Emyr Humphreys: A Postcolonial Novelist
By (Author) Diane Green
University of Wales Press
University of Wales Press
8th October 2009
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Literary studies: postcolonial literature
823.914
Paperback
224
Width 138mm, Height 216mm
340g
This book is an examination of the novels of Emyr Humphreys in the light of his ideas on Wales: Welsh history, Welsh culture and the importance of a separate Welsh identity. It explores Humphreys' practice in the light both of his own theories of culture and fiction and of a variety of models derived from postcolonial theory. Its main conclusions are that there are two particular techniques, the use of Welsh history and of Celtic myth, that have proved particularly central to Humphreys' purposes throughout his career. These have consistently been the principal ways in which he foregrounds for the reader both what it means to be Welsh and the importance, for the nation, of maintaining an understanding of its heritage. And both these key strategies of his fiction should, it is argued, be read as typical postcolonial devices.
Diane Green is the author of numerous articles on Emyr Humphreys.