the reciter.