Böcker utgivna av University of Wales Press

Features the history of cricket in Wales, tracing the evolution of, and the fundamental role of the game in the culture and social history of the Principality.

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. In the introduction, the author reflects on why no sustained attempt has hitherto been made to investigate one of the formative cultural influences on modern 'Anglo-Welsh' literature, the Nonconformist inheritance. The importance of addressing this strange and significant cultural deficit is then explained, and a preliminary attempt made to capture something of the spirit of Welsh Nonconformity. The succeeding chapters address and seek to answer such questions as: What exactly did the Welsh chapels believe and do? Why have the English-language writers of Wales, from Caradoc Evans and Dylan Thomas to R.S. Thomas and the authors of today, been so fascinated by them? How accurate are the impressions we've been given of chapel life and chapel people in the English-language poetry and fiction of Wales? The answers offered may alter our views both of the Welsh Nonconformist past and of Welsh writing in English. One of the ideas advanced is that many of Wales' most important writers went to war with the preachers in their texts, and that their work is therefore the site of cultural struggle. Theirs was a war in words waged to determine who would have the last word on modern Welsh experience.

This book explores in detail the novels written by Emyr Humphreys during a timespan of over fifty years, from his first, A Little Kingdom, published in 1946, to The Gift of a Daughter, published in 1998. An early chapter comprises a literary biography with the following chapters devoted to: the early novels including A Toy Epic; a separate examination of Outside the House of Baal, considered by many to be his finest achievement; his use of Celtic myth as a patterning device; similarly his use of Welsh history is covered in 2 chapters; and finally his use of various postcolonial strategies. It also contains an extensive bibliography of work by and about Emyr Humphreys.

Defining the American gothic tradition both within the context of the major movements of intellectual history over the past three-hundred years, as well as within the issues critical to American culture, this comprehensive volume covers a diverse terrain of well-known American writers, from Poe to Faulkner to Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy. Charles L. Crow demonstrates how the gothic provides a forum for discussing key issues of changing American culture, explores forbidden subjects, and provides a voice for the repressed and silenced.

A study of the early modern period, from the creation of Monmouthshire by the Act of Union in 1536 to the beginnings of industrialization in the later eighteenth century. It explores the social concerns of this period, including the growth of urbanity and the commercial world, education, poverty and civil war, as well as religion and politics.

Kant on Sublimity and Morality provides an argument to the essential moral significance of the Kantian sublime and situates this argument within the history of the relationship between sublimity and morality.

Prior to its incorporation into France in 1532, the Breton Dukes maintained Brittany's independence as a Celtic nation first established by Nomenoe in the 9th century. Written in an accessible style, this book presents a useful introduction to Brittany for students of French and Breton history, as well as Celtic Studies.

'Modernism from the Margins' is an account of the 1930s writing of two of the most popular authors of the time. Locating the work of Louis MacNeice and Dylan Thomas historically, the book questions standard accounts of the period as Auden-dominated and offers a theoretical account of the engagement of both writers with the varieties of Modernism.

Provides an introduction to "Ancrene Wisse", one of the most important works in English of the thirteenth century. This book offers a fresh contextualisation which engages with the history of lay piety and vernacular spirituality in the Middle Ages.

Demonstrates how religion and faith have informed Welsh national identity from the seventeenth century, touching upon the Puritan period, the Older Dissent of the eighteenth century, nineteenth-century Nonconformity and the impact of secularism during the twentieth century.

Brittany presents a paradox: the region was incorporated into France in 1532, yet, over the years, signs of a sense of separation from France are growing clearer. This work provides an introduction to identity politics in Brittany, analysing its special status within France: the region that is a potential rival centre to Paris.

Sheds light on the religious women of medieval Wales. Drawing on a wide range of sources from saints' lives and native poetry to holy wells and visual evidence, the volume explores feminine sanctity, its meanings, manifestations and related iconography in a specifically Welsh context.

