Eleri Hedd James – författare

Emeritus Professor Robert Maynard Jones (b. 1929), widely known as Bobi Jones, is a Welsh academic who learnt the language, transformed many attitudes within the literary establishment in Wales and remains a highly prolific author. A versatile and recognised master of poetry, prose and literary criticism, he is now in his seventies and maintains a high output of work. This study, written in the Welsh language, will begin with a brief biographical account outlining Jones' background, his early academic career and the main influences on his literary development, most notably that of Gustave Guillaume. His deep-rooted Calvinistic beliefs and his interface with a small group of Dutch theologians, that profoundly shaped his outlook, will also be discussed. The author aims to articulate these factors within the wider context of his pioneering theories of literary criticism and their repercussions for subsequent scholars. This will be the first attempt to harmonize the dichotomy between Jones' far reaching contributions to his field, his relative obscurity outside Wales and the deconstruction of his critical theories.