Title: ‘He Would be Working at the Welsh Books’: B. S. Johnson and the Two Literatures of Wales
Abstract: In 1974, the Welsh nationalist poet Harri Webb described B. S. Johnson as 'the only English avant-garde writer of any consequence' (Webb 1998: 202), and lamented his suicide as a profound loss to both England and Wales. Although Johnson was born in London and was very much an English writer, the politics, culture and literature of Wales (in both of the nation's languages) had a profound effect on his own writing, particularly in the years leading up to his death. In the long poem 'Hafod a Hendref', Johnson describes the results of this particular influence: the confusion here of images, impressions, unsureness typifies this latest experience of Wales, attempt at involvement with the Welsh (1972: 47) Inspired by what he saw as Welsh resistance to English colonial rule, Johnson's Welsh experiences affected his later writing, a process seen in his poetry (most notably in 'Hafod a Hendref' and his translations from the Welsh language poet Gwenallt), and also in his prose, particularly in the novel House Mother Normal.KeywordsLiterary TraditionConscientious ObjectorEnglish WriterWelsh LanguageEnglish Colonial RuleThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 3
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