Robert Graves letter to Gwyn Jones,

Letter, 4 January 1946, from Robert Graves, Galmpton, nr Brixham, Devon, to Gwyn Jones, in which the sender discusses the literary future of Wales and argues for the Mabinogion as a possible influence on Shakespeare's Tempest.

Prof. Gwyn Jones (1907-1999), scholar, novelist and short-story writer, was born on 27 May 1907 in Blackwood, Monmouthshire. He was educated at Tredegar County School and later studied at University College, Cardiff, where he graduated in English in 1927. He was awarded an MA degree for a thesis on the Icelandic Sagas in 1929. During the same year he was appointed to a teaching post at Wigan, later moving to Manchester. His first publications, Four Icelandic Sagas and Richard Savage, appeared in 1935, the year in which he moved back to Cardiff as a lecturer in the English Department. In 1940 he was appointed Professor of English at Aberystwyth, where he stayed until 1964, when he was appointed to the Chair of English at Cardiff. He remained there until his retirement in 1975. He was a major figure in Anglo-Welsh literature. He founded, with Creighton Griffiths, the monthly magazine The Welsh Review which appeared, under his editorship, from February to November 1939. He edited some volumes of Welsh short stories and the Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English (1977). He also wrote three novels. Together with Thomas Jones, the medievalist, he prepared a new translation of the Mabinogi which was first published in 1948. He received many honours, including the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland, and was a Commander of the British Empire.

Michael Silverman Manuscripts; London; Purchase (with f. 41); March 2006; 004444524.

Prof. Gwyn Jones (1907-1999), scholar, novelist and short-story writer, was born on 27 May 1907 in Blackwood, Monmouthshire. He was educated at Tredegar County School and later studied at University College, Cardiff, where he graduated in English in 1927. He was awarded an MA degree for a thesis on the Icelandic Sagas in 1929. During the same year he was appointed to a teaching post at Wigan, later moving to Manchester. His first publications, Four Icelandic Sagas and Richard Savage, appeared in 1935, the year in which he moved back to Cardiff as a lecturer in the English Department. In 1940 he was appointed Professor of English at Aberystwyth, where he stayed until 1964, when he was appointed to the Chair of English at Cardiff. He remained there until his retirement in 1975. He was a major figure in Anglo-Welsh literature. He founded, with Creighton Griffiths, the monthly magazine The Welsh Review which appeared, under his editorship, from February to November 1939. He edited some volumes of Welsh short stories and the Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English (1977). He also wrote three novels. Together with Thomas Jones, the medievalist, he prepared a new translation of the Mabinogi which was first published in 1948. He received many honours, including the Order of the Falcon by the President of Iceland, and was a Commander of the British Empire.

Title based on contents.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 23925E, f. 42.

Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding ownership of Robert Graves copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed February 2011).

'3M623/ME' (pencil on verso).

See NLW, Gwyn Jones Papers 6/95 for another letter from Graves to Jones.

Published