Books published by University of Wales Press

Theatre and the Macabre explores the morbid and gruesome onstage, from freak shows to the French Grand Guignol, from immersive theatre to dark tourism, stopping along the way to look at phantoms, severed heads, dances of death and dismembered bodies.

Wassail songs are part of Welsh folk culture, but what exactly are they? When are they sung? Why? And where do stars and pretty ribbons fit in? This study addresses these questions, identifying and discussing the various forms of winter wassailing found in Wales in times past and present. It focuses specifically on the Welsh poetry written over the centuries at the celebration of several rituals - most particularly at Christmas, the turn of the year, and on Twelfth Night - which served a distinct purpose. The winter wassailing aspired to improve the quality of the earth's fertility in three specific spheres: the productivity of the land, the animal kingdom, and the human race. This volume provides a rich collection of Welsh songs in their original language, translated into English for the first time, and with musical notation. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of these poems and of the society in which they were sung.

This book considers the fiction of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73) in their original material and cultural contexts of the early-to-mid Victorian period in Ireland. Le Fanu's longstanding relationship with the Dublin University Magazine, a popular literary and political journal, is a crucial context in the examination of his work. Likewise, Le Fanu's fiction is considered as part of a wider surge of supernatural, historical and antiquarian activity by Irish Protestants in the period following the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland (1801). Le Fanu's habit of writing and re-writing stories is discussed in detail, a practice that has engendered much confusion and consternation. Posthumous collections of Le Fanu's work are compared with original publications, demonstrating the importance of these material and cultural contexts. This book reveals new critical readings of some of Le Fanu's best known fiction, while also casting light on some of his regrettably overlooked work through recontextualisation.

This is the first full-length study of a Welsh family of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries who were not drawn from the princely class. Though they were of obscure and modest origins, the patronage of great lords of the March - such as the Mortimers of Wigmore or the de Bohun earls of Hereford - helped them to become prominent in Wales and the March, and increasingly in England. They helped to bring down anyone opposed by their patrons - like Llywelyn, prince of Wales in the thirteenth century, or Edward II in the 1320s. In the process, they sometimes faced great danger but they contrived to prosper, and unusually for Welshmen one branch became Marcher lords themselves. Another was prominent in Welsh and English government, becoming diplomats and courtiers of English kings, and over some five generations many achieved knighthood. Their fascinating careers perhaps hint at a more open society than is sometimes envisaged.

The end of the second millennium witnessed an increase in science-fictional apocalyptic narratives globally. There is a noteworthy difference between such fictions from Latin America and the anglophone world and those from Spain, in which scientific explanations of events coexist with biblically-inspired plots, characters and imagery. This is the first book-length study of either science-fictional novels or apocalyptic literature in that country, analysing six such works between 1990 and 2005. Within a theoretical framework that includes critical and genre theories, archetypal criticism, and biblical scholarship, the book explains this phenomenon as a result of three historical factors: the 'Two Spains', Spanish 'difference', and the 'Pact of Silence', a tacit agreement that made justice and accountability impossible in the name of a peaceful transition to democracy. It repressed any processing of the historical trauma experienced during the Civil War and dictatorship, trauma that manifests itself symbolically in these fictions.

The exciting story of the Welsh immigrants and their descendants who made a disproportionate contribution to the creation and growth of the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth.

The Gothic is more than just maidens-in-peril fleeing supernatural villains in another age. Historically, it was a form used to depict and critique the dangerous labour conditions faced by workers during the Industrial Revolution.

This collection examines young adult Gothic fiction to demonstrate how the contemporary resurgence of the Gothic in texts for young people signals anxieties about, and hopes for, young people in the twenty-first century.

A study of the thirty-five libraries built by Andrew Carnegie in Wales as an illustration of his world-wide commitment to the public library movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. These libraries and their social, cultural and architectural significance have never been studied before.

This book argues that industrial patriarchy in South Wales established an exclusive though damaging form of structural masculine conformity expressed through a limited -and limiting - set of gendered practices.

