Mabinogi Bibliography

Bromwich’ article is much more than an account of Charlotte Guest’s Mabinogion, which only begins at the end of its fourth page. Before that we have a clear and well supported profile on how little the prose tales were esteemed before the late 18thC, and an excellent account of William Owen Pughe. This is so solid it almost overbalances the whole, and it especially useful in view of the paucity of Pughe research.
Guest is concisely biographied, showing her as a person, and just how ‘stupendous’ her many achievements were besides The Mabinogion. Her scholarship is placed in context with other scholars, including her predecessor Pughe, her Abergavenny circle and delegated helpers; as well as her dispute with Villemarque, using the Bessborough journal and NLW archives. Guest’s shortcoming in public acknowledgement is noted, and compared with her gratitude in her journal.
Guest’s personal interest in Arthurian romance is observed, and how her success in this international movement enabled the prose tales to move out of obscurity.The breadth of her research is impressively itemised in several detailed pages not found elsewhere (which I have compiled in an Appendix). She is clearly presented as much more than a translator, as she published the original Welsh texts, variant texts in other languages, as well as copious notes. She is shown to inherit her title from Pughe, and Her work is deservedly assessed as ‘epoch-making.’
The article lacks critique of the literary ‘praise’ for Guest which arrived much later with Sioned Davies and Donna White, and no mention of unequivocally negative responses. There is no analysis of Guest’s political tensions, of class, gender, or nationality. Guest’s claims to handle childbirth with superwoman ease are admired, unexamined. Data on her publication dates and volumes is inaccurate, but unsurprisingly as it is heavily buried at NLW (I had great difficulty unearthing it myself). Some references such as Revel Guest and Angela John’s article have been superseded by their later work.
But given the lack of other scholarship on her subject at the time Bromwich provides a solidly useful exploration with a wealth of context and detail. It is not a historical curiosity piece, but genuinely useful material, some not found elsewhere; and should form part of any study of Guest (and Pughe) today.
Repub. in Sullivan, ed. The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays, (NY: Garland Publishing, 1996) pp. 3 -18.
Also in On Arthurian Women: Essays in Memory of Maureen Fries, edited by Wheeler, Bonnie, Tolhurst, Fiona, 321-334. Dallas, TX: Scriptorium, 2001.