Reviews 189 Michaela Jacques [jacques@ fas .harvard .edu] is a doctoral student in the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. She is interested in Welsh literature, especially the poetic tradition in medieval and early modern Wales. The four branches of the Mabinogi, translated by Matthieu Boyd. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2017. ISBN 978–1–55481–319–3. 160 pp. $14.95 (paper). Michaela Jacques Harvard University This slim, attractive volume contains a new translation of The four branches of the Mabinogi , along with a brief introduction and contextual information. The main distinguishing feature of this version is that ‘its primary purpose is to make the text accessible and engaging for twenty-first-century undergraduate readers in North America’ (11). It should be emphasised, then, that the book is intended as a teaching tool for North American educators, and not as a scholarly resource. The introduction is short and general, and refers to (but does not cite directly) some of the scholarly debates surrounding the authorship and possible function of the text, early-twentieth century conceptions of its mythological origins, and the meaning of mabinogi. It is a good, succinct overview of some of the main questions surrounding the Four Branches. In the introduction, and throughout the book, Boyd’s prose is clear and cogent, and makes for easy and pleasurable reading. Its brevity and concision will allow for easy digestion by the busy or under-engaged undergraduate. The contextual information in the back of the book contains manuscript images, as well as reprints of sections of the Welsh laws, triads, and Gerald of Wales’ Descriptio Kambriae together with short introductions, and interspersed with expository notes about the relationship of each text to the Mabinogi narrative. This section is very good, and allows the audience access to texts that might not be readily available in smaller North American libraries. The commentary is again brief, but incisive. Turning to the translation itself, Boyd’s version must (by virtue of chronology, if nothing else) be compared to Sioned Davies’ 2007 Mabinogion, which contains not only the Four Branches, but also the seven other medieval Welsh prose tales traditionally grouped under this title, and which is still in print, at a similar price-point to Boyd’s. To justify its existence, Boyd’s Mabinogi must therefore achieve something distinct from its recent counterpart. It does this, in spades. The new translation is wholly unlike any version of the Mabinogi that has appeared to date. The most startling point of departure is in the translation of the Welsh names into English: to give just a few illustrative examples, Pwyll is rendered as Sage; Pryderi as Carey; Gwawl uab Clud as Flash son of Flame; Bendigeidfran as Benedict Crowe; Math uab Mathonwy as Goode son of Goodley; Lleu Llaw Gyffes as Blondie Goodarm; and so on. The translator recognises this as a deviation from previous work: an entire section of the introduction is titled ‘A note on the translation, specifically the names’ (11). This section tells us that ‘ultimately this translation tries to make the names as meaningful in English as they would be to a Welsh audience—or, at least, to provide an intelligible 190 North American journal of Celtic studies starting point to discuss (with the help of the notes) the full range of their meaning’ (11). These name translations are entertaining and sharp-witted, and the translator often comes up with ingenious English-language puns to match the Welsh. And the original context is not completely abandoned: the Welsh names are provided in brackets at the first appearance of each character, and the reader is given basic notes to explain possible alternative meanings, where required. The tone of the translation is also very different to other versions. It is heavily modernised , and to a casual reader, easier to follow. It is perhaps more likely that a student will carry out the entirety of a reading assignment in this edition than in the Davies version , where it is sometimes necessary to re-read portions to fully get the sense of them. Many of the modernisations are relatively seamless, if loose; however, others are jarring, such as the following remark by Gwydion...