If you haven’t already bought it and read it (what’s the matter with you) you might not know that me new book, Abandon All Hope, is a somewhat unusual text, in that it is around 25% relative narrative, where a narrator figure is led through a Dante-esque underworld meeting the towering figures of Welsh literature’s past, and the rest is a series of 93 mini-essays exploring the lives and influences of those figures.
Some of the Endnote essays, though, are about broader cultural elements of Welsh literature. And here today is the first reading of an extract of one of those Endnote essays. This one is on the importance of the pub to Welsh writing.
More to come.
You can buy Abandon All Hope here, or in your usual spots.
Gary Raymond is a novelist, author, playwright, critic, and broadcaster. In 2012, he co-founded Wales Arts Review, was its editor for ten years. His latest book, Abandon All Hope: A Personal Journey Through the History of Welsh Literature is out now with Calon Books.
The importance of pubs to Welsh literature