Jan Morris's magnificent book celebrates Wales and all things Welsh. Written as a deeply personal study, it reflects the rich bilingual literature and folklore of Wales, the buildings and wonderfully varied landscapes, the national character and humour, the historical predicaments and the political condition of this small but extraordinary country. Jan Morris is a distinguished historian as well as being one of the world's leading travel-writers. Her passionate love of Wales makes this a unique evocation.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
About the Author
Anglo-Welsh by birth, Welsh by loyalty, Jan Morris divides her time between Wales and travel abroad. She is an Honorary D.Litt. of the universities of Wales and Glamorgan, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary FRIBA. Her other books include studies of Venice, Oxford and Spain, half a dozen works about the British Empire; a capricious biography of Admiral Lord Fisher, RN; six volumes of collected travel essays and two autobiographical volumes.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 82 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are Welsh, have Welsh ancestors or went on holiday to Rhyl as a child, this book will induce a sense of bitter-sweet homesickness for a country with a fierce pride in being 'not English', despite being regarded as an English region by most of the rest of the world.
The author brings out the pride, sadness and essential 'otherness' of the Welsh people and culture. The sadness comes from many sources - the dark melancholy of a Celtic race, the centuries of losing on the battlefield to a larger foe, the grey, damp, rocky landscape seeping into it's people's souls and joints. But the pride comes from still having a language that is central to their culture and from feeling part of a distinct country, for surviving, despite all the forces of history.
Jan Morris details - it is an incredibly detailed book - many, many stories, anecdotes and histories to describe Wales and the forces that have shaped its long history. The breadth of her knowledge I found astonishing and is written in a poetic style that conveys the yearning and love she feels for the land and its people.
But this lyrical style, despite being the books great strength, is also its weakness. The poetry that struck the emotional resonances also leads, at times, to long-windedness where the emotion cannot be sustained and boredom sets in. At these times I wished 460 pages were 350 and I feel it would be a better book for tighter editing.
Yet despite this, 'Wales' is worth the journey (in both senses) and has awakened emotions about my family's land that I didn't realise I had. That, for me, is some praise.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Beautifully written, this book evokes a Wales that hardly lives up to Jan Morris's descriptions (wet Bank Holiday in Borth, anyone?). Nevertheless, it provides an understanding of Wales and the Welsh that may otherwise be lacking in many an English (or Scots, or Irish) reader. It's certainly an easier read than I at first anticipated and I read it through quite happily without feeling the need to skip.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Gjhayes
Format:Paperback
A fascinating insight into the welshness of Wales. A mesmerising tour around the country suggesting place after place that one feels one must visit.
Such an easy read one is led gently by the hand through history geography myths and legends.
Gareth
Such an easy read one is led gently by the hand through history geography myths and legends.
Gareth
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
