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wilderthanA while ago I promised some Welsh Fiction in English reviews. Here goes... Organised by author, with a little preamble.
Allen Raine: One of the first Welsh writers to write about Wales in English.
Queen of the Rushes (republished by Honno)
This isn't a book I would ordinarily choose for myself, perhaps: I'm taking a class on Welsh Fiction in English and this is one of the first books on the list. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it -- I really did. I got attached to the characters -- mostly, to Gwenifer and Gildas -- and desperately wanted things to turn out well for them.
It's well written, and all the details add up to a coherent whole, with certain things foreshadowing others chapters and chapters ahead, and not seeming important -- seeming just a part of the mood of the novel -- and turning out to be paramount. It has a definite mood, this novel, and though in some ways it's slow, seeming something like the rhythms of the lives it describes, you do get caught up in it, and in the passion of the time it describes, in the 1904 Revival in Wales.
It does remind me of something a lecturer said to me, that so much Welsh fiction is concerned with melancholy and madness... Still, it has a happy end, after all.
A Welsh Witch (out of print)
A Welsh Witch is one of Allen Raine's books that hasn't been reprinted and isn't available as an ebook, and isn't even in the university library. I was lucky to be able to borrow it.
Most of it is, for Allen Raine, totally unsurprising. The trope of the mismatched romantic pairs, the idyllic scenery -- if I accuse Richard Llewellyn of sentimentality, how much more must I point my finger at Allan Raine. But, for the most part, I did enjoy it, even if I wanted to wring most of the characters' necks for the ridiculous complications.
It's notable, of course, for being the first published fictional account of a pit explosion. That part is very well written, and not a little harrowing.
Goronwy Hughes is cut from the same cloth as Gildas Rees, in Queen of the Rushes, and Catrin Rees is very like Gwenifer Owen, so there is a certain sense of it being more or less the same story.
Caradoc Evans: Widely considered the founder of the Anglo-Welsh tradition. The 'best-hated man in Wales', in his own words. His books were burned in Cardiff.
My People (last reprinted by Seren; not currently in print)
Caradoc Evans' collection of short stories, My People, is rather hard to like. It focuses on the common Welsh people, fiercely satirising them and the Nonconformist church, in the time he was writing -- around 1915. He's rather brutal, honestly: the people he describes are simple, even stupid, and ignorance and what they considered to be sin, and hypocrisy, abound. He makes them sound stupider by the way he chooses to represent the language: instead of simply writing what they'd say in idiomatic English, he translates it literally.
It's very discomforting reading, but interesting, and one has to be wary of taking it at face value. Still, I can understand why Welsh people detested it -- and I shudder to imagine why English people at the time of publication loved it so much. "Yay, another piece of evidence that the Welsh are immoral, ignorant scum."
It is surprisingly easy to read, though, despite the very odd syntax and the discomforting subject matter. The edition I read also comes with a helpful introduction.
Lewis Jones: A coal miner and a political figure. He eventually died of exhaustion after addressing crowds night after night. He was a communist.
Cwmardy & We Live (in print with Parthian: Library of Wales, as an omnibus; available on Kindle)
Finished reading the first book in the volume, Cwmardy. I gather that the two carry on from each other pretty seamlessly: the first book begins when Len is a child, and follows his growth, including the death of his sister Jane, his work in the coal mines, his growing interest in politics and involvement in the strikes, and his attraction to Mary, the daughter of Ezra, a man who organises the strikes.
It's much easier to read than I expected. It's matter of fact about the dangers, even the gory details. It's stark and relentless with the story it has to tell. Despite all the darkness, there are ordinary good men -- and oh, they're so ordinary, but they're good as well. They're not put on pedestals: they are what they are. Big Jim isn't exactly clever, but he's loyal and true and lives his life fairly by his own lights...
The parts about the police brutality just make me think history is being repeated, over and over. Strikes and riots and protests, all blossoming into violence.
And now I've finished reading the second book in this volume, We Live. This one focuses on Len and Mary much more, though Sian and Jim are still there, in the background. It's still as stark, still as evocative, and I had tears in my eyes so many times, while reading it.
It focuses a lot on the communist movement, in this book, and the plight of all the people in Cwmardy: not just the colliers, but all those working or unemployed in the town. There's a lot of power in it, even if you disagree with the politics of it: it wasn't all sad moments that stopped my heart and made me want to cry.
I say it's stark and brutal, but in a way, it isn't. Life just keeps rolling on, no matter what, in Cwmardy. It has a lot to say about perseverance and strength, never mind the politics of it.
