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Title: Good translation of an important historical work
Review: For those unfamiliar with this work, it is the first work to contain a number of key figures in later drama and literature, including King Lear, Merlin, King Arthur, several of his knights including Kay and Bevedere, and Cymbeline.The work was compiled as a popular history of Britain in the same format that Saxo's Gesta Danum was written. It is thus an open question how much of the work comes from Welsh myths which have otherwise been lost. At the same time, the historical accuracy of the work is not very high.I rather liked the translation by Lewis Thorpe. His style is fairly matter-of-fact but nonetheless allows it to be read in a manner similar to the more challenging novels of today. All in all, I would highly recommend this work to anyone studying older Welsh material as well as those looking for the genesis of the Arthurian stories.
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