Uwe Timm is one of the influential writers in contemporary German literature. His work addresses the dominant cultural themes in contemporary Germany, including memory, biography and Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. This book looks at his work.

This book examines issues of sex and society in early twentieth-century Spain, with particular emphasis on eugenics and the sex reform movement. As a central narrative thread it uses the specific case history of Hildegart Rodriquez (1914-33), a 'eugenic' child who came to be one of the central players in the Spanish chapter of the World League for Sexual Reform (WLSR) and was made tragically famous when murdered by her mother. In the last two years of her life Hildegart was in correspondence with the English sexologist Havelock Ellis. Her letters to him, reproduced in the appendix, provide a unique source for understanding the WLSR in Spain, its complexities, and its relationship to similar movements elsewhere in Europe. The letters also make it possible to glimpse in poignant and dramatic detail the personal tensions and anxieties in the life of this young woman that was brought to such a premature end.

This book explores the paradox that the Gothic (today's werewolves, vampires, and horror movies) owe their origins (and their legitimacy) to eighteenth-century interpretations of Shakespeare..

Focuses on the subject of 'melancholy madness' in Spain. This work demonstrates that the subject of melancholy in the Spanish Golden Age is an indispensable link in a chain which may help us to understand the appearance of sadness and malcontent in Europe at the dawn of modernity.

Jose Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998, the first writer in Portuguese to receive the world's most prized literary award. This book covers both his acclaimed historically-based fictions and his, allegorical works, demonstrating the continuity of thought and image between these two phases of the writer's career.

David Jones' poetry is often regarded as difficult to read owing to his highly original and unfamiliar allusions. This book seeks to provide a guided tour through the poems by making the poetry accessible to the student market and also the non-specialist reader while also providing original and new insights.

An exposition of Gellner's thought, both in terms of the specific areas in which he worked and the underlying consistency of his theoretical principles. It provides a context within which to evaluate Gellner's contribution to social and politcal thought.

This volume is not the product of direct field-work but a gathering together, a sifting and an analysis of all the material available - whether previously collected by collectors of Romani song, or preserved whole or in fragments within literary or other texts.

Covers the origins of the title, Prince of Wales, and lives and activities of its twenty-one official holders since the Statute of Rhuddlan confirmed Edward's conquest of Wales in 1284. From tragic youths to seasoned warriors, from sickly children to men who held the title into old age, they are all in this 700-year panorama of British royalty.

Examines the impact of devolution on civil society during the Assembly's first term with a particular focus on civil society's contribution to enhancing democracy and the interrelationship between civil society and national identity. This work contributes to bridge the gap between theory and empirically-grounded research on civil society.

This volume traces some of the specific manifestations of virginity in late medieval culture. It shows how virginity is represented in medical, legal, hagiographical and historical texts, as well as how the seductive but dangerous figure of the virgin affects the aims and objectives of these texts.

Using an examination of theatrical and musical performance in a small Valleys town as a focus, this work puts forward an argued discussion of contemporary Welsh theatre in its cultural context.

This study traces the impact of their social and cultural backgrounds on the lives and work of Anglo-Welsh poets including Gerard Manley Hopkins, R.S. Thomas, David Jones, Dylan Thomas, John Ormond, John Tripp and Raymond Garlick.

A collection of eight articles, lectures and essays on diverse themes found in Welsh and Celtic literature from the Middle Ages to the 20th century including individual chapters on the work of Sion Cent, Daniel Owen and R. Williams Parry.

A valuable and useful reference book on the subject of the Welsh novel, being a collection of 7 comprehensive articles on the genre, short reviews of 15 texts encompassing the 20th century and 4 interviews with modern novelists, by 15 contributors, together with the editor's perceptive introduction.

A collection of writings from the time of Queen Elizabeth I and the Stuarts, by Catholics who refused to attend Protestant services. They discuss many aspects of Catholic devotions and dogma and give an illuminating insight into their lives and times under hardship and repression.