The Collected Short Stories of Roland Mathias - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0708316603 ISBN 13: 9780708316603

Publisher: University of Wales Press, 2001

Synopsis

Roland Mathias is one of the key figures of post-war Welsh writing in English. While his importance as a poet, editor, critic and scholar is widely recognized, his contribution to the short story genre remains unassessed, as the bulk of his stories have long been out of print.

The Collected Short Stories of Roland Mathias brings together material from The Eleven Men of Eppynt (1956), a handful of early stories that have not appeared previously in book form and three other important tales first published in magazines. These varied and highly individual stories are derived in the main from the personal experiences of the writer and of his father’s family. As well as impressing with the energy and variety of the writing and the consistent power of language and imagery, they also exemplify the overarching integrity of Mathias’s art.

The text of the stories is fully annotated, while the introduction to the volume outlines the writer’s life, sets the stories in the context of their times and offers background information identifying the origins and occasional obscurities of the texts.

About this title

About the Author:

Sam Adams is the author of many books and articles dealing with Welsh writing in English. In addition to editing Seeing Wales Whole (1998), he has written several books for the University of Wales Press’s Writers of Wales series, including Roland Mathias (1995).

Review:

“Fans of Mathias’ work will delight in this collection of 22 stories. Those who have not read him before have a real treat in store.” –Western Telegraph

(Western Telegraph)

“ . . . written by a poet, with a wealth of imagery and in a muscular style that reflects the scholar and the man.” –Western Mail

(Western Mail)

“ . . . a volume of revelation and words galvanised by the sort of energy that only poets and a few special prose writers can give them . . . life-enriching tales of pig-killing and schoolboy trickery, of ways of life now run into the shadows of the past, from a writer who has given us more than most.” –New Welsh Review

(New Welsh Review)

“. . . one for the connoisseur.” –Planet

(Planet)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0708316603
• ISBN 13: 9780708316603
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198
• Editor: Adams Sam