Volume 1 No.3 - 1997

• Perrault, Pétain, and the politicisation of the Fairy Tale Judith K. Proud

   

• Anglo-Welshness - the semantics of hyphenation Diane Davies
  The term 'Anglo-Welsh', denoting the writing in English of those with Welsh affiliations, has now been replaced by the more politically correct "Welsh writing in English". However, a survey of twentieth-century Anglo-Welsh poetry shows that, whereas poets like R.S.Thomas have focused intensely on dilemmas of national and cultural identity, most younger poets, rejecting oversimplification and nostalgia, do not regard Anglo-Welshness as a theme in its own right. The alternative label will do little, therefore, to reverse the process by which the Anglo-Welsh poetic voice is losing its distinctiveness.

   

• English and French poetic languages compared Martin Sorrell
  Using Yves Bonnefoy's writings on the fundamental differences between English and French in their literary usages (the concrete specificity of English, the generalised abstraction of French, the unique ability of English to render the universal by the individual), this chapter explores the ways in which poetic language, whether employed in verse or in poetic prose differs in relatively modern English and French. Broadly, agreement with Bonnefoy is expressed, and the question is posed as to whether the ingrained dissimilarity can be seen as a measure of national and unique character. Detailed discussion of examples from both languages are given.

   

• State and nation: Germany since reunification Mark Blacksell
  The reunification of Germany has been one of the most important changes in the political geography of Europe in the second half of the twentieth century. This paper traces the history of the various different Germanies that have existed from time to time in the course of this century. It then looks in more detail at the relationship between the two German states in the period after 1949, before examining in detail the nature of the actual reunification that occurred on 3 October 1990. Finally, there is an assessment of the state of Germany at the turn of the twenty-first century.