Search results for ""University of Wales Press""

This text examines the relationship between literature and history in Lazamon's "Brut", a 12th-century verse history of Britain, while demonstrating Lazamon's use of prophecy as a strategy to unite political and religious ideologies.

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Ernest Gellner (1925 - 1995) was one of the major thinkers of the twentieth century. He held major chairs in philosophy, sociology and social anthropology during his distinguished career and contributed to a wide range of political and philosophical debates, most notably in linguistic philosophy, the theory of political nationalism and the theory of history. Gellner was also an outspoken defender of the Enlightenment tradition and social democracy. In Ernest Gellner and Modernity, Michael Lessnoff presents a lucid and coherent exposition of Gellner's thought, both in terms of the specific areas in which he worked and the underlying consistency of his theoretical principles. Lessnoff provides a context within which to evaluate Gellner's contribution to social and political thought and, in keeping with the aims of the series, demonstrates the importance of Gellner's work for contemporary political philosophy.

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Rhys Davies (1901-1978) dedicated his life entirely to writing and is now generally regarded as one of the most prolific and accomplished of Welsh prose-writers in English. In addition to writing over one hundred short stories, his many novels included The Withered Root (1927), The Black Venus (1944) and The Perishable Quality (1957). While he has long been thought of as a master of the short story form, his novels are now considered to be among the finest written by a Welsh writer in English and a critical re-assessment of his career is long overdue. Rhys Davies: Decoding the Hare contains essays on the major aspects of Rhys Davies's life and work, from the literary, social and national contexts within which he wrote to issues of gender, sexuality and race. Published to mark the centenary of Rhys Davies's birth, Decoding the Hare is the first substantial study of his work and will be essential reading for all those interested in twentieth-century Welsh writing in English and in this complex and elusive writer in particular.

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The creation of the National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Parliament has altered the democratic landscape of the UK. In assuming many policy and adminstraitve responsiblities previously held by the central government, the Welsh assembly promises innovation in governance and there are high expectations that devolution will bring about significant changes in Welsh life. "New Governance - New Democracy?" questions whether these expectations are likely to be fulfiled. Drawing on interviews with many of the people who have influenced the devolution experiment, from poltitions to ordinary citizens, this book offers interdisciplinary discussion and analysis of issues ranging from electorial turnout, participation and legitimacy to the involvement of marginalized groups in the process of government. It also examines the developing relationship between the new Welsh legislature and the voluntary sector, the governance of economic development and the regulation and political control of public agencies in Wales.

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The first full examination in English of the career and works of the most popular Welsh author of the twentieth century. Elis laid solid foundations for the contemporary novel in Welsh on which other writers were able to build in the 1960s and 1970s. In Cysgod y Cryman (1953) he demonstrated not only a mastery of his medium but also a gift for story-telling and the ability to create memorable characters. His novels have been adapted and extended as a television series broadcast in the early 90s. In a popular vote organised by the Western Mail his Cysgod y Cryman was voted Welsh Book of the Century. Some of his novels have been published in English, for example Shadow of the Sickle (1998), and Return to Lleifor (1999).

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Twentieth-century work on Welsh manuscripts has been dependent on the publications of Gwenogvryn Evans a century ago. This text provides a coherent view of the Welsh manuscript tradition and detailed studies which have transformed our understanding of some of the key manuscripts.

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A lavishly illustrated volume presenting a comprehensive study by a renowned scholar of the rich heritage of Welsh images during the period 1500-1950, noting especially how Wales and Welsh nationhood are portrayed in these images. Over 450 colour images and over 200 black-and-white images. First published in 2000.

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Explores the role played by the Greek and Latin classics in the literature of Wales, from the sixth century to the present day.

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The third volume of a dictionary of the Welsh Language. It presents in alphabetical order the vocabulary of the Welsh language from the remnants of old Welsh, through the abundant literature of the Mediaval and modern periods. To order parts of the Second Edition visit our Librarians page.

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This collection of essays on law and policy in the regulation of countryside development provide a forum for academics, practising lawyers and planning specialists to air their knowledge and opinions on contemporary and historial matters of importance to the countryside.

