Britannic myths : a creative retelling of British and Irish myths
- Submitting institution
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University of Portsmouth
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 17148571
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Holland House
- ISBN
- 978-1-910688-50-2
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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C - Creative Writing
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Research Process and Insights:
Early in this process, creative cues were taken from literary pathfinders including Angela Carter, Eileen O’Faolaín, Colin Mackay and Alan Garner. Primary sources such as the Mabinogion, The Taín and Beowulf were also used as imaginative kindling. Inherited family folk stories added a lighter balance to the elevated register of some of these grand sweeping epic-based narratives. Engagement with fellow mythographers Marina Warner, Bettany Hughes and archaeologist Francis Pryor also proved valuable for re-telling these ancient stories. This produced a narrative style that occupies a liminal space between prose and poetry.
A major aspect of Britannic Myths is my ongoing collaborative relationship with the artist Joe Machine. I wrote the stories and Joe painted in response to them and his paintings (e.g, St Dunstan & the Devil, and Math, Son Of Mythonwy) then provided further inspiration for my writing. Together we examined the origins of these stories and their relevance for today. These creative cadences lent an effective tone to the prose, echoing the fabric of ancient texts such as the Gododdin. The term Britannic is taken from the prose of Seamus Heaney and was chosen as a way of spanning stories from the Anglo Saxon and Celtic traditions.
Dissemination:
Above all the book is intended to act as a new utterance of primal stories from the Northern Atlantic Archipelago for a new audience. The book is published in hard copy and in electronic form. The prose has been physically paired with Joe Machine’s paintings in exhibitions (e.g. HIX ART, Shoreditch, London Feb/March 2016). The collaboration gained press attention, including the Wall Street International Magazine and the Guardian (Feb 2016) and showcased in Gramarye and in public readings.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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