ABSTRACT
Editors rarely anthologize the tale of Math Son of Mathonwy. It falls into too many of the categories that alienate modern audiences—not simply non-English, but Celtic; not merely medieval, but Welsh. Admittedly, many undergraduate readers are already familiar with medieval texts, but few have tackled themes and genres that are distinctly Celtic. An English translation provides a useful start, of course, but still leaves the best-intentioned reader to brave a sea of seemingly unpronounceable names. Yet this particular Welsh text is triply cursed in its marginalization. Math is children's literature. It is a tale about children; it is believed to have been originally composed for children; and, since its rediscovery in the eighteenth century, it has generally been treated as a childish effort—the work of an unsophisticated Welsh bard. The image of a child has long been equated with Wales and Welsh texts, and for an English-speaking, post-fifteenth-century, adult audience, the elements of Wales, text, and child have become increasingly interchangeable: objects that are unlearned (needing instruction) and possibly dangerous (needing control). In addressing Math's range of claims to the amorphous category of children's literature, this introduction hopes to provide a brief historical background and to challenge both the myth of Math's inaccessibility and the misperception of its author's naiveté.
