A GUIDE TO WELSH LITERATURE 
Volume VII

Welsh Writing in English

Edited by M. Wynn Thomas

pp x348 216x138mm May 2003 paperback
ISBN 0-7083-1679-4

This is the seventh volume in a highly respected series, spanning the whole history of literature in Wales. The contributors trace the emergence of an anglophone literature of considerable quality, thus complementing Volume 6 to provide a balanced picture of a bicultural country. The volume will be all the more significant in that it represents a first attempt to map the history of ‘Anglo-Welsh literature’ in a comprehensive manner, and in a style that is at once authoritative and readily accessible.

‘ . . . I warmly recommend the book for its comprehensive scope, scholarly expertise and wealth of stimulating detail . . . It is the best critical survey we have and are likely to have for a while yet, and an essential source for that small but gallant band who want to know more about Welsh writing in English, whether as teachers, students or general readers.’ (Planet)

‘A stimulating collection of essays, by leading scholars and critics . . . an excellent reference source for teachers and students of English at AS and A level, . . .many of the articles will also be enjoyed by the non-specialist, interested in the ‘many and complex ways in which Wales has been written into existence . . . ’ (English In Wales)

‘Long-awaited, this seventh and final volume of the critically acclaimed A Guide to Welsh Literature turns out to be the jewel in the crown. Editor M. Wynn Thomas of the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales, University of Wales, Swansea, has a magic touch, charming, splendid and exciting scholarship from his ten fellow essayists. . . Professor M. Wynn Thomas and his learned colleagues deserve our sincere thanks for having crafted such an engrossing compendium of dynamic scholarship, exploring new insights, and new understanding of highly varied and internationally important literature in English. This is a book for all libraries and for anyone with any interest in and curiosity about literature and about Wales ancient and modern. It stirs the grey cells- and the emotions. With its earlier companion six volumes, it will be the point of reference for sober research and pleasurable browsing for many years to come.’ (Languages and Literature)

‘ . . . this is an essential purchase for anyone interested in the Welsh contribution to the English language as it provides a reference point for many important, but previously unheralded books.’ (South Wales Argus)

The book opens with a broad survey of pre-twentieth-century literature. Subsequent chapters deal with industrial fictions; border literature and border identity; Dylan Thomas and his contemporaries; natives and exiles; popular fiction and the Welsh imagination; writers living and working outside Wales; the poetry revival of the 1960s; literature in the last quarter of the twentieth century; and parallels with other literatures. Among the many writers discussed in detail are John Dyer, Henry Vaughan, Caradoc Evans, Rhys Davies, Gwyn Jones, Emlyn Williams, Margiad Evans, Richard Hughes, David Jones, Dylan Thomas, Glyn Jones, Idris Davies, Alun Lewis, Roland Mathias, R. S. Thomas, Emyr Humphreys, Brenda Chamberlain, Richard Llewellyn, Allen Raine, Harri Webb, Leslie Norris, John Ormond, Dannie Abse, Alun Richards, Gillian Clarke and Christopher Meredith.

M. Wynn Thomas is Professor of English and Director of the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales, University of Wales, Swansea.

Contents and Contributors