Writing Wales, from the Renaissance to Romanticism

Stewart Mottram is Lecturer in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, UK. Sarah Prescott is Professor of English Literature, Department of English and Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University, UK.

Writing Wales explores representations of Wales in English and Welsh literatures written across three tumultuous centuries, from Wales' union with England in 1536, to its industrialisation in the early nineteenth-century. Uniquely, it explores how period divisions like 'Renaissance' and 'Romanticism' have helped shape scholarly treatments of Wales, and it asks if we should continue to reinforce such period divisions, or else reconfigure our approach to Wales' literary past.

Contents: Introduction, Stewart Mottram and Sarah Prescott; Part 1 Renaissance to 17th Century: Early modern Welsh nationalism and the British history, Grace Jones; Writing on borderlines: Anglo-Welsh relations in Thomas Churchyard's The Worthines of Wales, Liz Oakley-Brown; Green tights and swordfights: Edward I and the making of memories, Alex May; 'Prince of Wales by Cambria's full consent'?: the Princedom of Wales and the early modern stage, Marisa R. Cull; William Browne and the writing of early Stuart Wales, Stewart Mottram. Part 2 17th Century to Romanticism: Morgan Llwyd and the foundations of the 'nonconformist nation', M. Wynn Thomas; 'If there be Helicon in Wales it is': writing Wales in 17th- and 18th-century poetry, Sarah Prescott; 'No rebellious jarring noise': expressions of loyalty to the British state in 18th-century Welsh writing, Bethan Jenkins; 'Walking conundrums': masquerades, riddles and national identity in late 18th-century Wales, Mary Chadwick; Haunted by history: Welsh Gothic 1780-1800, Jane Aaron; Bibliography; Index.