Questions of gender, sexuality (gay and straight), home and belonging, borderlands, nation and canonicity, are at the forefront of this course which explores twentieth century writing from Wales.  We will study an exciting selection of short stories, novels and poetry with the help of a range of critical concepts, including feminist and gender criticism, queer theory, trauma theory, and historicist approaches.  We will also consider what it means to construct a national canon, placing Welsh writing in English in an international and comparative context.

Seminar outline:

1.       Introduction: key critical debates

2.       Gwyn Jones, Times Like These

3.       Rhys Davies, a selection of short stories

4.       Alun Lewis, In the Green Tree and selected poems.

5.      Margiad Evans, The Old and the Young

6.       R S Thomas, Selected Poems

7.       Emyr Humphreys, A Toy Epic

8.       Gillian Clarke, Collected Poems

9.        Selected short stories by women writers

10.   Trezza Azzopardi, The Hiding Place

11.   Writing the nation?

Course texts:

Texts which are out of print and supplementary/selected texts will be provided as photocopies (i.e. Gwyn Jones, Rhys Davies, selected women writers).  You should source your own copies of the following (they are easily available online via http://www.gwales.com as well as through the university bookshop):

Alun Lewis, In the Green Tree (Library of Wales series) (Parthian, 2007)

Margiad Evans, The Old and the Young (Seren, 1998)

R. S. Thomas, Selected Poems (Dent, 1996)

Emyr Humphreys, A Toy Epic (Seren, 2008)

Gillian Clarke, Collected Poems (Carcanet, 1997)

Trezza Azzopardi, The Hiding Place (Picador, 2000)

Learning Outcomes:

• a grasp of the diversity of Welsh writing in English
• an ability to apply several different approaches to literature
• a broad awareness of literary and cultural developments in modern Wales
• a sensitivity to significant differences in personal and cultural identity