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Gwyn Jones (1907–1999)

Author of A History of the Vikings

33+ Works 2,368 Members 20 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Works by Gwyn Jones

A History of the Vikings (1968) 1,521 copies
Eirik The Red and Other Icelandic Sagas (1961) — Translator — 361 copies
Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English (1977) — Editor — 44 copies
Kings, Beasts and Heroes. (1972) 29 copies
Tales from Wales (2001) — Editor — 22 copies
A Prospect of Wales (1948) 21 copies
Welsh Short Stories (1937) — Contributor — 17 copies
The Vatnsdalers' Saga (1973) 6 copies
Selected short stories (1974) 4 copies

Associated Works

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1380) — Translator, some editions — 8,501 copies
The Mabinogion (1300) — Translator, some editions — 4,501 copies
The History of the Kings of Britain (1138) — some editions — 2,652 copies
Arthurian Chronicles (1912) — Introduction, some editions — 177 copies
The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories (1976) — Contributor — 98 copies
A Golden Land (1958) — Contributor — 42 copies
Stories for the Dead of Night (1957) — Contributor — 28 copies
A Second Storyteller's Choice (1965) — Contributor — 12 copies
Giants! Giants! Giants! (1980) — Contributor — 6 copies
Life and letters today, March 1940 (1940) — Reviewer — 2 copies
Little reviews anthology — Contributor, some editions — 1 copy
Argosy (UK) [Vol. IV No. 5, June 1943] — Contributor — 1 copy
Fferm a thyddyn, rhif 21, Calan Mai 1998 (1998) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

(894) 14th century (185) Arthurian (625) Arthurian legend (207) Arthuriana (105) Britain (166) British (140) British literature (142) Celtic (290) classic (224) classics (377) England (208) English (134) English literature (188) epic (131) fantasy (176) fiction (750) Folio Society (262) folklore (310) history (1,050) King Arthur (278) legends (115) literature (551) medieval (854) medieval history (150) medieval literature (407) Middle Ages (234) Middle English (237) myth (150) non-fiction (284) Penguin Classics (106) poetry (1,171) read (146) to-read (502) translation (214) unread (114) Vikings (284) Wales (407) Welsh (328) Welsh literature (160)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

Some of the sagas in this collection really wouldn't have been out of place in Tolkein's [b:Unfinished Tales|797114|Unfinished Tales|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1207407366s/797114.jpg|2961645]. They read very much like rough early drafts of tales from Middle Earth.

The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.

Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good read.

The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall.
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imlee | 1 other review | Jul 7, 2020 |
Some of the sagas in this collection really wouldn't have been out of place in Tolkein's [b:Unfinished Tales|797114|Unfinished Tales|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1207407366s/797114.jpg|2961645]. They read very much like rough early drafts of tales from Middle Earth.

The first few sagas drag somewhat. They mostly consist of vast genealogies (though apparently the translator Gwyn Jones removed some of the extraneous family-tree parts) and then a drawn out blood feud wherein two families will take it in turns avenging some crime that has long since been forgotten.

Amongst these is Eirik the Red, a saga famous for recording the settling of Greenland and an Icelandic expedition to North America; it's also a pretty good read.

The best saga is saved till last. King Hrolf and his Champions is by far the longest tale in the collection — albeit still only a hundred pages or so. But this is ample time to actually get involved in the story and allow it to build to a fine climax. The final battle in this saga that closes the book is both suitably epic in scale and surprisingly moving. A fine book overall.
… (more)
 
Flagged
leezeebee | 1 other review | Jul 6, 2020 |
This review of 'The Norse Atlantic Saga' I composed first for my own benefit and then showed it to the reviewers of Booklikes; and according as it pleased me and them to have it be in this way, I wrote in the same manner as Gwyn Jones who did attempt to write in the manner of the Norsemen and their sagas.
A history of the Norse men and their deeds requires a good writer to put those deeds to paper and a good translator of tongues to change the tongue of the Norse man into the modern speech of the English. Gwyn Jones, a man of Monmouthshire in Wales, did this thing by virtue of keeping the tone and syntax of the former tongue even after translating the words. To these ears what was intended as due tribute instead rings of mockery.

This writer, by which I mean myself, became interested in the sagas of the Norsemen after reading the long tale called 'The Greenlanders' written down by Jane Smiley, a learned woman of high regard in letters, which also recalled the language of the sagas of the Norsemen. Jane Smiley knew when to have enough of a good thing without spoiling the whole.

The book is divided into two parts, the first being abbreviated tellings of the history of the discovery and settling of Iceland and Greenland, the journeys to Markland and Vinland and some of the events that led to and followed these events. The second part is made up of several sagas including "The Book of the Icelanders", "The Book of the Settlements", "The Greenlander’s Saga", "Eirek the Red’s Saga" and the brief "Karlsefni’s Voyage to Vinland" as related in the Hauksbók telling and "The Story of Einar Sokkason". Photographs and illustrations are generously spaced through the book.

It was a pleasant happening to discover the presence of women in these histories and sagas. The limited role of Wealhþēow and others in the old verse 'Beowulf' led me to expect little insight into their actions apart from that of being good wives and mothers or possibly seers and witches. It was good to read of Aud the Deep-minded and Freydís Eiríksdóttir who were women as fully talked of as much as men, devout and brave, wise and treacherous. Women may not have had the lawful equality of men but they are not mere decorations for the halls of their fathers and husbands in these histories.

It is a good history and the stories are rich, but the slow weighty words of Gwyn Jones do not leave me satisfied. There must be better out there and the word must get around to read this text only if there is nothing else about.

And that is the end of this review.
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ManWithAnAgenda | Feb 18, 2019 |
Excellent scholarly writing on the Vikings but so short of photos.
 
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ShelleyAlberta | 14 other reviews | Jun 4, 2016 |

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Statistics

Works
33
Also by
13
Members
2,368
Popularity
#10,841
Rating
3.8
Reviews
20
ISBNs
47
Languages
2
Favorited
1

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