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Inside The Treacle Well
This vigorous, moving and darkly comic collection of experimental fiction delves into the hidden secrets of the post-industrial underworld of the South Wales Valleys. Inspired by the authors of Urban-Welsh Fiction, it’s a portrayal of the lives of the 21st century lumpenproletariat.
Set on a council estate in the South Wales Rhymney Valley, each story concentrates on archetypal natives, including: the coke-sniffing drug-dealer, the ostracised shop-lifter, the pill-popping clubber and the abused teenage mum. Through the characters, a commonality of despair and isolation is conveyed, while dark humour reflects the community’s blasé, comic attitude towards issues surrounding abuse, self-harm and suicide.
The stories: ‘Babies’ and ‘Already Dead’ encompass both ends of the spectrum: birth and death. ‘Already Dead’ seeks to reveal the facts behind today’s media hype of young offenders and socially deprived communities. Whereas ‘Babies’ highlights the nature of poverty: lack of education, siphoned resources and essentially, birth as a perpetual living death.
Marred by ‘Third Way’ politics and Blair’s ‘Respect’ agenda, the estate has become a breeding-ground for social deprivation. The collection aims to expose the mechanics of Blairsm in its rawest form. It encapsulates how New Labour’s ‘Communitarian’ approach has a cruel, ironic undertone and has set out to maintain, rather than eradicate poverty.
This collection aims to identify and concentrate issues specific to social depravation during the early 21st century, and will provide a political platform for the dissident voice of the valleys.
Set on a council estate in the South Wales Rhymney Valley, each story concentrates on archetypal natives, including: the coke-sniffing drug-dealer, the ostracised shop-lifter, the pill-popping clubber and the abused teenage mum. Through the characters, a commonality of despair and isolation is conveyed, while dark humour reflects the community’s blasé, comic attitude towards issues surrounding abuse, self-harm and suicide.
The stories: ‘Babies’ and ‘Already Dead’ encompass both ends of the spectrum: birth and death. ‘Already Dead’ seeks to reveal the facts behind today’s media hype of young offenders and socially deprived communities. Whereas ‘Babies’ highlights the nature of poverty: lack of education, siphoned resources and essentially, birth as a perpetual living death.
Marred by ‘Third Way’ politics and Blair’s ‘Respect’ agenda, the estate has become a breeding-ground for social deprivation. The collection aims to expose the mechanics of Blairsm in its rawest form. It encapsulates how New Labour’s ‘Communitarian’ approach has a cruel, ironic undertone and has set out to maintain, rather than eradicate poverty.
This collection aims to identify and concentrate issues specific to social depravation during the early 21st century, and will provide a political platform for the dissident voice of the valleys.
68 pages, ebook
First published June 30, 2009
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