A Private Language?: A Dip Into Welsh Literature

by Marion Eames

The last 40 years or so have seen an unprecendented number of newcomers to Wales, both as tourists and settlers. Most come with little or no knowledge of the Welsh language. This text is aimed at people who want to learn Welsh.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Marion Eames was a Welsh language novelist. Marion was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, of Welsh parents, but was brought up in Dolgellau from the age of 4, where she attended Dr Williams's School. A talented musician (she played the harp and piano), she graduated from Guildhall College, London.

Marion worked as a librarian in Dolgellau then at Aberystwyth University before becoming a radio producer with the BBC in Cardiff. She was an early scriptwriter for the long running Welsh language soap Pobol Y Cwm and was also for a time a regional organizer for Plaid Cymru.

Her best-known work is Y Stafell Ddirgel ("The Secret Room"), published in 1969. This was later made into a BBC television drama series.

A follow on novel was Y Rhiandir Mwyn ("The Fair Wilderness"). Her autobiography was published in 1995.

Reviews

[Paula Bardell-Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many years ago, while visiting The Bookshop in Mold, I bought a copy of Marion Eames' A Private Language? along with The Literature of Wales by Dafydd Johnston, the latter of which I discussed in an earlier review.

Unlike Johnston, Eames was a non-academic with a keen interest in Welsh literature, so the publication she produced was far lighter in tone, though no less informative. She had been a librarian and journalist before becoming a BBC producer and scriptwriter in addition to writing several novels and children’s books. She endured ill health for many years and sadly passed away in 2007, a decade after publishing this book, which she had based on her notes from teaching an English-medium W.E.A. class on the history of Welsh literature.

Published by Gomer Press, A Private Language? gives a taste of Welsh literature from the sixth-century to the end of the twentieth-century based on ten lectures. It is primarily aimed at newcomers to Wales or those who have little or no knowledge of the Welsh language and its writers, and is ideally suited to anyone intimidated by more scholarly volumes.

Starting as you would expect with the earliest Welsh poetry, we travel through the centuries from the Bards of the Welsh Princes via the Bible and the Humanists up to twentieth-century writers such as the novelist Kate Roberts (1891-1985) and the controversial Catholic Nationalist, Saunders Lewis (1893-1985).

Eames’ text is enlightening, absorbing and accessible to all readers. It is still possible to pick up a second-hand copy from Amazon.co.uk and no doubt other booksellers. I would highly recommend it to English-speaking Dewithoners wishing to discover the works of Welsh writers.

THIS HOUSE IS MY GHETTO

by Mike Jenkins

Why does ‘Cymru’
Stick to my tongue?

And the other ‘Wales’
Undo its meaning
And flow naturally?

I hear the word
Abused on television
‘Come–rye’
Or ‘Come–roo’ even

Just after the Japanese Premier
Has been pronounced perfectly.

I’d like to say it without thinking
I’d like to stop explaining
Where we are in Europe.

You can read more of my reviews and other literary features at Book Jotter.