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In this innovative and lavishly illustrated study John Harvey examines the visual expression of religious and spiritual concepts in Nonconformist Wales. He discusses his subject within a broad cultural context which includes fine art, architecture, preaching, hymnology and such intangible manifestations as visions. The author argues that the Bible had a strong influence on the visual idiolect of Nonconformists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and that it permeated their perception, interpretation and representation of life. This is perhaps most apparent in the imagery of hymns and sermon illustrations and in the vocabulary and phraseology of preachers, but its effect on Welsh visual culture was also profound and far-reaching and affected both the mode and idiom of religious visions as well as the exterior and interior features of the chapel. John Harvey explores his subject with particular reference to the intertwined concepts of religion and mining in the south Wales coalfields. He examines the tradition of biblical identity and fusion as manifest in the visionary experiences of miners and their families since the 1904 revival: the architectural similarities between chapels, collieries and Old Testament places of worship, and sermon illustrations which derived spiritual meanings and lessons from the harsh realities of coal-mining. Latterly, this tradition is evident in the paintings of Nicholas Evans. Arguably, this principle of visualization whereby heavenly realities are clothed in tangible earthly garb, constitutes one of the most distinctive manifestations of Welsh visual culture.

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This volume examines one of the central political questions of the modern world, the uneasy and often violent relationship between the forces of nationalism and democracy. This subject was one of lifelong interest to the late Professor Harry Hearder of University of Wales, Cardiff, to whom the book is dedicated. The focus is on the nation-states of western Europe during the period 1985-1970. Much of the content explores varieties of conflict and compromise between these two 'cultures, ' which had in many aspects a contradictory dynamic, but which nevertheless shared some basic aspirations, and often contrived to coexist, both on the national and international level.

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This text looks at illness and death in Britain as something very dependant upon the whole environment. It adopts the environmental and geographical approach to the study of diseases and death from Medieval to modern times. Maps illustrate the favourable or unfavourable mortality experience of different parts of the country. This scientific study is aimed at the non-expert, to show the way in which the health of the British people is, and has been, influenced by (i)their racial history, blood groups, genes, and (ii)the environment - physical (weather, water, soils), biological (bacteria, viruses, pollen, fungi) and human (housing, food, drugs, pollution, noise, tabacco, alcohol, life-style, social environment). The way in which certain affilictions such as plague, cholera, tuberculosis, smallpox and so on have been, and still are more commonly suffered by the residents of one city, county or region than by others, is comprehensively studied - at various stages throughout British history.

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A Welsh adaptation of A History of Western Music (fourth edition), which provides a comprehensive guide to Western music to the end of the twentieth century. Accompanying the main narrative are contemporary comments, bibliographies, musical examples and black-and-white illustrations. Suitable for Key Stage 4 music pupils, and all those interested in music. (ACCAC)

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This volume contains essays by eight different authors, discussing the relationship between literature in Welsh and literature in English in Wales. This is the first in a series looking at the Welsh mind and imagination, edited by John Rowlands.

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This work analyzes a number of current issues facing conservation of British landscape and countryside. The countryside is facing ever greater demands and pressures - for greater access by the public for recreation, for better environmental practices in farming, for greater diversity in the rural economy, and for stronger laws on conservation of nature. Topics covered by the essays collected within this volume include: consideration of the European Habitats Directive and its implementation in the UK; agricultural reform and the environment; legal issues of public access and recreation; the growing control of agricultural pollution; and land tenure arrangements for conservation and the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995.

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Peter Schneider is a seminal figure in contemporary German writing. Initially prominent for his involvement in the student movement, he has consistently focused on problems at the heart of German national and cultural identity: the legacy of Auschwitz, the student revolt, neo-Nazi violence, the Green movement, and, above all, the division and subsequent unification of Germany. From the influential "Lenz"""(1973) to the challenging yet accessible "Paarungen "(1992), Schneider's fiction and essays bring meticulous intellectual analysis to what he himself describes as a neglected 'deutsche Tradition von Ironie, Leichtigkeit, Humor'. The first book in English or German to be devoted exclusively to Peter Schneider, this collection of essays is intended both as an introduction for the general reader and as a resource for the specialist. It contains a previously unpublished piece by Schneider, together with a revealing interview and a biographical sketch. The contributions on various aspects of the author's fiction and essays are complemented by the fullest bibliography to date of Schneider's primary works as well as a select list of secondary sources.

