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1. A HIGH WIND
IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
In this Lord
of the Flies at sea – five children are captured by pirates.
But in the end is it the pirates who are captive to the whims of
the children? Hughes’ 1929 imaginative bestseller, getting
into the skin of his characters and under the skin of his readers
in this vaguely horrific adventure at sea gone wrong. The children
are sent ‘home’ by boat by their parents after their
Jamaican house is destroyed in a hurricane – in the company
of some Creole friends. They
are soon besieged by roguish pirates, who do not live up to the
swashbuckling and romantic pirate stereotype but instead are hardy
and unsympathetic petty criminals. This is no heroic fairy tale
with a happy ending - the eldest brother is accidentally killed,
and the remaining children adapt quickly, becoming more ragged,
treacherous and selfish little survivors than the pirates themselves.
One of the Welsh literati, friend of Dylan Thomas, T.E Lawrence,
Yeats and Robert Graves, Hughes was born to Welsh parents in Weybridge,
moving to Laugharne in 1934 where he stayed for many years.
2. MY PEOPLE by Caradoc Evans
His portrait was slashed in a gallery, his play Taffy opened
to catcalls and demonstrators, he was reviled and hated in his home
country, where his books were banned. Yet this controversial writer
started out as a Carmarthenshire draper’s assistant. This
work led him to Barry, Cardiff and then London, where he switched
to journalism. His first collection of short stories was My People,
in 1915 made him notorious. In a literary climate where cloying
sentimentality and tales of sweet valleys and quaint hill towns
were the norm, Evans sounded the death knell on sympathy, choosing
instead to satirise every aspect of Welsh life held dear to its
people. He showed Welsh society riddled with meanness and malice.
His pen mercilessly ridiculed the idiosyncrasies of Welsh rural
life, even, “whisper you me,” his own language suffered
his slanders, as he rendered the colloquialisms and speech patterns
silly, mimicking them in a way his many critics deemed a stab in
the back. Many compared My People with Dubliners, yet sadly, Evans’
subjects in this case, his people, saw the book and his subsequent
work as a betrayal.
3. ASH ON A YOUNG MAN'S SLEEVE by Dannie Abse
Were there really trams on Cathedral Road? For this and
other revelations about the capital of Wales, read this autobiography
by one of Britain’s best poets and a Booker nominated author.
Lyrical descriptions litter the pages, evoking the streets of Cardiff
through the innocent eyes of a young boy growing up. A classic memoir
of childhood. Abse is a Welsh Jew who grew up in Wales then moved
to Golders Green, London, where he became part time poet and full
time chest doctor.
4. BORDER COUNTRY by Raymond Williams
The story begins like any other, a man returning home from
work to his average London home. Bad news by telephone transports
him back to Wales, to a town called Glynmawr, where we discover
his father, a railway signalman has suffered a stroke. Questions
fly at the author, but the jigsaw pieces only fall into place gradually.
This is a moving story of the relationship between a father and
son, and the geographical location is a reoccurring theme, signifying
and symbolising displacement, and uncertainty, demarking the structures
and limits of the relationship and identity for this is a border
town. This is Williams’ first novel and is part of a border
trilogy
5. DARK PHILOSOPHERS by Gwyn Thomas
Three classic novellas rolled into one dark and angst-ridden
tome for your reading pleasure. Thomas’ style is undoubtedly
readable, and coaxes the reader onward page after page, longing
for some chink of light to be shed on the depravity and despondency
which overflows these valley town stories. There is huge fat Oscar,
the mountain owner, ‘hog’ to everyone else. A story
set in a mountain town, where the terraced lines of houses are grim
and poverty stricken, and Oscar overlooks them from his mountain
coal tip, delighting in keeping them that way. One day, looking
for a new feeling, this slovenly caricature of indolence decides
to kill one of his worthless poor workers. Oscar’s worker,
Lewis, the dark and strong young man with few remaining shards of
conscience, and we witness his inner battle. Originally published
in 1946, all stories show the squalid towns of early twentieth century
Wales and the quirky folk who inhabited them with grim humour.
6. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY by Richard Llewellyn
This is a book of two colours. Green is for mountain and
valley and rose for the spectacles worn by the author. There is
poverty and there are strikes, but above it all, overlooking its
embattled and struggling inhabitants, is the mountain. Forever green
and munificent, its splendour is gradually suffocating under slag.
Huw is leaving the valley. The slag is pushing against the walls
of the indefatigable little terraced house, yet all he can do is
reminisce fondly of bygone days. He tells us the story of his life
– of his father, the hero, his mother, the saint, and his
brothers, all strong, defiant, and always right. It is a tale of
coal, sweat and toil. Poetic, lyrical, and yearning, this is a memoir
to lost childhood. This is deemed an important book about Wales.
