Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Enchanted Wales: Myth and Magic in Welsh Storytelling . Cardiff: Calon, 2023, xii, 156 pp.
Mediaevistik January 1, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3726/med.2024.01.46 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
This book attempts to connect motifs from the Welsh Mabinogion stories with archaeological and anthropological evidence, particularly concerning gender, shape-shifting, and shamanism. Despite a systematic approach, the effort is judged unsuccessful, as the author ventures beyond her expertise in archaeology. The work is critiqued for failing to convincingly link the literary themes to material culture and anthropological concepts.
Study at a glance
| Design | historical analysis |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The book's attempt to relate Mabinogion motifs to archaeology and anthropology lacks success. |
Abstract
Professor Aldhouse-Green is a respected archaeologist, editor of The Celtic World (London and New York: Routledge, 1995), a major work. But her present book shows the perils of not sticking to one’s last. Her attempts to relate motifs of Welsh Mabinogion stories to archaeology and anthropology (as on gender, shape-shifting, shamanism) lack success, despite a systematic approach, which is this.