Y Dydd Olaf gan Owain Owain

Dw i wedi bod yn chwilio am gopi y llyfr “Y Dydd Olaf” gan Owain Owain. Cafodd ei gyhoeddi yn 1976. Dw i’n chwilio y llyfr, dim yr albwm cerddoriaeth o’r un enw gan Gwenno Saunders. Mae’n edrych bod y llyfr yn anodd i’w gael. Diolch ymlaen llaw am unrhyw help neu gymorth rydych chi’n medru rhoi i mi.

I’ve been looking for a copy of the book “Y Dydd Olaf” by Owain Owain. It was published in 1976. I’m looking for the book, not the music album of the same name by Gwenno Saunders. It looks like the book is hard to get. Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give me.

I’m sorry. I went actoss the all stores on Internet I possibly know, I also checked Google to see what search results I get but it seams no one has this book for sale. It is not available as ebook also, eBay doesn’t have it, Amazon doesn’t have it … YLolfa only has some study (obviously of this book). So it all really depends of if someone has it at home.

Sorry I couldn’t be of more help though.

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Hi Bob, there was a good discussion here: Bilingual lyrics to Gwenno album

It is hard to find but @Iestyn had a good alternative suggestion if you’re feeling a bit dystopic. Have to say I’ve been playing the Gwenno stuff a lot😀

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Diolch Tatjana a Andy am drio helpu fi. I may have to search a llyfrgell or two, but I am determined to read this elusive sci-fi novel for myself. The idea of robots taking over humanity but speakers of (i.e. thinkers in) Cymraeg escaping their clutches because the robots cannot understand their minds, is most gripping. Maybe there is even a hint of truth in the message :wink:

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There is talk of it being re-published after the interest that has been raised by the Gwenno album.

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I thought I read something recently on the Web to this effect. Like permission / blessing had been given by the Owain family for a translation to Saesneg, or something.

Much as Saesneg is (to my heart) a foreign language, it is, pragmatically, probably the best way, at this current stage in history, to spread this excellent story far and wide in a way that the original clearly did not. And I would imagine that a viral tide of enthusiasm and positive reviews could, in fairly short order, create a fresh demand for the original, Cymraeg version to be reprinted.

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Last time I saw Gwenno play (a couple of weeks ago at the Gŵyl Crug Mawr just by Cardigan) she confessed that she’d been telling English-speaking audiences a different tale about the book than Welsh speakers. She said that she told the English speakers that the book was about the dangers of conformity, but Welsh speakers knew that there was much more to it than that: It’s a warning about cultural assimilation and the power of Anglo-American over-commercialised lowest common denominator culture. The Welsh language (to an extent, at least) gives us a defence against this, while English monolinguals have to put up with its relentless assault without relief, until, Fratolish Hiang Perpeshki, everyone is a cloned, mindless consumer of sludge culture.

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I´ve just stumbled on this old thread, so if it´s not old news by now, you can find links to Owain Owain´s book, which has been available online for free for some time now, here :

As you can see, it´s available as a text file, in ePub format and as a PDF scan of the published volume.

I´ve attempted a translation of the opening sections which can be read here (plain text only so far) :

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65030277/dyddolafEng.txt

This in only a draft, mind. Should I continue? Let me know what you think.

Pob Hwyl i Bawb :slight_smile:

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The software wouldn´t let me post a second clickable link, so here it is again :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65030277/dyddolafEng.txt

[Edit : A little over half of the book has now been translated. The above file is regularly updated, extended and corrected. I welcome comments and discussion, both regarding the translation and the content of the book itself.]

Diolch byth! Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi am y ddolennau uchod. Yn darllen yn barod :slight_smile:

Thank you very much for the above links. Reading already :slight_smile:

I am torn between saying you should translate the whole book and suggesting that you stop at a “teaser” opening translation just long enough to make the reader want more. If the reader is sufficiently motivated, maybe they will choose to dysgu Y Gymraeg to be able to read the rest.

It would be great to think of some new learners being “switched on” to Y Gymraeg by this powerful book. Though, ironically, if we took Owain’s message literally, then “too many” people learning this “obscure language” might make it “too understandable”! Perhaps the Arch Calculator could translate the hidden message after plugging in to SSiW?

Well for now the file keeps growing with additions and corrections from time to time, so each time you download it there will hopefully be a little more for you to enjoy/criticise/comment on, as you wish.