Not autobiographical – but set in a fictional town telling
a fictional account of a family, it nonetheless gives an insight
into the living conditions at the turn of the century, where many
lives depended on the black gold beneath their feet. Although tending
towards the sugar-sweet, what a place to have lived in. There is
the sense of community, with its concomitant loyalty and solidarity.
There is the typically large yet close-knit family, who never stray
far from the hill. There is the hard work and incessant singing
– unofficial choirs form at the drop of a hat and the valley
echoes with harmonies. All the side effects of a small community
exist – vigilantism, religious fervour, nosy neighbours. And
above all there is Huw, constantly invoking the beauty of the valley
colours to calm and care for him. Read the book for a beautiful,
sentimental, if slightly over-long story of a family and the geography
which ties it.
7. THE MABINOGION
Mabinogi is the Welsh word for tale or story. These Celtic
folk tales or fairy stories are mined from two books of colours,
one called the White Book of Rhydderch, the other the Red book of
Hergest. With the subject matter of the stories harking back to
the dawn of Celtic literature, the historical significance of these
stories, which can officially only be traced back to the origin
of the two books, somewhere between the 11th and 13th Century –
count as perhaps some of the first examples of mediaeval literature.
Particularly of import is that the first five tales are Welsh versions
of incidents from the Arthurian canon, and shed light on the Arthurian
story. The name Mabinogion comes from the translation of the stories
into English, by Lady Charlotte Guest. She guessed at the plural
of Mabinogi, although scholars dispute this. However the name stuck,
and the 11 stories are now collectively known under no other title.
The Mabinogion consist of four connected narratives (called 'the
branches') from Pwll, Prince of Dyved, through Math, the Son of
Mathonwy. Following these are three additional stories, including
the legend of one of the most famous bards of Wales, Taliesin. Essential
reading for anyone who seeks a thorough understanding of Celtic
lore.
8. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG DOG/OTHER STORIES
by Dylan Thomas
Although Wales’ most famous poet did not write any
full length novels, no list is complete without him. Any of his
short story collections are essential reading for a full appreciation
of Welsh literature. Two of Thomas’ short story collections
published during the war proved to be unpopular, since wartime paper
rationing meant interest in new literature was down, with people
more interested in news. Yet it would not always be the case. Thomas
may have lived on the edge of his income for most of his life, yet
once he set foot in America, his fortunes began to change, as his
notoriety and fame grew. It is a tragic fact, that had he lived,
he would have been able to enjoy the financial security which had
thus far eluded him. However it was not to be, yet today, he continues
to live on as Wales’ most famous poet. His most well-known
work is Under Milk Wood, a play for voices, set in fictional town
Llaregyb (Bugger All backwards) and first aired on BBC radio, later
a film starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. But his short
stories should not be overlooked in favour of his poetry or plays,
since each story shares a slice of his poetical talent. His stories
display his intrinsically Welsh spirit and unique addiction to words,
and merit separate attention. They are an accessible as sympathetic
introduction to Wales, her culture and people.
9. ONE MOONLIT NIGHT - Caradog Pritchard
Heading north from coal to slate, we move to North Wales
for moonlight, madness and melancholy. Semi-autobiographical and
written in Welsh, this was Pritchard’s only novel, published
in 1961. The scene is set in a slate quarrying village during the
first world war. It rattles along at a vaguely alarming pace, like
the life of our ten year old hero. We view his exploits, mishaps
and relationships through his eyes, and we must decipher what is
really happening through what he says and does. Living with his
widowed mother, his world slowly unravels and we are shown his loss
and devastation. It is a rare insight into the mind of a child,
and a deeply personal exploration of emotions.
10. RAPE OF THE FAIR COUNTRY by Alexander Cordell
Wales’ answer to historical drama-queen Catherine
Cookson is Alexander Cordell – yet he wasn’t even Welsh.
Cordell was born in Sri Lanka in 1914, as George Alexander Graber.
Although his Grandmother was Welsh, his lifelong love affair with
Wales and Welsh history happened only accidentally, when he was
sent to Anglesey to recuperate during World War II. He moved with
his wife to Abergavenny, and later to North Wales. Cordell granted
fictional posterity to the South Wales valleys in his bestseller
trilogy about the Mortymer family. Set in the industrial revolution,
the stories show the struggle against poverty for normal working
class families living with the pollution belched from the coal and
iron works. The first book, Rape of the Fair Country begins the
story in 1826 in Blaenavon and is followed by The Hosts of Rebecca
about the Rebecca riots, set in rural Carmarthenshire. Song of the
Earth in the Vale of Neath, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil concludes
the saga. Yet there was more - in 1985 Cordell responded to fans
by penning a prequel to the trilogy: This Proud and Savage Land.
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