An English translation of Y Goeden Eirin, a collection of six short stories by a master craftsman of the 'genre', together with four other stories, an interview between him and Saunders Lewis about short story writing and a biography and appreciation of his work by Gwyn Thomas.

Cyfieithiad Saesneg o Y Goeden Eirin, casgliad o chwe stori fer gan grefftwr meistraidd yn y genre, ynghyd â phedair stori arall, cyfweliad rhyngddo ef a Saunders Lewis am ffurf y stori fer, bywgraffiad a gwerthfawrogiad o'i waith gan Gwyn Thomas.

John Gwilym Jones is one of the major Welsh language writers of the last century and this is a translation of his 1946 short story collection Y Goeden Eirin. In addition to the nine stories, we have ‘The Man from Groeslon’, a substantial autobiographical essay, and also the transcription of a radio interview in which he spoke on the art of the short story; this will prove very helpful to readers who, like myself, have no previous knowledge of his work. There is also a fourteen page afterword by Professor Gwyn Thomas which readers should read first. It would have been better placed at the opening of the volume as an introduction, I feel.

The stories make demands, for, as Jones himself comments, ‘readers are often lazy, expecting to be given something in one reading’. Helpfully, Meic Stephens has included notes relating to various references within the stories. As Jones is only too keen to acknowledge, he has been influenced by the tradition of modernism in European literature, together with the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. They have evidently helped him to find his own voice. He is concerned with philosophical ideas and his writing illustrates the ways in which individuals are affected by truth, reason and faith. This is well exemplified in ‘The Marriage’ which, it seems, is the only one of the stories which has previously been translated. Here the characters assume a facade of normality at a celebratory event while privately lapsing into introspective reflections on their broken dreams and unfulfilled desires.

There are times when, it seems to me, the author’s intellectualism is expressed in a slightly clumsy way, as when he refers to a character who was ‘. . . like the contemporary literature of Wales . . . pitifully ignorant of his lineage’.

But this is obviously the work of an important writer and we can be grateful to Seren for making it available in translation in such an attractive addition to their classics series.

Dewi Roberts

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.