|
|
with an exploration of the myth Branwen; it then moves to examine Pwyll, Math, and Manawydan before returning to Branwen, where, with the help of information drawn from the other branches, what initially appeared to be chaotic is shown to operate according to the principles of a cohesive system. Of course, my understanding of this system does not precede analysis of the material, nor is it imposed upon it due to some desire to make the material conform. Instead, whilst undertaking a careful examination of the material, certain prevalent rules of operation are discovered. The challenge in the exploration of the Mabinogi is simply to uncover the structure and, as this process works from the detail of the narrative to the more abstract, a great deal of time is spent at the most surface levels of structure where a remarkable and interesting convention of category content is uncovered.
The next chapter of the analysis (chapter 4) explores Owein, which has been classified by recent scholars as a Romance (Jones 1992; Loomis 1994; Roberts 1992). It has a complex relationship with Chrétien de Troyes’ famous Yvain and is generally seen as less representative of traditional Welsh culture than PKM. This chapter is therefore able to test this presumption by applying the cipher gained from the exploration of the four branches of the Mabinogi to this material. However, an outright comparison with the myths’ more famous French relations lies beyond this book. Contrary to academic convention, my focus is principally on the relation of the Romances to each other and secondarily on their relation to other medieval Welsh material.
The question of the relation of the Welsh texts to those of Chrétien is fascinating and has been prolifically covered by Goetinck (1975), Hunt (1974), and Thomson (1997); furthermore, I do not deny that it is desirable to examine the similarities and differences of the French and Welsh versions from a structuralist perspective. Yet such a task is a large undertaking, which is opened as a possible future project by the firm foundations this work lays. To engage in the kind of detailed comparative analysis that is desirable would consume this project and would not allow for enough data to be gathered to establish firmly and without doubt the Welsh structure. Therefore, comments on the relation of these