This is a study of very short songs: pieces long perceived as 'fragments' or remnants of longer narrative texts, and dismissed as the by-products of a degenerative oral tradition. Coverage includes English, Welsh, Breton, American, and Finnish songs. The authors argue that the inherently metaphorical and connotative idiom of traditional song makes external critical notions of 'completeness' inappropriate: in practice, such pieces are rarely felt to be broken or lacking by those who sing them - they have a strong metonymic force. A wide range of texts and traditions texts and traditions is explored to suggest how short songs may convey meaning both in performance and in non-traditional contexts such as the literary novel.

Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs)

Arts & Photography

Constantine, Mary-Ann

Porter, Gerald

Music

British Academy

This is a vivid introduction, by two of the foremost scholars in the field, to one of the most fascinating and little-known song traditions in Europe, the Breton gwerz, or ballad. These narrative songs, collected in Western Brittany from the 19th century to the present day, recount a wealth of stories based on tragic local events or legends. They tell of shipwrecks, abductions, accidents and murders, miraculous rescues, penitent souls, and strange journeys. Quite unlike songs from the neighbouring French tradition, and distinct from anything else in the other Celtic languages, these ballads unfold in clear, spare verses, filled with striking imagery: they are often highly dramatic in nature. Historians of popular culture will find much to explore here, as will medievalists interested in tracing themes and legends across different European cultures, or linguists looking for rare material in Breton. But the gwerziou speak to readers and listeners of all kinds, with stories of violence, love, and grief that touch us directly today. This generous selection of songs is presented here for the first time in the original Breton with English translations and musical notation; an accompanying CD showcases some of the most famous Breton traditional singers. A comprehensive introductory essay offers insights into the history of ballad collection in Brittany, the nature of the songs, and the contexts in which they have been performed.

Miracles and Murders: An Introductory Anthology of Breton Ballads (British Academy Monographs)

Guillorel, Eva

Oxford University Press

Curious Travellers: Writing the Welsh Tour, 1760-1820

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Iolo Morganwg was Britain’s most successful (and hence, least visible) Romantic forger—as well as a poet, Arthurian, influential antiquarian, and laudanum addict. During his lifetime, Britain was fascinated with literary forgery. Iolo’s own strongly-held ideas about the truth—historical, literary, and religious—speak about more than mere deception and offer a provocative look at the blurred intersection of the Celtic and British Romantic worlds. The Truth Against the World examines the complex relationships entangled around Iolo’s forgeries and their criticism, as well as how, after death, his ideas affected the Celtic cultural revival.

The Truth Against the World: Iolo Morganwg and Romantic Forgery (Iolo Morganwg and the Romantic Tradition)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

University of Wales Press

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Books by Constantine, Mary-Ann