A Guide to Welsh Literature: 1700-1800 v. 4

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This is the fourth of a series of volumes outlining the history and development of Welsh literature from its beginnings in the sixth century to the present day. The latest in this established and well respected series provides us with a detailed critical introduction to the literature of the Welsh language in the eighteenth century. All the contributors, who are specialists in their own field, write with critical authority on Eighteenth Century Welsh literature. The volume opens with a general survey of life and thought in the eighteenth century and is followed by a series of chapters by acknowledged experts and which cover all aspects of literature in eighteenth-century Wales. Geraint Jenkins opens with a powerful chapter on historical writing in a period when Wales was on the brink of losing its history for ever, until from the gloom emerged a strong desire to revive the lost history of Wales and implant in the hearts and minds of Welsh people a new respect for the nation's lost antiquities. There follow chapters on the major literary figures of the period, including Ellis Wynne, Theophilus Evans, the Morris brothers, Williams Pantycelyn, Evan Evans, Iolo Morganwg, William Owen Pughe and Ann Griffiths, and discussions of the folk poetry and customs of the period, religious literature and dramatic performance.

Reviews

". . . an essential stock for libraries worldwide with any interest in Wales or in European literatures." -Language and Literature Reference Reviews

". . . Glyn Tegai Hughes's dazzling opening essay . . . contains the best short introduction that I know of to the problematic of eighteenth-century Welsh religious history; his use of comparative contextual material from Germany is especially illuminating. Another gem, worth buying the book for, is Geraint H. Jenkins's brilliant and often hilarious survey of historical writing in the eighteenth century." -Planet

Author Bio

Branwen Jarvis is senior lecturer and head of the Department of Welsh at University of Wales, Bangor.