Books published by University of Wales Press

Dyma'r llyfr ehangaf ei rychwant a manylaf ei ymchwil ar Thomas Charles o'r Bala i'w gyhoeddi ers canrif a mwy.

This book explores the Gothic tradition in Canadian literature by tracing a distinctive reworking of the British Gothic in Canada. It traces the ways the Gothic genre was reinvented for a specifically Canadian context. On the one hand, Canadian writers expressed anxiety about the applicability of the British Gothic tradition to the colonies; on the other, they turned to the Gothic for its vitalising rather than unsettling potential. After charting this history of Gothic infusion, Canadian Gothic turns its attention to the body of Aboriginal and diasporic writings that respond to this discourse of national self-invention from a post-colonial perspective. These counter-narratives unsettle the naturalising force of this invented history, rendering the sense of Gothic comfort newly strange. The Canadian Gothic tradition has thus been a conflicted one, which reimagines the Gothic as a form of cultural sustenance. This volume offers an important reconsideration of the Gothic legacy in Canada.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales is an outstanding work by an author with a perceptive understanding of the complexities of his subject. It is clearly, sometimes passionately, written and is destined to be the definitive work on this matter for many generations. This is the first full-length English-language study of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1225-1282), prince of Wales. In this scholarly and lucid book J. Beverley Smith offers an in-depth assessment not only of Llywelyn, but of the age in which he lived. The author takes thirteenth-century Wales as a backdrop against which he analyses the relationship between a sense of nationhood and the practical realities of creating a structure to embrace a unified principality of Wales held under the aegis of the English Crown. This examination of the triumphs and subsequent reverses of a ruler of exceptional vision and vigour is a substantial contribution to our understanding of the nature of Welsh politics and the complexities of Anglo-Welsh relations.

Features selections, together with an introduction, notes, and glossary, from a thirteenth century Welsh text which belongs to the genre of medieval translations. This work provides insights into the heroic Christian mentality and world view of its audiences.

For decades, otherwise highly respected figures in Welsh life have repeatedly claimed that Welsh nationalists sympathised with Fascism during the dark days of the 1930s and the Second World War. In this path-breaking book, Wales's leading political commentator assesses the truth of these charges. In addition to shedding new light on the attitudes of Plaid Cymru and its leadership during the period in question, this book offers an insightful and challenging interpretation of the nature Welsh political culture.

Sleepy rustic Carmarthenshire was secretly a hotbed of debauchery, violence and drunkenness according to Russell Davies in a new edition of his very successful book, 'Secret Sins'. Behind the facade of idyllic rural life, there was a twilight world of mental illness, suicide, crime, vicious assaults, infanticide, cruelty and other assorted acts of depravity. This almost anecdotal historical study is often funny, sometimes disturbing, always revealing.

Dafydd ap Gwilym is the most renowned and original of Wales' medieval poets, and is considered by many to be the greatest Welsh poet ever.

This volume provides a survey of Arthurian works and themes in medieval German and Dutch literature and also examines pictorial representations of Arthurian topics, the impact of Arthurian motifs on real life, and the revival and adaptation of legends.

Relates to one of Wales' most important institutions of higher education, covering its history from its creation in 1884 as the University College of North Wales, its incarnation as the University of Wales, Bangor and to its 125th anniversary in 2009. This book traces the institution's origins as an 18th century coaching inn with just 58 students.

A comprehensive study of the work of Lewis Edwards (1809-87), Wales''s foremost scholar of the nineteenth century, and one who raised the standard of Nonconformist Wales erudition. A Calvinistic Methodist in his upbringing and through conviction, he was a pious man belonging to his era.

Rhys Davies was a seminal influence in Welsh writing because he was one of the first novelists to depict industrial Wales, and was a highly prolific writer producing some twenty novels and one hundred short stories in a career that spanned six decades. This book addresses Davies' struggle to enter the privileged circles of literary production.

FfugLen is the Welsh word for fiction but is also a play on the words 'ffug' (meaning fake or false) and 'len' (the prepositive of 'llenyddiaeth' or literature) implying that these images are often ambiguous. This title presents a study of the image of Wales and the Welsh in twentieth-century Welsh-language literature.

Based on the research of Dr W Gareth Evans into state secondary schools in Wales from 1896-2000. This is an original, comprehensive study of the history of external examinations in the schools of Wales during the twentieth century. It demonstrates how the system of external examinations has developed in Wales over the last century.

This book is a comparative study of British and American literature and culture in the 1790s and 1950s. It explores the republican tradition of the British Enlightenment and the effect of its translation and migration to the American colonies. Specifically, it examines in detail the transatlantic influence of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century libertarian and anti-authoritarian thought on British and American Revolutionary culture.

A collection of critical essays by renowned scholars dealing with various aspects of literature, both poetry and prose, written in English in Wales during the 20th century, including discussions on the work of Christine Evans, R. S. Thomas, Caradoc Evans, and on literary subjects; it also includes a Bibliography of Criticism.

Focuses on religious beliefs and practices of the Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities in multicultural parts of Britain. This book is based on an in depth study of 3418 teenagers in Walsall, and using data from other UK studies, it demonstrates that religion is a decisive factor in understanding communities and individuals.

Examines Welsh writing in English in the context of critical debates concerning the rise of cultural nationalism and the 'invention' of Great Britain as a nation in the eighteenth century. This study investigates the ways in which Anglophone literature from and about Wales imagines the nation and its culture in a range of genres.

Discusses the aesthetic in the context of the politics of marginal communities. This involves the comparison of articles written by Welsh author and poet, Twm Morys, and two Czech authors, Bouhmil Hrabal and Vaclav Havel.

The South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC) is one of the largest archives of its kind in the UK and of international importance. This work attempts to make items of medical significance more accessible. It is based on a screening of the Collection funded by a Welcome Trust Research Resources in Medical History Award.

Johann Nikolas Bohl von Faber (1770-1836) was a Hispanist and Germanist at a time when the balance of ideological dominance was shifting from Enlightenment thought towards the new Romantic aesthetic. This book outlines and evaluates his considerable contribution to the development of European Romanticism.

A biography of Lewis Morris, map-maker, duty collector and mineworks supervisor who was one of the foremost literary figures of 18th century Wales.

Published to mark the centenary of his birth in 2019, this is the first comprehensive and authoritative study of the life and work (excluding only work for television) of the major Welsh writer Emyr Humphreys.

Carmarthen Castle was one of the largest castles in medieval Wales. It was also one of the most important, in its role as a centre of government and as a Crown possession in a region dominated by Welsh lands and Marcher lordships. Largely demolished during the seventeenth century, it was subsequently redeveloped, first as a prison and later as the local authority headquarters. Yet the surviving remains, and their situation, are still impressive. The situation changed with a major programme of archaeological and research work, from 1993 to 2006, which is described in this book. The history of the castle, its impact on the region and on Wales as a whole are also examined: we see the officials and other occupants of the castle, their activities and how they interacted with their environment. Excavations at the castle, and the artefacts recovered, are described along with its remaining archaeological potential. This book puts Carmarthen Castle back at the heart of the history of medieval Wales, and in its proper place in castle studies and architectural history, the whole study combining to make a major contribution to the history of one of Wales's great towns.