A new and fully-updated centenary edition of Raymond Williams's seminal collection of essays on nationhood and cultural identity, Who Speaks for Wales?

Gothic Utterance explores the vital role played by haunted and haunting voices in American Gothic literature produced between the Revolutionary War and the close of the nineteenth century, discussing pressing questions of national identity and subjecthood, and emphasising the ethical value of listening to unsettling or distressing voices.

Monster texts like Frankenstein reflect monstrosity in their narrative structure to create narratives of resistance against systemic cultural oppression. This book uses different critical theories to trace these narrative patterns in novels by Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood and Angela Carter.

This book provides a unique oversight of judges' work and contemporary legal challenges in Common Law and Civil Law countries, based on the legal practice and testimonies of senior members of the judiciary speaking up for justice and the law.

Contemporary contagion narratives can tell us a lot about how a society will respond in a crisis. Embodying Contagion helps us understand these narratives, exploring how we can make more ethical decisions in today's networked world.

The Brexit debates confirmed how Wales's relationship to Europe has for too long been discussed exclusively, narrowly and suffocatingly in terms of its social, political and economic aspects. As a contrast, this volume sets out to explore the rich, inventive and exhilarating spectrum of pro-European sentiment evident from 1848 to 1980 in the writings of Welsh intellectuals and creative writers. It ranges from the era of O. M. Edwards, through the interwar period when both right wing (Saunders Lewis) and left wing (Cyril Cule) ideologies clashed, to the post-war age when major writers such as Emyr Humphreys and Raymond Williams became influential. This study clearly demonstrates that far from being insular and parochial, Welsh culture has long been hospitably internationalist. As the very title Eutopia concedes, there have of course been frequently utopian aspects to Wales's dreams of Europe. However, while some may choose to dismiss them as examples of mere wishful thinking, others may fruitfully appreciate their aspirational and inspirational aspects.

This book argues for the value of applying methods deriving from cognitive sciences (such as neuroscience or psychology) to studies of medieval history, literature, art and culture, and suggests ways in which this comparative approach might be achieved.

This book examines Indian science fiction written not only in English but also in other Indian languages (Bangla, Hindi, Marathi etc.). It traces the history of the genre since 1835 and examines specific formal and thematic aspects to highlight how the genre functions at the intersection of Indian and Western cultures.

The Gothic Chapbook, Bluebook, and Shilling Shocker surveys the rise of the short tale of terror and horror at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

A collection of eight original articles by leading scholars, which throw new light on Geoffrey Chaucer's engagement with Italian literature and culture in the late fourteenth century.

Mae'r gyfrol hon yn cynnig yr astudiaeth gyflawn gyntaf o lenyddiaeth plant yn y Gymraeg a'i harwyddocad cymdeithasol a diwylliannol.

Living Off-grid in Wales examines the new policy context for off-grid rural development by contrasting the policy approach with the activist version of going off-grid.

Darganfyddwch pam y mae mathemateg yn rhan naturiol a phwysig o'n diwylliant, yn gyfochrog a chanu a barddoni, a pham y mae hanes ein mathemateg yn rhan mor bwysig o'n treftadaeth.

Stephen King and American Politics examines the complicated political character of King's fiction. From the 1960s to Donald Trump, these works force us question how America got into its current political crisis - and where it might go from here.

This book provides the first discussion of the most steadfast supporter of parliament in Wales during the British Civil Wars (1642-9), who was eventually executed for his decision to switch sides and support the king in 1648.

This book includes academic studies from established scholars and early career researchers, as well as fans of horror cinema. It is written for its own constituency, as well as for journalists, critics, industry specialists and students.

Dyma gyfrol sy'n cynnig golwg ffres ar ffuglen fer y llenor cyfoes Mihangel Morgan. Mae'n arbrofi a beirniadaeth greadigol er mwyn cyfleu cysyniadau ynghylch llenyddiaeth mewn modd sy'n ddealladwy ac yn ddarllenadwy ar gyfer cynulleidfa greadigol ac academaidd fel ei gilydd.