Ranging from the nineteenth century to the present, this book explores several central aspects of the ways in which the English-language poetry and fiction of Wales has responded to what was, for a crucial period of a century or so, the dominant culture of Wales: the culture of Welsh nonconformity.
This timely study demonstrates how, for a century and a half, important Welsh writers and intellectuals have dreamt of belonging to mainstream European culture.
R.S. Thomas is the author of more than 20 volumes of poetry. The variety of his themes - disappearing ways of life, man's relationship with God, cultural imperialism and the decline of the Welsh language, art in the last 100 years, nature and the environment - has brought him an audience from a wide cross-section of society. This collection of essays was specially commissioned to celebrate his 80th birthday. The subjects range across the Thomas canon, from his Welsh farmer persona, Iago Prytherch, to a comparison with Dylan Thomas, to his unsteady relations with God. Contributors include Walford Davies, Rowan Williams, Tony Brown and Helen Vendler.
The study places the work of a major religious poet of the late twentieth century in a number of striking new perspectives that allow him to be viewed for the first time as an 'alternative' war poet, a conscience-stricken pacifist, a jealously opportunistic student of art, and an experimental biographer of the modern soul.
This is not a stuffy anthology of poetry. It offers a new way of viewing the Welsh past, showing how some aspects of it are best accessed through the words of its renowned poets.
A collection of essays on a range of Welsh writers, both well-known and otherwise, by one of the leading specialists in the anglophone literary culture of Wales.
In this book, the authors provide a fascinating narrative of the mental life of Neandertals, to the extent that it can be reconstructed from fossil and archaeological remains.
Focusing on the epistemological foundations, this introduction provides a clear and accessible overview of evolutionary cognitive archaeology, making it ideal for students. It aims to bridge the gap between cognitive science and archaeology, offering insights into how evolutionary processes shape human cognition and behavior. The text emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in understanding the cognitive aspects of archaeological findings.
Focusing on the neglected dramatic works of Sade, this study employs psychoanalytic and dramatic theory to explore his unique aesthetic. It challenges the perception of Sade's gaze as solely sadistic, suggesting instead a masochistic model that anticipates modern theatrical practices. By examining the structural elements of his plays, the author reveals how Sade's visual-centric approach prioritizes pleasure over morality, creating a form of theatre meant for private reflection rather than public performance. This analysis highlights Sade's contributions to the late eighteenth-century sublime and the theory of spectatorship.
A superbly researched account and analysis of the militant campaigns carried out in the name of Welsh political nationalism between 1963-1969.