I too wondered if a translation would be useful or appropriate. My reasons are :

  1. It´s an interesting task (for now at least!) ;
  2. It could be a useful aid to beginners to have a ´crib sheet´ ;
  3. The Welsh version has been around for 40 years now (!) ;
  4. The story is not especially ´Welsh´ in its ethos, and although I wouldn´t claim with Pennar Davies that ¨We haven´t seen anything … quite like it in any language¨, it´s still probably an interesting addition to the SF genre. It has its flaws, but I´ve read far worse.

So all in all, probably high time it had a wider readership. In fact I´m surprised it hasn´t been translated before. Maybe it has? Don´t tell me until I´ve finished (or given up — LOL!)

Ar hyn o bryd mae´r llyfr yn agos i draean wedi´i gyfieithu.

The book is now almost one third translated (see link given earlier) :slight_smile:

Ond does dim diddordeb mae´n debyg ???

I wonder, have you contacted the family to ask if they’d mind you translating it? Not an issue for personal use, of course, but definitely something we’d need to be clear about before plugging it in the email, for example… :slight_smile:

Dwi ddim yn gwneud y cyfieithiad hwn am gael arian o gwbl. Felly, dim yn gweld broblem onid oes gan y teulu fwriad ei gyhoeddi ar elw ryw bryd yn y iaith fain.

Ond ar hyn o bryd, mae´n debig does dim llawer o ddiddordeb yn y llyfr hwn. Er engraifft, dwi ddim wedi dod o hyd i adolygiadau difrifol. Ond gan mai gwaith o bwys ydy o (dwi´n credi o leia!) mae´n haeddu dipyn mwy o sylw, ond ydi? Felly, dyma un ffordd o dri hynny, ac hefyd rhoi tipyn o help llaw i ddysgwyr yr iaith. Be sy´n gam wrth hynny?

Wrth gwrs, os ydach chi´n meddwl ei fod rhwy fath o sarhad …

Na, dwi ddim yn meddwl hynna o gwbl - mae’n amlwg dy fod ti’n trio gwneud rhywbeth positif - ond am fod Owain Owain wedi treulio ei fywyd yn gweithio ac yn gweithredu dros yr iaith Gymraeg, mae’n bosib na fyddai’r teulu yn gweld cyfieithiad i’r Saesneg yn beth hollol dymunol.

Mae’n bosib hefyd, wrth gwrs, y byddan nhw’n ei weld yn syniad da, ac yn gefnogol. Dyna pam o’n i’n teimlo byddai’n syniad da cysylltu efo nhw i’w drafod. :slight_smile:

Fe fyddech chi´n hollol iawn, dwi´n meddwl, OS ydi lle canolog yn y nofel i´r iaith Gymraeg neu rhyw bwyslais arbennig i gefndir cymdeithasol Cymreig y cymeriadau. Ond nid felly, dwi´n credu. Nofel SiFi ydi hon, ac sdim ots o ble mae´r bobl wedi dod. Rhyw dre fechan o´r DU (neu Iwerddon?) fyddai´n ffitio´r diben. Ac mae´r iaith yn gweithio fel ´plot device´ yn unig. Yn cael ei defnyddio yn y stori fel math o god sy´n annealladwy i´r awdurdodau y dyfodol.

Wrth gwrs, y ffaith bod y llyfr wedi ei sgwennu yn y Gymraeg a rhodd hwb i´r iaith adeg ei gyhoeddi … deugain mlynedd nôl! Felly, hen bryd i´w dynnu o allan o´r ´ghetto´ cyfyngedig Cymraeg?

Mae’n ymddangos dy fod ti’n cynnig dadl deallusol er mwyn rhagweld teimladau’r teulu. Oni fyddai’n haws gofyn? Ac yn sicr o gyrraedd ateb cliriach.

Dyna yn union y math o agwedd dwi’n ansicr iawn os byddai’r awdur wedi cytuno efo fo. Fel arfer, tydy pobl sydd yn cyhoeddi/sgwennu/canu yn y Gymraeg ddim yn gweld eu hunain yn perthyn i ‘ghetto cyfyngedig’ ond i iaith normal, cymuned normal.

Sgwn i os fyset ti’n gwrando ar gân Steve Eaves ‘We Used To Sing In Welsh’ ac wedyn cynnig ei gyfieithu iddo fo, er mwyn tynnu fo allan o’r ‘ghetto cyfyngedig’ Cymraeg?!