Gwyn Thomas once had a cult-following in the United States, but his work has never been well-known in Britain, even in Wales. Perhaps it is because, while drawing on universal themes, his context was a parochial one; he confined his plots almost entirely to the South Welsh industrial valleys in the early and middle years of the last century. Even within Wales his audience did not extend to the Welsh-speaking heartland, or to many of the more rarified pundits of "Welsh literature". This was… Continue