Editing Welsh literature in English (section)

== After 1945 ==
[[File:Whimsical Statue, Swansea Marina - geograph.org.uk - 1483186.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A statue of Captain Cat, a character from Under Milk Wood]]

The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of [[Gwyn Thomas (novelist)|Gwyn Thomas]], [[Vernon Watkins]], and [[Dylan Thomas]], whose most famous work ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' was first broadcast in 1954. The critic, novelist, and poet [[Glyn Jones (Welsh writer)|Glyn Jones]]'s (1905–1995) career also began in the 1930s, but he belongs more to the later era, and one of his most important works, the novel ''The Island of Apples'', was published in 1965. His first language had been Welsh but he chose to write in English. James A. Davies describes him as "a considerable talent in need of the great editor he never managed to find".<ref>"Dylan Thomas and His Contemporaries", in ''Welsh Writing in English'', ed. M. Wynn Thomas, p. 139.</ref>

===Poetry===
David Jones also first published in the late 1930s, yet he belongs more to the post-war era. Tony Conran in 2003 suggested that it was not until the late sixties, "with the 'fragments' that were to be collected in ''The Sleeping Lord'' (1974), that his work began to enter our bloodstream and be seen as a significant part of the Anglo-Welsh renaissance".<ref>"''Poetry Wales'' and the Second Flowering", p. 224.</ref>

The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, in that they were more sympathetic to Welsh nationalism and to the Welsh language. The change can be linked to the nationalist fervour generated by [[Saunders Lewis]] and the burning of the Bombing School on the [[Lleyn Peninsula]] in 1936, along with a sense of crisis generated by World War II.<ref>''The Pocket Guide'', p. 122.</ref> In poetry [[R. S. Thomas]] (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout the second half of the twentieth century, beginning with ''The Stones of the Field'' in 1946 and concluding with ''No Truce with the Furies'' (1995). While he "did not learn the Welsh language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English",<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', "Obituary", 27 September 2000</ref> he wanted the Welsh language to be made the first language of Wales, and the official policy of bilingualism abolished. He wrote his autobiography in Welsh, but said he lacked the necessary grasp of the language to employ it in his poems. Although an Anglican priest, he was a fervent nationalist and advocated non-violent action against English owners of holiday homes in Wales.<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', "Obituary".</ref> As an admirer of Saunders Lewis, Thomas defended his need to use English: "Since there is in Wales a mother tongue that continues to flourish, a proper Welshman can only look on English as a means of rekindling interest in the Welsh language, and of leading people back to the mother tongue."<ref>R. S. Thomas, ''Selected Prose'', ed. Sandra Anstey. Poetry Wales Press: Brigend, 1986, p. 53</ref>
[[File:Raymond Williams At Saffron Walden.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|right|Raymond Williams]]

===Fiction===
In the field of fiction the major figure in the second half of the twentieth century was [[Emyr Humphreys]] (1919). Humphreys' first novel ''The Little Kingdom'' was published in 1946; and during his long writing career he has published over twenty novels. These include ''A Toy Epic'' (1958), ''Outside the House of Baal'' (1965), and a sequence of seven novels, ''The Land of the Living'', which surveys the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Wales. With regard to the fact that he wrote in English, Humphreys refers to "using the language of cultural supremacy to try to express something that comes directly from the suppressed native culture" of Wales.<ref>''Emyr Humphreys: Conversations and Reflections'', ed. M. Wynn Thomas. University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 2002, p. 8.</ref> His most recent work is the collection of short stories, ''The Woman in the Window'' (2009).

[[Bill Hopkins (novelist)|Bill Hopkins]] (1928–2011) was aligned with the [[Existentialism|existentialist]] wing of the "[[angry young men]]" movement. His only novel, ''[[The Divine and the Decay]]'' (1957), created a scandal with its [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzschean]] themes, and the reactions made him abandon what would have been his second novel.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Wilson|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sr6_CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT192|title=The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men|location=London|publisher=Robson|isbn=9781861059727}}</ref>

At a local level [[Fred Hando]] (1888–1970) chronicled and illustrated the history, character and folklore of [[Monmouthshire]] (which he also called [[Kingdom of Gwent|Gwent]]), in a series of over 800 articles and several books published between the 1920s and 1960s.

===Drama===
''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' is a 1954 [[radio drama]] by [[Dylan Thomas]], adapted later as a [[stage play]]. The play had its first reading on stage on 14 May 1953, in New York, at The Poetry Center at [[92nd Street Y]].<ref>''Dylan Thomas: The Collected Letters'' edited by Paul Ferris. Macmillan 1985. Footnote by editor.</ref>