Skip to main content

David John Williams

D. J. Williams (David John Williams) (26 June 1885 – 4 January 1970) was one of the foremost Welsh-language writers of the twentieth century and a prominent Welsh nationalist.

D. J. Williams in the 1936 Plaid Cymru pamphlet Coelcerth Rhyddid
Williams was born in Rhydcymerau, Carmarthenshire. He studied English at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and Jesus College, Oxford. For most of his life he taught English at the grammar school in Fishguard (now Ysgol Bro Gwaun), Pembrokeshire.
A socialist, he was one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh National Party, in 1925. He took part, with Saunders Lewis and Lewis Valentine, in the symbolic burning of a bombing school at Penyberth in north-west Wales in 1936. He spent nine months in Wormwood Scrubs prison.
Williams was a short story writer of renown and also the author of two volumes of autobiography. All his work is inspired by his vision of his native locality, of a close-knit community where common values give worth to all. Hen dŷ ffarm ("The old farmhouse") was translated into English by poet Waldo Williams in 1953 as part of a UNESCO programme to promote minority languages to wider audiences.[1]
He died in 1970 at Rhydcymerau, Carmarthenshire.

Works[edit]

  • Hen wynebau ("Old faces"), 1934. A portrait of his native locality.
  • Storïau'r tir ("Stories of the land"), 1936, 1941, 1949. A series of three volumes of short stories.
  • Hen dŷ ffarm ("The old farmhouse"), 1953. Autobiography.
  • Yn chwech ar hugain oed ("When I was twenty-six years old"). 1959. Autobiography.
  • Y gaseg ddu ("The black mare"), 1970. Short stories.

Sources[edit]

  • Jenkins, Dafydd (1973), D. J. Williams. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. An English introduction to his life and work.
  • 'Williams, David John (1885-1970)'. In Meic Stephens (Ed.) (1998), The new companion to the literature of Wales. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1383-3.

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ "www.gwales.com - 9781843230328, Trosiadau / Translations: Hen Dŷ Ffarm / Old Farmhouse, The". www.gwales.com. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Slim Harpo

James Isaac Moore  (January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970), [1] [nb 1]  better known by his stage name  Slim Harpo , was an American blues  musician, a leading exponent of the  swamp blues  style, and "one of the most commercially successful blues artists of his day". [2]  His most successful and influential recordings included " I'm a King Bee " (1957), "Rainin' In My Heart" (1961), and " Baby Scratch My Back " (1966) which reached no. 1 on the  R&B chart  and no.16 on the  US pop chart . A master of the  blues harmonica , his stage name  was derived from the popular nickname for that instrument, the "harp". [3] Contents    [ hide ]  1 Life and career 2 Influence 3 Discography 3.1 Singles 3.2 Albums 3.3 Compilation albums 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links Life and career [ edit ] Moore was born in  Lobdell, Louisiana , [4]  the eldest child in his fa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Erich Heckel

Erich Heckel  (31 July 1883 in  Döbeln  – 27 January 1970 in  Radolfzell ) was a  German   painter  and  printmaker , and a founding member of the group  Die Brücke  ("The Bridge") which existed 1905-1913. Contents    [ hide ]  1 Biography 2 Career 3 Art 4 World War I and II 5 Legacy 5.1 Critical reception 6 References 7 External links Biography [ edit ] Heckel was born in  Döbeln ,  Saxony , the son of a railway engineer. Between 1897 and 1904 he attended the Realgymnasium in Chemnitz , before studying architecture in Dresden. He left after three terms, shortly after the foundation of  Die Brücke , an artists' group of which he was secretary and treasurer. [1]  The other founder-members, also architectural students, were  Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ,  Karl Schmidt-Rotluff  and  Fritz Bleyl . [2]  He worked in the office of the architect Wilhelm Kreis until...
Post a Comment
Read more

John of Saint-Denis

Saint John  ( Kovalevsky )  of Saint-Denis  (April 8, 1905-January 30, 1970), was the First Hierarch of the  Orthodox Church of France  (ECOF) from 1966 until his death in 1970. He was canonised as a saint of the Orthodox Church on 12 October 2008 by Bishop Gregory of Arles. Contents    [ hide ]  1 Life 2 Death and Canonisation 3 Writings 4 References 5 External links Life [ edit ] St John was born  Eugraph Kovalevsky  in St Petersburg, Russia, on April 8, 1905. He was the brother of the  deacon  and musicologist Maxime Kovalevsky (1903-1988) and the historian Pierre Kovalevsky (1901-1979). He was co-founder with  Vladimir Lossky  of the  Brotherhood of St. Photius  (1925) and the  St Denys Institute  (1944). He was ordained a  priest  of the  Moscow Patriarchate  by  Metropolitan  Eleutherius (Bogoyavlenky) in 1937. Upon the death of  Archim...
Post a Comment
Read more