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The Caradoc Affair: Arguments for an Ethics of Place

Alyce von Rothkirch

North American Journal of Welsh Studies, Volume: 9, Pages: 36 - 53

Swansea University Author: Alyce von Rothkirch

Abstract

This article develops an ethical reading of the work of Caradoc Evans focusing on My People and Taffy. My aim is to show that an ethical reading which assumes a microcosmopolitan perspective can show that the ‘Caradoc Affair’, the outrage with which Evans’s early work was received in Wales, arose fr...

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Published in: North American Journal of Welsh Studies
Published: 2014
Online Access: http://welshstudiesjournal.org/article/view/50/
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa24047
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Abstract: This article develops an ethical reading of the work of Caradoc Evans focusing on My People and Taffy. My aim is to show that an ethical reading which assumes a microcosmopolitan perspective can show that the ‘Caradoc Affair’, the outrage with which Evans’s early work was received in Wales, arose from a misreading of My People. The ‘Caradoc Affair’ then acquired a life of its own and was at least partly determined by the commercial interests of the daily press, particularly the The Western Mail. Moreover, an ethical reading can show why Evans’s texts ultimately fail to engage with the Wales of his time in a meaningful way despite the great impact he had on generations of Welsh writers that followed, most notably on Dylan Thomas.
Keywords: Welsh writing in English, Caradoc Evans, ethics in literature, My People, Taffy
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Start Page: 36
End Page: 53