Griffri

by Christopher Meredith

Overview

Meredith mixes historical detail with imagination in this tale of betrayal, lust, murder, and revenge set in 12th-century Wales. Inventive and beautifully told, the plot centers on Griffri, a poet in the court of a Welsh prince, who tells his life story to a Cistercian monk. Part boast and part confession, Griffri's words turn into a compelling narrative which is developed through an accumulation of obsessive images, culminating in self-revelation. Both serious and entertaining, the novel examines the limits of our knowledge of the world and of ourselves. Griffri emerges a complex man full of uncertainties, a distinctly modern hero.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781854111302
Publisher:	Seren
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Edition description:	Rev. ed
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	3.75(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.80(d)

Editorial Reviews

``The world is either miraculous or hellish,'' says the eponymous narrator, a medieval Welsh pencerdd (chief poet) who proves his point in this tragic tale of a people and culture struggling against subsumptionok by the English. On two nights separated by a period of years, Griffri tells a Cistercian monk of his apprenticeship under poet Gwrgant ap Rhys; of his service with two minor chieftains and the intricate lines of extended kinship that linked all the region's leaders; of his ascension to position of chief poet and bardd teulu for a band of warriors; of his love for and subsequent marriage to Cristin, a serving woman; and of the nearly constant strife among the Welsh tribes. Meredith ( Shifts ) flawlessly evokes the powerful language of a man trained as a repository of oral tradition and history. A brief glossary defines the Welsh nouns liberally used throughout, and a list of characters assists in elucidating a complex narrative. ( Sept. )

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly