feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2021-03-28 03:07 pm
feather_ghyll) wrote2021-03-28 03:07 pm
REREAD: Nansi'r Dditectif
Nansi’r Dditectif O. Llew. Rowlands & W.T. Williams, Gwasg y Brython, May 1953.
The title translates as ‘Nancy the Detective’. This is my translation of my post reviewing the book, with some added clarifications for non-Welsh speakers.
I’ve intended to reread this children’s book for a while to follow up on the suspicions that have stayed with me since I first read it (some twenty years ago.) This slim volume won a competition at the 1935 Eisteddfod, when it was suggested it should be published, as it duly was in the following year, 1936, my copy is a fourth impression. Its authors are O. Llew. Rowlands and W. T. Williams, with the latter responsible for the book’s illustrations.
But when we’re talking about a teen detective named Nansi (the Welsh spelling of ‘Nancy’) in children’s lit, my mind certainly turns to that well-known redhead from the USA. Nansi Puw’s surname (Pugh is probably an Anglicisation, and the original source probably ap Huw, meaning the son of Huw) rhymes with the much more famous heroine’s surname. The two girls share other features, after their mothers died, they were reared by their fathers, who are both lawyers and influential men in their localities. Welsh Nansi has a maid named Hannah (Parry), sharing the same Christian name as Nancy Drew’s housekeeper.
Suggestive, isn’t it? Now, there’s no mention that ‘Nansi’r Dditectif’ is an adaptation and I don’t recall a similarity with a specific plot, although I can’t claim to have read all of Nancy Drew’s adventures, and, indeed, it’s been a long time since I read one. But it’s very interesting that a character with such a similar name and circumstances came to the minds of two Welshmen five years after Nancy Drew’s first appearance over the Atlantic. But, as far as I can tell, Nancy Drew books weren’t published in the UK until 1954.
To be fair, Nansi the sleuth is a proper Welsh girl. In the opening chapter, we learn that she lives in Trefaes (which could be translated as Fieldtown, a made-up town that can support lawyers.) She’s also a chapelgoer, who attends Sunday School, but more importantly for the plot, she’s very enthusiastic about Urdd Gobaith Cymru (a youth organisation established in 1922), all quintessentially Welsh. Having said that, she’s a lot more middle class than most twentieth-century heroines in Welsh literature. She might criticise others such as stuck-up Gwen and Pegi Morus for being snobs, but she’s very aware of people’s social status.
So, what is the mystery at the heart of the story? After the death of Joseff Dafis, all of Trefaes simply can’t believe that he left everything to the Morus family, who offered their rich relative a roof over his head, but not a home. Nansi can well believe this as she goes to the same school as Gwen and Pegi Morus and knows they are unlpeasant girls. The rumour in Tefaes is that he drew up a later will that cut them out due to their shoddy treatment of him, leaving the substantial sum to other family members and true friends. Nansi is determined to find out whether this is the case. It’s not a particularly complex mystery, there are few clues, but those there are prove that Joseff Dafis’s secrecy nearly stymied his intentions.
The language used is much more old-fashioned than in contemporary English books. Most strikingly, the dialogue includes far more short form verbs than I’d expect and everyone addresses each other using the second person plural, which nobody does in Wales by now. Some people never even bother using it as a sign of respect to an individual. Moreover, the characters use the archaic ‘chwi’ form, rather than ‘chi’. So, Nansi and her father address each other like this, as do Nansi and her peers. I believe the aim was to influence the readers here, rather than attempt to convey natural speech (there’s a bigger difference between oral and written Welsh than found in English.) The only two English words that appear are ‘bus’ and ‘safe’ (by now, we’d use ‘bws’ for the first.) Everyone in Trefaes can speak Welsh, be they thieves, shop girls or bank managers (which would not be impossible in parts of Wales in the 1930s.) Another reason for us to dislike Gwen and Pegi Morus is that they speak Wenglish (although it’s not recorded.) Some of the vocabulary was extraordinary ‘llythgludwr’ (lettercarrier, literally) for ‘postman’ (dyn post), ‘dyddlyfr’ (daybook) for ‘diary’ (dyddiadur), and ‘borefwyd’ (morningfood) alongside ‘brecwast’ (breakfast, another borrowing from English.) Some of the spelling is also old-fashioned ‘tuagat’ (towards) would be ‘tuag at’ today, and there are punctuation and other errors.
Although the authors obviously want to portray their heroine as a cheery, lively, likeable and brave characte, Gwen Morus is not wrong when she says: ‘She’s always had an instinct for getting involved in other people’s business, even when she’s got nothing to do with them.’ (p. 44, my translation.) A detective will inevitably be nosy, of course, and it’s by eavesdropping and getting into places she has no real right to be that Nansi solves the mystery. She has no direct link with the case until ater she’s met two girls who could truly do with some of Joseff Dafis’s money. She only takes an interest in it because she agrees with the general opinion.
I was especially judgy about her unwillingness to share her plans with Eurona (Rona) Lloyd, who is meant to be her best friend, but this Nansi would rather go investigating on her own (no sidekicks for her like the other Nancy, although one of the characters is called Besi i.e. Bessie) and tell all to her father later. As a result, she endangers herself on two occasions.
The title translates as ‘Nancy the Detective’. This is my translation of my post reviewing the book, with some added clarifications for non-Welsh speakers.
I’ve intended to reread this children’s book for a while to follow up on the suspicions that have stayed with me since I first read it (some twenty years ago.) This slim volume won a competition at the 1935 Eisteddfod, when it was suggested it should be published, as it duly was in the following year, 1936, my copy is a fourth impression. Its authors are O. Llew. Rowlands and W. T. Williams, with the latter responsible for the book’s illustrations.
But when we’re talking about a teen detective named Nansi (the Welsh spelling of ‘Nancy’) in children’s lit, my mind certainly turns to that well-known redhead from the USA. Nansi Puw’s surname (Pugh is probably an Anglicisation, and the original source probably ap Huw, meaning the son of Huw) rhymes with the much more famous heroine’s surname. The two girls share other features, after their mothers died, they were reared by their fathers, who are both lawyers and influential men in their localities. Welsh Nansi has a maid named Hannah (Parry), sharing the same Christian name as Nancy Drew’s housekeeper.
Suggestive, isn’t it? Now, there’s no mention that ‘Nansi’r Dditectif’ is an adaptation and I don’t recall a similarity with a specific plot, although I can’t claim to have read all of Nancy Drew’s adventures, and, indeed, it’s been a long time since I read one. But it’s very interesting that a character with such a similar name and circumstances came to the minds of two Welshmen five years after Nancy Drew’s first appearance over the Atlantic. But, as far as I can tell, Nancy Drew books weren’t published in the UK until 1954.
To be fair, Nansi the sleuth is a proper Welsh girl. In the opening chapter, we learn that she lives in Trefaes (which could be translated as Fieldtown, a made-up town that can support lawyers.) She’s also a chapelgoer, who attends Sunday School, but more importantly for the plot, she’s very enthusiastic about Urdd Gobaith Cymru (a youth organisation established in 1922), all quintessentially Welsh. Having said that, she’s a lot more middle class than most twentieth-century heroines in Welsh literature. She might criticise others such as stuck-up Gwen and Pegi Morus for being snobs, but she’s very aware of people’s social status.
So, what is the mystery at the heart of the story? After the death of Joseff Dafis, all of Trefaes simply can’t believe that he left everything to the Morus family, who offered their rich relative a roof over his head, but not a home. Nansi can well believe this as she goes to the same school as Gwen and Pegi Morus and knows they are unlpeasant girls. The rumour in Tefaes is that he drew up a later will that cut them out due to their shoddy treatment of him, leaving the substantial sum to other family members and true friends. Nansi is determined to find out whether this is the case. It’s not a particularly complex mystery, there are few clues, but those there are prove that Joseff Dafis’s secrecy nearly stymied his intentions.
The language used is much more old-fashioned than in contemporary English books. Most strikingly, the dialogue includes far more short form verbs than I’d expect and everyone addresses each other using the second person plural, which nobody does in Wales by now. Some people never even bother using it as a sign of respect to an individual. Moreover, the characters use the archaic ‘chwi’ form, rather than ‘chi’. So, Nansi and her father address each other like this, as do Nansi and her peers. I believe the aim was to influence the readers here, rather than attempt to convey natural speech (there’s a bigger difference between oral and written Welsh than found in English.) The only two English words that appear are ‘bus’ and ‘safe’ (by now, we’d use ‘bws’ for the first.) Everyone in Trefaes can speak Welsh, be they thieves, shop girls or bank managers (which would not be impossible in parts of Wales in the 1930s.) Another reason for us to dislike Gwen and Pegi Morus is that they speak Wenglish (although it’s not recorded.) Some of the vocabulary was extraordinary ‘llythgludwr’ (lettercarrier, literally) for ‘postman’ (dyn post), ‘dyddlyfr’ (daybook) for ‘diary’ (dyddiadur), and ‘borefwyd’ (morningfood) alongside ‘brecwast’ (breakfast, another borrowing from English.) Some of the spelling is also old-fashioned ‘tuagat’ (towards) would be ‘tuag at’ today, and there are punctuation and other errors.
Although the authors obviously want to portray their heroine as a cheery, lively, likeable and brave characte, Gwen Morus is not wrong when she says: ‘She’s always had an instinct for getting involved in other people’s business, even when she’s got nothing to do with them.’ (p. 44, my translation.) A detective will inevitably be nosy, of course, and it’s by eavesdropping and getting into places she has no real right to be that Nansi solves the mystery. She has no direct link with the case until ater she’s met two girls who could truly do with some of Joseff Dafis’s money. She only takes an interest in it because she agrees with the general opinion.
I was especially judgy about her unwillingness to share her plans with Eurona (Rona) Lloyd, who is meant to be her best friend, but this Nansi would rather go investigating on her own (no sidekicks for her like the other Nancy, although one of the characters is called Besi i.e. Bessie) and tell all to her father later. As a result, she endangers herself on two occasions.