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The Welsh Fairy Book is the finest example of Welsh book illustration to have been produced in the ferment of the early twentieth century. Published originally in 1907, the stories collected here were set in prose by the Welsh folklorist W. Jenkyn Thomas, editor of classical texts and of the poetry collection Penillion Telyn (1894), and illustrated by the Hungarian graphic artist Willy Pogány in the art nouveau idiom that was at the height of its popularity in the first decade of the twentieth century. This edition includes an introduction by Juliette Wood, chronicling and contextualising changing attitudes towards the work of folklorists and Welsh folk studies, to present again this important example of illustrated text from Wales

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This is an introduction to the life and work of one of the greatest Welsh dramatists of this century. John Gwilym Jones (1904-1988) was also a short-story writer, novelist and literary critic whose work was almost exclusively in the Welsh language. The aim of this book is to present Jones's work to the English-speaking world.

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Part of the "Past in Perspective" series, this text provides a concise introduction to the events which led to the partition of Ireland, with a discussion of the subsequent development of the two Irish states which emerged from the events of 1920-1922. The author is even-handed in his treatment of the two Irish states and their politics, and deals sensitively with a very complex affair, especially when he deals with post-1968 developments. In addition to a core of chapters which explore a major theme in depth and from a number of angles, this book begins with a survey of the ways in which its theme has been treated in the past by historians and other writers; it includes a section of contemporary documents substantial enough to give an accurate flavour of the relevant theme, and it ends with a bibliography to give the guidance to further study. By these means, as well as the inexpensive format, the series aims to convey the facination of Irish history to a wider public.

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A varied and wide-ranging set of perspectives on economic policy past, present and future. The papers are grouped into six sections each representing a different perspective: money, structure, sectors, regions, international and political economy.

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Gwent is sometimes presented as the most Anglicized county of Wales. This book corrects the perspective by tracing the Welsh cultural tradition of the county. The author recounts the work of the Cymreigyddion Society of the mid-1800s; the contribution of Gwent's poets, authors and publishers; and the events of the National Eisteddfodau held in Newport (1897), Abergavenny (1913), Pontypool (1924), and Ebbw Vale (1958). Finally, she discusses the language and culture in Gwent today.

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Gerald's own testimony is used extensively in this book to introduce various themes from medieval life, especially in relation to Wales. The book looks at twelfth-century Wales - its land and society, the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Third Crusade, the troubled reign of Henry II and the Welsh Church. Gerald himself was a vitally important figure in the story of the Welsh Church at this time.

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A translation of Sophocles's play Electra, from the Greek into Welsh. Electra tells the story of the revenge Orestes and Electra take on their mother, Clytemnestra, for the murder of their father Agamemnon, after he returns from the Trojan War. Reprint; first published in January 1984.

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The television writing of Russell T Davies defies easy categorisation, ranging from children’s programmes, across Shakespeare, historical drama and comedy, to the landmark series that have made him a household name: Queer As Folk, Doctor Who and It’s a Sin. Gay Aliens and Queer Folk takes a deep dive into the queer narratives Russell T Davies has brought to our screens, exploring how each work created new space for LGBTQ+ stories to enter our living rooms and looking at their impact on the people who saw themselves reflected on mainstream television, often for the first time. Covering Russell T Davies’ career from his earliest work to his highly anticipated return to the TARDIS for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, and highlighting key themes such as politics, sex, AIDS and the role of Wales in his writing, Emily Garside reveals how Davies broke down barriers, showing gay characters unapologetically living their lives to the full and celebrating the complexity and joy of queer identities.

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Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods - from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so. In this important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the country's traditional foods and meet the people making them today. There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip shop who never forget a customer, the couple behind Anglesey's world-renowned salt company Halen Mon, and everyone else in between - all of them have unique and compelling stories to tell about how they contribute to the past, present and future of Welsh food. This is an evocative and insightful exploration of an often overlooked national cuisine, shining a spotlight on the importance - environmentally and socially - of keeping local food production alive.

