Link round-up #6

[smmg]

Do Fantasy Writers Think Irish is Discount Elvish? - Orla Ní Dhúill, naturallyorla.com

Giant black dogs as ill-omens, the idea that the ancients were giants or at least bigger and stronger than the present generation, and the idea of fae folk hiding in stone circles or hill mounds. If a lot of this sounds familiar, it is probably because these tropes form the backbone of half of modern fantasy. This is not a problem by itself, but they are usually removed from all context and multiple cultures are used as inter-changeable for each other, which shows a disinterest in the source material. At some point it become lazy narrative carrion.

Our culture isn't fantasy - so stop misusing it for mystical books - Catriona Aitken, bbc.co.uk

A Court of Thorn and Roses, also known as ACOTAR, is the TikTok-viral fantasy book series which took the genre by storm in 2024.

But with character names including Rhysand, Gwyneth, Alis and Morrigan, it seems American author Sarah J Maas drew inspiration far from home.

Dubbed “the Tolkien effect”, after the author of the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who was influenced by the Welsh language and literature, Wales has undeniably influenced fantasy writing, both old and new.

But while some applaud the spread of Welsh culture and language, others fear its misuse could have a detrimental impact.

English fragility, shame, and the Welsh language debate - James Downs, nation.cymru

When posts about the Welsh language appear online, they often provoke a strikingly visceral response from English speakers.

A particularly contentious example is the decision to revert the name of Snowdonia National Park to Eryri, its original Welsh name.

This restoration was met with outcry: “It’s always been called Snowdonia!” some claimed, despite the fact that the English name is a relatively recent imposition.

The rise of social media has amplified these tensions. Posts celebrating Welsh linguistic milestones or calling for more energy to be invested in Welsh language and culture often attract negative comments from English speakers who perceive them as exclusionary.

Is Romantasy Ruining Welsh (and Scottish and Irish) Culture? - The Welsh Viking, www.youtube.com/@TheWelshViking

Romantasy (or 'romantic fantasy' - go figure) has been all over the internet this month, especially over on TikTok, where BookTok has been debating whether the genre is ruining fantasy (it's not). But a wider discussion has appeared too, asking if romantasy authors have a responsibility to be sensitive and aware of the real life cultures they're borrowing from, be they Scottish, Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Gaeilge, Manx, Breton, or otherwise.

Well this "Celt" has opinions and thoughts, and he decided to stick some of them in a YouTube video to get them across.

Comments

[heleninwales]

Thanks for the link to that video. I watched a couple of minutes and I'll watch the rest tomorrow. I have found a lot of fantasy that is basically ripping off Irish myths and folklore and, to a lesser extent, Welsh folklore. I've started a couple but couldn't read more than a couple of chapters before giving up.

[bendigeidfran]

The frailty of certain people wrt the promotion of the Welsh language is, from what I've seen, uniquely English. That in mind, I think that it's a case of a broader rule; that native English speakers seem to resist other languages at almost every level.

It's no big mystery why, it's entitlement. It's the sense of 'why should I?'. 'Why should I learn their language, they speak English anyway', 'why should I check how this is pronounced, does it really matter?', 'why should I call it Eryri, it's always been Snowdonia to me!'.

It's the result of hundreds of years of colonialism, instilling a mindset of English default such that any other language is 'going out of my way' leading quite naturally to 'why should I bother?'.

Dismantling the English-default mindset requires systemic decolonialization. It'll be a lengthy process, but at least with Welsh we're making steps in the right direction.

For now though, we'll have to suffer the jokes about vowels, and having to spell out names a letter at a time.