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The Mabinogion

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The Mabinogion

By: Sioned Davies - Translator
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
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About this listen

Then they took the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from those they conjured up the fairest and most beautiful maiden that anyone had ever seen.

Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history - these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as The Mabinogion.

They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honor, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence.

Sioned Davies's lively translation re-creates the storytelling world of medieval Wales and reinvests the tales with the power of performance.

©2007 Sioned Davies (P)2018 Tantor Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics European Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism Magic World Literature Magic Users Middle Ages Arthurian Short Story Welsh Mythology

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I live and grew up in Wales and have felt I should read The Mabinogion. This was a free title with my membership. I have a paper copy of this by Sioned Davies but have never got around to reading it. Reading all the negative reviews I wondered if I should bother with this audio version. I'm really glad I did, as the narrator does a good job with some very difficult Welsh pronunciation! as a Welsh speaker myself the way he pronounced all the names were correct or atleast very near to it. The Mabinogion themselves are typically medieval in style with some good yarns, they can be a bit dry and repetitive in some places. Overall listening to it is a lovely dip into Welsh mythology and medieval Welsh culture.

Lovely dip into Welsh mythology and medieval Welsh culture

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Such a missed opportunity. Why not use a narrator who could actually pronounce the Welsh names? Unfair to ask a non Welsh speaker to do it. Narrator also fails to bring any life to some stories, particularly the later ones. Sich a brilliant translation requires a far better production. Try again.

Terrible pronunciation

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Unfortunately I could not listen to the story as the quintessentially English delivery was too painful to listen to. The pronunciation of the Welsh words (of which there are many) was forced and the general performance was just woefully inappropriate to the content.

Painful to listen to

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Really disappointed that a book of Welsh tales is narrated by someone who can’t pronounce the words. It really affects the enjoyment when you can’t understand what he’s said.

Narrator can’t pronounce any of the Welsh names/placenames

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It maybe that I’m not Welsh, that I enjoyed this audiobook, for not knowing that the Welsh pronunciations wernt correct. It couldn’t bother me. Had I have been Welsh, it probably would have.

However, I enjoyed the way it was narrated and kept me listening and enjoying the whole book. I often find narrations of similar work so dry and dull that I give up.

Maybe for me, it was the slight Monty Pythonesque nature of the narration that kept it alive, entertaining and therefore absorbing. I’m not sure that was the intention of the narrator to sound Pythonesque but for me, it worked. Maybe for others, it might be disrespectful to such a historic tale.
But I love a narrator that acts the parts rather than just reads dryly.

I enjoyed this narration

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Utterly dreadful narration, it might have improved from minute eight but it was beyond all my powers to go any further, has been returned. Cannot comment on the story for obvious reasons

Endured for 7 mins of chapter two,

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Sioned Davies is widely regarded as the world's expert on The Mabinogion and her translation is magnificent- it captures the mood and feeling of early Medieval Wales brilliantly. So why was James Cameron Stewart chosen to read it? He cannot pronounce the Welsh names and utterly mangles the lyricism of the work. I stuck it out for Branch 1 - but his pronunciation of names like Pwyll had me on edge. I returned the audiobook and got my credit back. What a lost opportunity. What a pity Davies didn't get the narrator her translation deserves.

Dreadful Welsh pronunciation ruins this fine translation

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I would have given anything for this to work as studying this translation, but I can't listen to it. Reading, is so stilted, and lacking warmth. I

Reading sounds like shipping forecast

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A really excellent translation performed.as it should be by a superb narrator. This is by far the best way to tackle a complex and often surreal text

Brilliant

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The stories are excellent. I’ll keep going because I want to hear them. Why a narrator who can breathe life into the story, or who can pronounce the Welsh properly, who sounds like he’s from the nation that produced the stories wasn’t chosen is a mystery. A cut crystal posh English accent and stilted delivery is about the worst thing that can be done to these stories. He was bearable for the preface as that was academic, but he’s utterly unsuited to the stories themselves. How any producer could listen to this narration and think it was worth publishing is beyond me. He may be right for other book, but off the back of this one, I won’t be listening to any others he does.

Audible strikes again with a narrator who is utterly wrong for the book.

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