Raymond Williams was a Welsh novelist, academic and critic. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature made significant contributions to the Marxist critique of arts and culture.
31 August 2021 marks the centenary of his birth in Pandy, near Abergavenny.
To celebrate this centenary, here is a selection of titles by Raymond Williams himself or about this important Welsh writer.
Border Country [Library of Wales series, Parthian Books, 2020]
Raymond Williams’ first novel, published in 1960, is considered by many as his greatest novel. When railway signalman Harry Price suffers a stroke his son Matthew, a lecturer in London, makes a return to the border village of Glynmawr. As Matthew and Harry struggle with their memories of social and personal change, a beautiful and moving portrait of the love between a father and son emerges.
Who Speaks for Wales? Nation, Culture, Identity, edited by Daniel G. Williams [University of Wales Press, 2021]
A new and fully-updated centenary edition of Raymond Williams’ seminal collection of essays on nationhood and cultural identity. According to actor and activist Michael Sheen, ‘Who Speaks for Wales? is a truly landmark publication. It has had a profound effect on me and on countless others. The new afterword to this expanded centenary edition shows how Raymond Williams’ thinking is as important and relevant today as it has ever been.’
Raymond Williams: A Warrior’s Tale by Dai Smith [Parthian Books, 2021]
Making full use of Williams’ private and unpublished papers and by placing him in a wide social and cultural landscape, Dai Smith, in this highly original and much praised biography, uncovers how Williams’ life to 1961 is an explanation of his immense intellectual achievement.
Raymond Williams: From Wales to the World, edited by Stephen Woodhams [Parthian Books, 2021]
A newly curated volume of academic essays on Raymond Williams’ work, published as part of the Parthian Modern Wales Series. Throughout the book, Williams’ writing, whether theoretical, historical, critical or as fiction, has been treated as a single whole, recognising that his ideas were interwoven as a literary and intellectual re-engagement with Wales over several decades.
Welsh Keywords series, Planet – Welsh Internationalist magazine
Inspired by Raymond Williams’ Keywords, this series of essays, published regularly within the magazine, offers contemporary perspectives on contested meanings of words in Welsh and how these shifting meanings continue to shape our society. In the current issue, Grug Muse examines the word Comin.
All titles are available now from your local bookshop.
Find your local bookshop here.