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Next assignments!

Next up:  What Man?

Hello, everyone!   We will be doing a few works coming up.  There are 2 smaller Welsh works that don't really fit into the scheme of "major influences" but I think merit discussion. One is Pa Gur? (What Man?), a short, incomplete Welsh poem where Arthur recites the qualities of his warriors, much like in Culhwch and Olwen.  The other is a loose conglomeration of Welsh triads commonly referred to collectively as the Triads of the Islands Britain.  The Triads are a bardic sequence of 3 events, persons, or things that are similar, so arranged for easy memorization.  An example that I am making up right now as I stare at a poster on the wall would be:  The three great Draculas of the 20th century: Bela Lugosi as Dracula; Christopher Lee as Dracula; and Gary Oldman as Dracula.  This is just an example for fun,  the Welsh ones are much weirder.  Most of the Triads are from different times and were originally recited verbally, most were not put on paper until the 13th century.

I will not require reading of the material but will link to some books for interested parties.

The main book we will be reading as our upcoming assignment will be the Roman de Brut by Wace.
The Roman de Brut is a retelling of Geoffrey's HRB but with more detail and a heavier focus on the drama and romance.  This book is important in multiple ways which I will describe in the posting.
I will cover the 1st two works mentioned above ahead of this so that you have time to read Wace's work.  There are links to the works below.

For Pa Gur please pick up  The Arthur of the Welsh by Rachel Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman, and Brynley F. Roberts.  This is a great book that addresses concepts in multiple Welsh works, many of which we have touched on including even the Welsh Merlin which we just covered.  If aren't interested in the book, the poem can be read here: Pa gur yv y porthaur?  (Don't worry, it's in English!)

For the Triads of the Island of Britain Please get Rachel Bromwich's edition below.  The triads can be sometimes be found online but seldom all together because they come from different manuscripts.  They are not a single work.  You can probably find some at the Maryjones website link above but probably separately.  I do not feel you need to read this as it is pretty dry stuff but I think it would not hurt to peruse a few to get a feel for the various works.  They are interesting because they reference some stories and history we have no record of anywhere else.  Some of the other authors we study are clearly familiar with the triads.

For our upcoming assignment I like this Everyman book because it has 2 sections, this and another excerpt we will read later.  Two for the price of one.  You are welcome to get another version but remember we are only covering the Arthurian section and that covers about 100 pages.


Thanks and see you soon!
Joe

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