Seren Wen ar Gefndir Gwyn
Seren Wen ar Gefndir Gwyn (White Star on a White Background) is a political allegory set in the future which tells of a technological war between Gwlad Alltud (Land of Exile) and an alliance between Tir Bach (The Small Country), Haf heb Haul (Summer without Sun), Gaeaf Mawr (Great Winter) and other countries. The book is peopled by exotic characters who represent the various lands: Gwlad Alltud is the home of Fischermädchen and Rawsman whose seat is the dark Castle Entwürdigung, while Tir Bach is ruled by Llwch Dan Draed (Dust under Foot). Represented as members of an oppressed culture, the people of Llawr Gwlad dream of personal emancipation and of the liberation of their homeland. The main protagonist, Gwern Esgus flees to escape imprisonment, and is subsequently given the task of planning a war against the occupying forces. But his loved one Anwes Bach y Galon is left behind, and she and the couple's young boy are held hostage in Castle Entwürdigung. The tale follows Gwern's travels through the allied countries, and back to Gwlad Alltud which he infiltrates only to meet ultimately with betrayal and death. Seren Wen ar Gefndir Gwyn is relevant to times when totalitarian powers have threatened the existence of distinct cultures. Critics have been drawn to interpret it as a condemnation of neo-imperialism, whether on European or Middle-Eastern shores. When published in 1992, Seren Wen ar Gefndir Gwyn helped Welsh prose to emerge from a period of inertia. Its idiom, influenced by the medieval Mabinogi, is highly original, and, ignoring the conventions of realism, it brings us into a world whose geography is the reflection of states of mind, a world without cliché which leaves the reader searching for terra cognita.
Cyfnewidfa Lên Cymru/Wales Literature Exchange