In the Shadow of the Pulpit

M. Wynn Thomas

Description

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.
Preacher's World 1 A bluffer's guide to Welsh Nonconformity 2 The Nonconformist century 3 Bringing Nonconformity to book Writer's World 4 War of words: the preacher and the writer 5 Spoiled preachers 6 Wales BC Individual Worlds 7 'Marlais': Dylan Thomas and the 'tin Bethels' 8 'Fucking and forgiveness': the case of Glyn Jones 9 'Solid in goodly counsel': the chapels write back

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion
• Wales

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708323427
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Writing Wales in English

In the Shadow of the Pulpit

Literature and Nonconformist Wales

M. Wynn Thomas

University of Wales Press

In the Shadow of the Pulpit

Writing Wales in English

CREWseries of Critical and Scholarly Studies General Editor: Professor M. Wynn Thomas (CREW, Swansea University)

ThisCREWseries is dedicated to Emyr Humphreys, a major figure in the literary culture of modern Wales, a founding patron of theCentre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales, and, along with Gillian Clarke and Seamus Heaney, one ofCREW’s Honorary Associates. Grateful thanks are due to the late Richard Dynevor for making this series possible.

Other titles in the series Stephen Knight,A Hundred Years of Fiction(978-0-7083-1846-1) Barbara Prys-Williams,Twentieth-Century Autobiography(978-0-7083- 1891-1) Kirsti Bohata,Postcolonialism Revisited(978-0-7083-1892-8) Chris Wigginton,Modernism from the Margins(978-0-7083-1927-7) Linden Peach,Contemporary Irish and Welsh Women’s Fiction(978-0- 7083-1998-7) Sarah Prescott,Eighteenth-Century Writing from Wales: Bards and Britons(978-0-7083-2053-2) Hywel Dix,After Raymond Williams: Cultural Materialism and the Break-Up of Britain(978-0-7083-2153-9) Matthew Jarvis,Welsh Environments in Contemporary Welsh Poetry (978-0-7083-2152-2) Harri Garrod Roberts,Embodying Identity: Representations of the Body in Welsh Literature(978-0-7083-2169-0) Diane Green,Emyr Humphreys: A Postcolonial Novelist?(978-0-7083- 2217-8)

In the Shadow of the Pulpit Literature and Nonconformist Wales

M . W Y N N T H O M A S

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS CARDIFF 2010

© M. Wynn Thomas, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-7083-2225-3 e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2342-7

The right of M. Wynn Thomas to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Typeset by Eira Fenn Gaunt at the University of Wales Press Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire

General Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements List of Illustrations

C ONTENTS

7 ‘Marlais’: Dylan Thomas and the ‘Tin Bethels’ 8 ‘Fucking and Forgiveness’: The Case of Glyn Jones 9 ‘Solid in Goodly Counsel’: The Chapels Write Back

Epilogue

Writer’s Wor(l)d

Notes Index

Preacher’s Wor(l)d

Introduction

338 357

330

1

4 War of Words: The Preacher and the Writer 5 Spoiled Preachers 6 Wales BC

vi ix xi

Individual Worlds

226 256 294

18 44 77

116 153 182

1 A Bluffer’s Guide to Welsh Nonconformity 2 The Long Nonconformist Century 3 Bringing Nonconformity to Book

G E ’ P ENERAL DITOR S REFACE

The aim of this series is to produce a body of scholarly and critical work that reflects the richness and variety of the English-language literature of modern Wales. Drawing upon the expertise both of established specialists and of younger scholars, it will seek to take advantage of the concepts, models and discourses current in the best contemporary studies to promote a better understanding of the literature’s significance, viewed not only as an expression of Welsh culture but also as an instance of modern litera- tures in English worldwide. In addition, it will seek to make available the scholarly materials (such as bibliographies) necessary for this kind of advanced, informed study.

M. Wynn Thomas CREW(Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales) Swansea University

Er cof annwyl am mam-gu, un o ‘ferched Evan Roberts’, ac am mam a ’nhad.

I have thought about that very often – how the times change, and the same words that carry a good many people into the howling wilderness in one generation are irksome or meaningless in the next. Marilynne Robinson,Gilead

Evan Roberts and ladies. Mary Davies is standing, extreme right.