Beyonca Johnson Johnson itibaren Jambi Luar Kota, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi, Endonezya itibaren Jambi Luar Kota, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi, Endonezya

Beautiful and terrible all rolled up into one. If this one doesn't rip your gut out...you need help.

This a fascinating, if highly fanciful, interpretation of the enigmatic Dark Age poem, "The Gododdin" by Aneirin,a celebrated British bard. The fragments of the poem which have survived are written in an archaic Welsh which was the common language of Wales, North England and the Scottish lowlands in this period (late 6th century ?). Aneirin was probably a bard at the royal court in Dun Eidinn, present day Edinburgh. The theme of the poem (& novel) is how 300 picked warriors of the Gododdin, the Men of the North, rode to Cattraeth to do battle with the Anglo-Saxon English and were destoyed almost to a man. Their defeat was traditionally attributed to over indulgence in strong drink beforehand. Given that these are proto-Scots we're talking about, this is a not unreasonable supposition but we must not ignore the fact they were also seriously outnumbered. Nothing is now known of when and where the battle took place but Cattraeth is usually associated with Catterick in North Yorkshre, now, ironically, a large Army camp. The author takes these few tantalising scraps and weaves a compelling tale of heroic sacrifice, treachery, and violent death from them. Most interesting is his contrast and compare approach to the Celtic and Saxon mind sets. The Celts are portrayed as nature loving & poetic, if given to extreme violence at the drop of a hat, the Saxons as dull little farmers whose chief aim in life is to destroy the natural woodland cover of Britain in order to plant wheat and rear more dull little farmers. There is a certain melancholy if you are a descendant of the defeated in knowing how the story inevitably ends i.e. with lots and lots of the descendants of the dull little farmers esconced in lands that are lost now. Cattraeth is one of the great "might have beens" of British history. If the Gododdin had been just a tad more temperate we might have been spared cricket and Maggie Thatcher. This is an old book now (published in 1969 originally) but it's worthwhile looking out for a copy as it's a highly entertaining read, especially if you're from the Celtic fringe and can gleefully reflect on the fact that,despite the best efforts of those dull little farmers, we are still here and as intemperate as ever.

Someone gave me this book (she hadn't read it) and while I liked the begining and it got my quickly interested in the story, the ending was just weird and out of place to me.