This book is an examination of the novels of Emyr Humphreys in the light of his ideas on Wales: Welsh history, Welsh culture and the importance of a separate Welsh identity. It explores Humphreys’ practice in the light both of his own theories of culture and fiction and of a variety of models derived from postcolonial theory. Its main conclusions are that there are two particular techniques, the use of Welsh history and of Celtic myth, that have proved particularly central to Humphreys’ purposes throughout his career. These have consistently been the principal ways in which he foregrounds for the reader both what it means to be Welsh and the importance, for the nation, of maintaining an understanding of its heritage. And both these key strategies of his fiction should, it is argued, be read as typical postcolonial devices.

This book is an examination of the novels of Emyr Humphreys in the light of his ideas on Wales: Welsh history, Welsh culture and the importance of a separate Welsh identity. It explores Humphreys’ practice in the light both of his own theories of culture and fiction and of a variety of models derived from postcolonial theory. Its main conclusions are that there are two particular techniques, the use of Welsh history and of Celtic myth, that have proved particularly central to Humphreys’ purposes throughout his career. These have consistently been the principal ways in which he foregrounds for the reader both what it means to be Welsh and the importance, for the nation, of maintaining an understanding of its heritage. And both these key strategies of his fiction should, it is argued, be read as typical postcolonial devices.