Gwyn Jones (24 May 1907 – 6 December 1999) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

novelist and story writer, and a scholar and translator of

Nordic literature Scandinavian literature or Nordic literature is the literature in the languages of the Nordic countries of Northern Europe. The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway (including Svalbard), Sweden, and Scandinavia's assoc ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Personal life and academic career

Gwyn Jones was born on 24 May 1907 in

New Tredegar New Tredegar ( cy, Tredegar Newydd) is a former mining town and community in the Rhymney Valley, Caerphilly county borough, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. New Tredegar is now home to 'The Winding House', a county muse ...

, Monmouthshire, the second child of George Henry Jones (1874–1970), a miner, and his second wife, Lily Florence, née Nethercott (1877–1960), a midwife. He was brought up in nearby

Blackwood Blackwood may refer to: Botany * African blackwood ('' Dalbergia melanoxylon''), a timber tree of Africa * African blackwood (''Erythrophleum africanum''), ('' Peltophorum africanum'') also Rhodesian blackwood, trees from Africa * Australian bla ...

. He attended Tredegar county school and studied at University College, Cardiff as an undergraduate and a postgraduate. After six years he was a schoolteacher in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

and Manchester, in 1935 he returned to University College, Cardiff as a lecturer. In 1940 was appointed Professor of English of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he taught until his appointment as Professor of English at University College, Cardiff in 1964, a position he held until his retirement in 1975. In 1939 Jones registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

to military service, which temporarily caused him to lose his job. Jones was a socialist, although never a member of the Labour Party, and was sympathetic to the aims of

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

. He was an active Christian and attended Minny Street Chapel in Cardiff, a Welsh-language congregational chapel. Jones married twice: in 1928 to Alice Rees (1906/7–1979), and 1979 to Mair Jones, née Sivell (1923/4–2000), the widow of Thomas Jones, his collaborator on ''The Mabinogion''.

Literary work

Jones' translations include ''Four Icelandic Sagas'' (1935), ''The Vatndalers' Saga'' (1944), ''The

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

'' (1948, in collaboration with Thomas Jones), '' Egil's Saga'' (1960), ''Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas'' (1961) and ''The Norse Atlantic Saga'' (1964). He also wrote ''A History of the Vikings'' (1968) and ''Kings, Beasts, and Heroes'' (1972). In addition to his translations, he was an author in the Anglo-Welsh tradition. His novels and story collections include ''Richard Savage'' (1935), ''Times Like These'' (1936), ''The Nine Days' Wonder'' (1937) and ''Garland of Bays'' (1938), ''The Buttercup Field'' (1945), ''The Flowers beneath the Scythe'' (1952), ''Shepherd's Hey'' (1953) and ''The Walk Home'' (1962). Jones also founded ''

The Welsh Review ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' in 1939, which he edited until 1948; this journal was important for raising discussion of Welsh issues and for attracting submissions from such authors as

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

and J. R. R. Tolkien, whose Breton lay, '' The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun'', he published in 1945.J. D. Rateliff, ''Mr Baggins Pt 1'' (2007) p. 281-2 He continued to support Welsh literature by chairing both the Welsh Committee of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ...

and the first editorial board of ''The Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales''. In 1977 he edited the '' Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English''. He also published three sets of lectures on Anglo-Welsh literature: ''The First Forty Years'' (1957), ''Being and Belonging'' (1977), and ''Babel and the Dragon's Tongue'' (1981).

Honours and commemorations

In 1963 Jones was awarded the Knight's Cross of the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon ( is, Hin íslenska fálkaorða) is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. ...

by the President of Iceland, followed by the Commander's Cross in 1987. He was appointed CBE in the 1965 New Year Honours in recognition of his chairmanship of the Welsh Arts Council. In 2008 a commemorative plaque to Jones was unveiled in the Hugh Owen library of Aberystwyth University.

Selected publications

* ''Welsh Legends and Folk-Tales'' (1955) * ''Scandinavian Legends and Folk-Tales'' (1961) * ''The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English'' (1962) * ''The Norse Atlantic Saga'' (1964) * ''The Legendary History of Olaf Tryggvason'' (1968) * ''A History of the Vikings'' (1968) * ''Kings, Beasts and Heroes'' (1972) * ''Tales from Wales'' (2001)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Gwyn 1907 births 1999 deaths People from New Tredegar Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of Cardiff University Academics of Aberystwyth University Anglo-Welsh novelists British medievalists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Order of the Falcon 20th-century Welsh historians Welsh translators Welsh short story writers Welsh novelists 20th-century British translators 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British short story writers Welsh male novelists