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While described as a guide,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], no overview or general account of Welsh fiction is attempted in the book. Instead, a picture of modern Welsh fiction is built up implicitly: through the choice of 75 texts chosen for review (all written originally in English or available in English translation), the choice of extract used to illustrate each text, and the approach of each individual reviewer. Besides reviews of major works of English-language fiction from Wales and Welsh-language fiction in English translation,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], there are reviews of a number of anthologies of Welsh shorter fiction, a useful database of Welsh-language fiction available in English translation, and two short essays on Wales’s Welsh- and English-language poetry.
Welsh- and English-language fiction in The Babel Guide
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Book Review: Griffri by Christopher Meredith
Book review: The Caves of Alienation by Stuart Evans
City-Lit Literary Guide to Paris for Visitors
Moreover, Keenoy does not always appear to be the most appropriate choice of reviewer for a book. Either it leaves him cold – Outside the House of Baal, for instance, is described as ‘more of a literary monument than a readable novel for today’ – or he is simply not in a position to fully understand it: if ‘[o]nly a Welsh-speaker could p
Unfortunately, the decision to restrict reviews of Welsh-language fiction to works available in English translation is one that does not show Welsh-language fiction in a favourable light. Whereas the diversity of English-language fiction in Wales is evident from the fact that each author is represented by only one review entry, a lack of Welsh texts in English translation means that multiple entries for authors who have been translated are the norm – Kate Roberts, for instance, has no fewer than seven works separately reviewed.
It was partly to satisfy my curiosity that I began reading this book, having written three of the included entries (for Grits, Griffri, and The Hiding Place) back in September 2005. After a publication delay of almost four years, I was eager to discover what kind of guide I had contributed to.
Quality of review entries in The Babel Guide to Welsh Fiction
Moreover, whereas there is a clear bias towards the contemporary and the innovative in the choice of English-language fiction, the Welsh-language section of the guide, with a few notable exceptions,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], restricts itself (or is restricted to) established canonical works. As a result,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Welsh-language fiction is portrayed as a much less interesting, contemporary and diverse literature than its counterpart in English. While Sioned Puw Rowland’s preface is at pains to point out that what is presented is ‘a particular snapshot of Welsh-language literature . . . largely determined by readers’ and publishers’ expectations’, the lack of critical and contextual material in the guide does little to dispel the unjust impression of Welsh-language fiction created.
A lack of consistency in the quality and style of review entries is also disappointing. The Babel Guides’ series editor, Ray Keenoy, was certainly unwise in choosing to contribute close to a third of the total number of reviews in the guide. The most obvious problem is a clash of styles and approaches, for while the other contributors to the volume write within the context of a professional interest in Welsh fiction, Keenoy’s lively, impressionistic vignettes adopt the tone of an English literary tourist eager to relay the cultural secrets he has uncovered to those back home. This is not to say that his reviews are without merit, but that they sit oddly next to the more academic approach adopted by other contributors.