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Down the centuries, poets have provided Wales with a window onto its own distinctive world. This book gives the general reader a sense of the view to be seen through that special window in twelve illustrated poems, each bringing very different periods and aspects of the Welsh past into focus. Together, the poems give the flavour of a poetic tradition, both ancient and modern, that is internationally renowned for its distinction, demonstrating how Wales boast one of the oldest and yet continuing vibrant poetic traditions, the former in the Welsh language and the latter in English and bilingually.

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This book discusses responses to the challenges faced by two different Iberian imperial systems in their struggle to sustain territorial integrity and economic interests in the face of international competition. During a so-called period of ‘Enlightened Despotism’, absolutist governments in Spain and Portugal sought to harness Enlightenment ideas to their policies of reform. The Iberian Enlightenment, however, did not rely exclusively on government sponsorship – it had existing foundations in sixteenth-century Spanish humanism and subsequent attempts at reform, and educated individuals in major cities frequently operated independently of government. The Enlightenment contributed greatly to the availability of potential political solutions to the urgent matter of political status, in the attempt to transform absolutist governments into constitutional systems and drawing in the process on the structures of medieval foundations, contemporary revolutions or less radical constitutional monarchies, or a combination of sources more closely aligned with Ibero-American realities.

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At his death in 2000, R.S. Thomas was widely considered to be one of the major poets of the English-speaking world, having been nominated for the Nobel prize for Literature. With Dylan Thomas, R.S. Thomas is probably Wales' best-known poet internationally. Tony Brown provides an introduction to R.S. Thomas' life and work, as well as new perspectives and insights for those already familiar with the poetry. His approach is broadly chronological, interweaving life and work in order to evaluate Thomas' poetic achievement. In addition to presenting a full discussion of Thomas' poetry, and its movements over time between personal, spiritual and political concerns, Tony Brown also examines Thomas' contribution to the culture of Wales, not just in his writing but also his political interventions and activism on behalf of Welsh language and culture.

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The seven-month national mining lock-out of 1926 was one of the most important industrial disputes of the twentieth century. This work contributes to the social and political history of the industrial working class in 1926, drawing on fresh methodological perspectives relating to the study of labour.

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This volume approaches the fascinating figure of Iolo Morganwg – stonemason, poet and literary forger – from three distinct but interrelated angles. They all take as their starting point Iolo Morganwg’s ‘marginality’ within mainstream literary society both in London and in Wales and demonstrate the strategies that he used to overcome the frustrations of his situation. Iolo’s notoriety as a literary forger provides the context for the first discussion in the volume, which considers his efforts to pass on his own work as that of famous Welsh writers of the past. This chapter looks at how important the editorial apparatus with which Iolo surrounded his forgeries was to his attempt to ensure their satisfactory reception. Secondly, two collections of printed books owned by Iolo and containing marginal commentary in his hand are explored. The discussion here demonstrates Iolo’s keen interest in the forging of a path for the Welsh language within the developing public domain of the regional eisteddfodau and also his complex personal relations with some of the more successful authors of his day. Iolo’s vulnerability and marginality within the context of a Welsh public sphere are both brought to the fore in this chapter. Finally, the volume turns to the marginalia left by Iolo on letters within his collection of correspondence, showing his extraordinary creativity and bringing to attention for the first time some of his unpublished work in the fields of Welsh and English poetry and on matters relating to the Welsh language.

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Richard Rorty is among the most cited, influential and notorious of recent philosophers. This book seeks to take Rorty seriously as a social and political philosopher, and to argue that his work is not as flippant, as frothy, or as easily dismissed as his opponents often tend to portray it.

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Cardiff has a long and momentous maritime history. This richly researched volume delves into the maritime past of Cardiff and Penarth, providing a comprehensive account from the first stirrings of seaborne trade and the cargoes of wool, hides and butter, to the ever-present threat of piracy, and from the rapid development linked to the export of iron and the later trade in coal, to the changes wrought by the effects of the two world wars, and the developments in types of vessels over the years. This beautifully illustrated history will appeal to local historians and shipping enthusiasts around the world. John Richards has an MA from Cambridge and a Ph.D. from the University of Wales. He has previously written two books: Wales on the Western Front for University of Wales Press, and a history of Cotrell Park, Vale of Glamorgan.

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