The Raymond Williams Collection represents the culmination of long endeavour to bring to view unpublished manuscripts, notebooks, letters, diaries and papers that the academic writer and novelist Raymond Williams left in part discarded, often neglected.

The work of bringing the Collection to hand has been completed by numerous people, some of whom appear in this report. The Collection is now open to view in Swansea, and accessible by means of online catalogue. Now, with these more personal materials available, it becomes possible to better understand the life and how to build on the work of Raymond Williams. This report carries an account of how the Collection came to be, a description of its contents and projects taking on from where Raymond left off, and practical details of access and content. If it encourages use of the Collection, then it will have succeeded; we hope it will also make for an interesting read.

Foreword by Anthony Barnett

This is a new edition of the influential critical text which secured Raymond Williams’ reputation as one of the foremost writers and thinkers of his generation.

In The Long Revolution Raymond Williams examines the gradual change which is came over the political, economic, and cultural life of the late 21st Century, laying special emphasis on the 'creative mind' in relation to our social and cultural thinking. He turns to a fascinating historical study of education and the press, tracing the development of a common language, and revealing the links between ideas, literary forms, and social history.

Can Britain ever achieve a common culture? And should we want one?

This book may be considered as the second stage in the crucial campaign to raise the profile of Welsh writing in English both within Wales and in the wider world. The first stage was the foundation of the Library of Wales series, which was strongly advocated by all academics in the field of Welsh writing in English. Now that these largely forgotten works have been republished, it is possible for us to use them for teaching purposes in universities. We are left with the problem that critical material on these texts is scarce and, in some cases, non-existent. There is a demonstrable need on the part of undergraduate and postgraduate students for a critical book focusing specifically on a range of Library of Wales titles which will both introduce them to the field of twentieth-century Welsh fiction in English and demonstrate the varying critical approaches that can be used to analyse these texts. The book is a multi-authored work with its origins in the Association for Welsh Writing in English, which will include essays by both established leaders in the field, such as Professors Knight, Thomas, and Brown, and new, cutting-edge research by young scholars at the outset of their academic careers, such as Morse, Wainwright, and Hendon.

Almanac: The Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English is a stimulating academic journal featuring new research by established and emerging critics in the field.

Almanac aims to engage in a lively and informed way both with the Welsh literary past and with contemporary writing, looking towards the future and outwards towards the rest of the world.

About the editor:

Almanac: The Yearbook of Welsh Writing in English is a stimulating academic journal featuring new research by established and emerging critics in the field.

Almanac aims to engage in a lively and informed way both with the Welsh literary past and with contemporary writing, looking towards the future and outwards towards the rest of the world.