Output details

The White Trail: ‘New stories from the Mabinogion’

The White Trail is a radical modern reworking of the Arthurian Myth, Culhwch and Olwen into a contemporary novella. It therefore entailed a great deal of research into the various versions and translations of this myth, beginning with the medieval original text in Middle-Welsh and working through to the most recent literary English-language translation. The result is a combination of detective fiction, thriller, myth and fable which has a distinctly bilingual identity yet stands side by side with other British/European texts – the research into which was also necessary (the reading of the rest of the texts of ‘New Stories from the Mabinogion’, for example, and also the Canongate Myth Series.) The research also enabled further articles by the author, and publications such as New Welsh Review and the Western Mail magazine which set out the author’s views on the adaptation process. The novella has an introduction by the author which provides insight into the reworking of the original tale into an innovative piece of fiction and shows how the various research processes have influenced and directed the piece. The art form of the novella was also another necessary research area – texts such as Michel Faber’s ‘The Courage Consort’, Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, and Albert Camus’ The Outsider were also closely analysed and consulted in order to secure the thematic unity of the novella – and the transition from myth into novella was closely documented by the author in several articles as an integral part of the research process.