Rattleskull Genius

Professor Geraint H. Jenkins is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Senior Fellow of CAWCS.

'... this collection represents an important milestone ... hugely informative, and entertaining book. It in large measure conveys Iolo's sense, in Prys Morgan's words, 'of the vitality and viability of the Welsh language and its history', and makes clear why understanding Iolo is a constituent element in understanding Modern Wales, whatever understanding might mean in either case. Leaving aside its other excellences, it is most welcome for this reason alone'. New Welsh Review 'These consistently excellent essays explore the myriad faces and voices of Iolo ... a hugely informative and entertaining book'. New Welsh Review"The volume is the first in a series on Iolo Morganwg's literary output and correspondence, and ranks among the most scholarly of literary works ever published on a Welsh historical and literary theme. All twenty-two contributions in this volume merit the highest praise. They bring Iolo Morganwg into historical light and interpret him as a personality who, despite his eccentricities, had so much to offer. Professor Geraint Jenkins and his team are to be heartily congratulated on the publication of this magisterial volume published so elegantly by the University of Wales Press. The remaining volumes in the series are eagerly awaited.A"J. Gwynfor Jones, Morgannwg, Volume L 2006A"Scholars interested in the Welsh dimension to Romantic culture, the formation of British identity and its competing traditions and the shaping of radical history will find much that is new and striking in this handsome volume's pages.A"Tim Burke, Nottingham Trent University, BARS Bulletin & Review, Issue No. 31.A"This volume ought to stimulate a demand for more work on Morganwg's poetry in Welsh and in English. Few readers will engage with this handsome prefatory volume without having their sense of Iolo Morganwg and his culture challenged and extended.A"Richard Gravil, Humanities-ebooks.co.uk, University of St. Andrews, Nov 2007

• Geraint H. Jenkins, On the Trail of a Rattleskull Genius; I. BACKGROUND:R. J. W. Evans, The Manuscripts: The Culture and Politics of Forgery; Branwen Jarvis, The Welsh Cultural Background; II. LITERATURE:Ceri W. Lewis, Iolo Morganwg and Strict-metre Welsh Poetry; Huw Meirion Edwards, A Multitude of Voices: The Free-metre Poetry of Iolo Morganwg; Mary-Ann Constantine, 'This Wildernessed Business of Publication': The Making of Poems, Lyric and Pastoral (1794); Damian Walford Davies, 'At Defiance': Iolo, Godwin, Coleridge, Wordsworth; Jon Mee, 'Images of Truth new born': Iolo, William Blake, and the Literary Radicalism of the 1790s; III. SUBJECTS:Richard Suggett, Iolo Morganwg: Marble-mason, Builder, and Antiquary; David Ceri Jones, Iolo Morganwg and the Welsh rural landscape; Prys Morgan, Iolo Morganwg and Welsh historical traditions; Geraint H. Jenkins, The Unitarian Firebrand and the Established Church; Andrew Davies, 'Uncontaminated with Human Gore'? Iolo Morganwg, Slavery and the Jamaican inheritance; Richard Crowe, Iolo Morganwg and the Dialects of Wales; Daniel Huws, Iolo Morganwg and Traditional Music; IV. PEOPLE:Cathryn A. Charnell-White, Women and gender in the private and social relationships of Iolo Morganwg; Martin Fitzpatrick, The 'Cultivated Understanding' and 'Chaotic Genius' of David Samwell; Geraint Phillips, Forgery and Patronage: Iolo Morganwg and Owain Myfyr; Glenda Carr, An Uneasy Partnership: Iolo Morganwg and William Owen Pughe; Moira Dearnley, 'Mad Ned' and the 'Smatter-Dasher': Iolo Morganwg and Edward 'Celtic' Davies; Brynley F. Roberts, 'The Age of Restitution': Taliesin ab Iolo and the Reception of Iolo Morganwg; Huw Walters, Myfyr Morganwg and the Rocking-Stone Gorsedd