Publishing Anglophone Wales: Politics, Culture and the ‘Classic’ Novel
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Publishing Anglophone Wales: Politics, Culture and the ‘Classic’ Novel ___________________________________________________ Peter Vokes A Thesis Submitted in Candidature for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of South Wales 2014 Summary Questions about literary canon-making have haunted the development of twentieth-century literary critical scholarship. The processes of political devolution initiated in the closing years of the last century have only sharpened these questions for critics working in the newly empowered nations of the United Kingdom. In the tension-filled bilingual historical context of Wales in particular, discussions about the nature of the ‘Welsh’ classic literary text, and about the form and content of any identifiably Welsh literary canon, have always circled and fuelled debates about the nature of the country’s sense of cultural, political and above all linguistic identity. The same questions have accompanied the emergence of, and not insignificant ideological tensions encompassed by, the literary-critical field which has come to be known as ‘Welsh Writing in English’. This research project takes as its particular focus the relatively recent publication, by both the Assembly-backed Library of Wales and the independent collaborative Honno Press, of competing and very different lists of so-called or potentially ‘Classic’ Welsh Anglophone texts. In light of this, it also considers the implications of the relatively recent Seren Press initiative ‘New Stories from the Mabinogion’. Embedding its detailed examination of these commercial initiatives in the context of historical and literary-critical debates about the nature and value of Wales’ English- speaking aesthetic and cultural life, the thesis questions the extent to which Honno, the Library of Wales and Seren can be implicated in the self- conscious construction and solidification of a new Anglophone literary canon in a new era of cultural independence, let alone any more (or less) formal nationwide cultural response to the political drama of devolution. i Acknowledgements Thanks are first due to my supervisor, Dr Alice Entwistle, for her patience, guidance and support. This thesis would not have been possible without her, and I am extremely grateful that she was my supervisor. There have been a number of ups and downs throughout my thesis and she was always a willing and capable advisor and friend. Thanks should also be paid to my second supervisor, Professor Jane Aaron. Her knowledge and understanding of Welsh writing in English was invaluable, and it was always a pleasure to meet and discuss my work. Undoubtedly, this research would not have been possible without the financial support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the more general support of the English Department at the University of South Wales. I am also grateful to Professor Dai Smith and Richard Davies for their willingness to be interviewed. A different sort of thanks is due to my family, who were willing to put up with me, and did so without ever threatening to emigrate. Especial thanks are due to Christine and Robert Vokes for their proof reading, and the fact that they did not charge any money for their help. I would also like to thank Sara Changkee, Lleucu Cravos, Phil Davies, Sian Evans, James Henton, Kate Jones, Karl Thomas and Gareth Williams for lunches and/or nights out where I was able to forget about my thesis completely. An acknowledgement should also go to Dale Cooper, not only for the above, but also his Gestapo-like interrogation of my work. I am also grateful to my Welsh teachers in the Welsh for Adults Centre for giving me the chance to learn the Welsh language and provide an outlet away from the thesis. Finally, a big thanks to Catherine Phelps, for her friendship, drinking companionship, and her constant support and generous help throughout the writing of my thesis. ii Table of Contents Summary ..................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... ii Introduction: The (Re)Creation of a Nation ................................................................... 1 1. The Critical Construction of Pre-modern Welsh writing in English ................... 28 2. The Anglophone Welsh in Modern Wales: Degrees of Dominance .................... 57 3. Case Study of the Honno ‘Classics’: A Separate Existence ................................ 93 4. Case Study of the Library of Wales Series: A Perspective on the Past ............. 139 5. ‘Classics’, the Canon and Tradition ................................................................... 186 6. Seren’s New Stories from the Mabinogion: The ‘Old’ as ‘New’ ...................... 225 Conclusion: The Anglophone Welsh ‘Habitus’ ......................................................... 250 Appendix: Wales’ Anglophone ‘Classics’ industry ................................................... 259 Works Cited ............................................................................................................... 269 iii Introduction: The (Re)Creation of a Nation Welsh writing in English is often considered to be a modern phenomenon that found its feet in the twentieth century and is finding its stride in the twenty-first. However, for all its growth, there has historically been a lack of Anglophone- Welsh texts regularly in print. This shortage has meant that the English-language population of Wales have been denied easy access to literary sources that speak of their culturally specific heritage and with their voice. Recently, Welsh publishers have launched initiatives aimed at remedying this problem by republishing out of print works which recognise the breadth and depth of the Anglophone-Welsh experience. Since Welsh Devolution in 1999, there have been numerous Welsh Assembly Government funding enterprises aimed at increasing Anglophone Wales’ exposure to the nation’s cultural heritage. Increased revenue for art, literature and music has been made available to promote new enterprises and secure the availability of a Welsh national heritage. In literature, the historic English-language materials from Wales were felt to have suffered a lack of popular attention for being in the shadow of other, larger and more opulent, English-language nations which had limited its international and national availability. In 2003, the Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Committee of the Welsh Assembly assessed this issue and undertook a policy review of Welsh writing in English. This body consulted the major publishing houses in Wales and debated the best way to “give this important, but neglected, area of cultural life in Wales some positive exposure and lead to a revival of interest throughout Wales” (7). When it reported its findings in March 2004, it commented on the lack of easily accessible Anglophone Welsh texts and noted that it “is important that 1 readers understand the whole canon of Welsh writing in English. The lack of availability of classic texts is a significant problem for teaching, scholarship and readership” (19). The Committee recommended “a Library of Wales for classic works”, and cited the Library of America as a model, because it was “a great popular monument to the literary achievements of the USA” (25-26). Thus, the Library of Wales series was born, a collection which focused solely on ensuring, according to its Mission Statement, “that all the rich and extensive literature of Wales which has been written in English will now be made available to readers in and beyond Wales”. However, a difference between the Committee’s recommendation and the published editions is that neither the volumes nor the descriptions of the Library of Wales series define the collection as ‘Classic’. This discrepancy might stem from series editor Dai Smith’s discomfort with the word ‘Classic’ in connection with such a literary collection: “I think from the beginning I really did try and avoid the word ‘Classic’ because I certainly had in my mind that there are volumes in the series that you might not think in a traditional sense were ‘Classic’, but might be terribly useful in terms of Welsh writing in English” (Interview with Dai Smith). Regardless of Professor Smith’s reluctance to use the term, the Library of Wales series bears many similarities to other so-called ‘Classic’ series. The collection that was quoted as an example for the Library of Wales series, the Library of America, states that, regarding its series, its goals are: to keep the price of its books affordable, to aid small public libraries and high schools with their purchase of the volumes, to keep the growing list of titles in print and to publish worthy yet lesser known works” (‘The Library of America: Nonprofit Publishing’). This statement bears many similarities to the Mission Statement included in each Library of Wales edition. Unlike the Library of Wales, the Library of America proudly displays the banner: “Classic Writers. 2 Classic Books” on its website (‘The Library of America: Home Page’). The Library of Wales series has many of the prerequisites to be called a ‘Classics collection, and in its Mission Statement it is prepared to state that it “will … seek to include the best of Welsh writing in English, as well as to showcase what has been unjustly neglected”. Indeed, if we compare its stated goals with those of other ‘Classics’ publishers we see comparable fundamentals and aims.