Allen Raine: One of the first Welsh writers to write about Wales in English.
Queen of the Rushes (republished by Honno)
This isn't a book I would ordinarily choose for myself, perhaps: I'm taking a class on Welsh Fiction in English and this is one of the first books on the list. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it -- I really did. I got attached to the characters -- mostly, to Gwenifer and Gildas -- and desperately wanted things to turn out well for them.
It's well written, and all the details add up to a coherent whole, with certain things foreshadowing others chapters and chapters ahead, and not seeming important -- seeming just a part of the mood of the novel -- and turning out to be paramount. It has a definite mood, this novel, and though in some ways it's slow, seeming something like the rhythms of the lives it describes, you do get caught up in it, and in the passion of the time it describes, in the 1904 Revival in Wales.
It does remind me of something a lecturer said to me, that so much Welsh fiction is concerned with melancholy and madness... Still, it has a happy end, after all.
A Welsh Witch (out of print)
A Welsh Witch is one of Allen Raine's books that hasn't been reprinted and isn't available as an ebook, and isn't even in the university library. I was lucky to be able to borrow it.
Most of it is, for Allen Raine, totally unsurprising. The trope of the mismatched romantic pairs, the idyllic scenery -- if I accuse Richard Llewellyn of sentimentality, how much more must I point my finger at Allan Raine. But, for the most part, I did enjoy it, even if I wanted to wring most of the characters' necks for the ridiculous complications.
It's notable, of course, for being the first published fictional account of a pit explosion. That part is very well written, and not a little harrowing.
Goronwy Hughes is cut from the same cloth as Gildas Rees, in Queen of the Rushes, and Catrin Rees is very like Gwenifer Owen, so there is a certain sense of it being more or less the same story.
Caradoc Evans: Widely considered the founder of the Anglo-Welsh tradition. The 'best-hated man in Wales', in his own words. His books were burned in Cardiff.
My People (last reprinted by Seren; not currently in print)
Caradoc Evans' collection of short stories, My People, is rather hard to like. It focuses on the common Welsh people, fiercely satirising them and the Nonconformist church, in the time he was writing -- around 1915. He's rather brutal, honestly: the people he describes are simple, even stupid, and ignorance and what they considered to be sin, and hypocrisy, abound. He makes them sound stupider by the way he chooses to represent the language: instead of simply writing what they'd say in idiomatic English, he translates it literally.
It's very discomforting reading, but interesting, and one has to be wary of taking it at face value. Still, I can understand why Welsh people detested it -- and I shudder to imagine why English people at the time of publication loved it so much. "Yay, another piece of evidence that the Welsh are immoral, ignorant scum."
It is surprisingly easy to read, though, despite the very odd syntax and the discomforting subject matter. The edition I read also comes with a helpful introduction.
Lewis Jones: A coal miner and a political figure. He eventually died of exhaustion after addressing crowds night after night. He was a communist.
Cwmardy & We Live (in print with Parthian: Library of Wales, as an omnibus; available on Kindle)
Finished reading the first book in the volume, Cwmardy. I gather that the two carry on from each other pretty seamlessly: the first book begins when Len is a child, and follows his growth, including the death of his sister Jane, his work in the coal mines, his growing interest in politics and involvement in the strikes, and his attraction to Mary, the daughter of Ezra, a man who organises the strikes.
It's much easier to read than I expected. It's matter of fact about the dangers, even the gory details. It's stark and relentless with the story it has to tell. Despite all the darkness, there are ordinary good men -- and oh, they're so ordinary, but they're good as well. They're not put on pedestals: they are what they are. Big Jim isn't exactly clever, but he's loyal and true and lives his life fairly by his own lights...
The parts about the police brutality just make me think history is being repeated, over and over. Strikes and riots and protests, all blossoming into violence.
And now I've finished reading the second book in this volume, We Live. This one focuses on Len and Mary much more, though Sian and Jim are still there, in the background. It's still as stark, still as evocative, and I had tears in my eyes so many times, while reading it.
It focuses a lot on the communist movement, in this book, and the plight of all the people in Cwmardy: not just the colliers, but all those working or unemployed in the town. There's a lot of power in it, even if you disagree with the politics of it: it wasn't all sad moments that stopped my heart and made me want to cry.
I say it's stark and brutal, but in a way, it isn't. Life just keeps rolling on, no matter what, in Cwmardy. It has a lot to say about perseverance and strength, never mind the politics of it.
