Twentieth-Century Autobiography

(Paperback)

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The writing of good autobiography requires an encounter with oneself that can involve the need to wrestle with potent elements from one's past. In this pioneering work on twentieth-century Welsh autobiography in English, Barbara Prys-Williams traces the fascinating psychological influences which have shaped the consciousness and world views of seven authors, all by birth, or by adoption, Welsh. The study throws intriguing new light on the personalities as well as the work of many figures who occupy a prominent place in the Welsh imagination, including several who may be described as icons of their respective cultures. The comic exuberance of Rhondda-born humorist Gwyn Thomas is shown to have bleak origins: his work is powered by pain. Rhys Davies takes detachment to narcissistic levels, manipulating his own history to cover his tracks. Award-winning feminist Lorna Sage, comments with acerbic wit on her Northern Border upbringing, showing herself to have been deprived of secure psychological boundaries. Miner-writers Ron Berry and B. L. Coombes allow powerful personal drives to shape their stories, one openly, one covertly. Margiad Evans, who loved the southern Border country, writes movingly of different phases of life from turbulent adolescence to the process of dying. Poet-priest R. S. Thomas, deeply committed to the ancient heartlands of Wales, uses a virtuoso obliquity in his searingly honest search for self in his poetic autobiography.

Reviews

' The appeal of this splendid volume should extend beyond narrowly defined academic circles. These essays will compliment and enhance any future reading of the texts concerned.' Gwales 'Prys-Williams's enthusiasm for her project is refreshing, as is her often charming prose style ...well worth reading as a handy introductory guide to Welsh autobiography: detailed enough for readers familiar with the literature of Wales, and yet brief enough for those to whom Barbara Prys-Williams has opened up a whole new world of writers'. Biography '...fascinating and thoroughly researched book ...'. New Welsh Review

Author Bio

Barbara Prys-Williams is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales at the University of Wales, Swansea where she gained a Ph.D. in English. She taught for some twenty years in schools in Britain and abroad. She has published widely on Welsh autobiography in English.