Book Review: Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron
Welsh Gothic Book Cover
Genre: Horror - Non-Fiction
This is the kind of book I could talk about for hours. Jane Aaron has put together a comprehensive analysis on how the Gothic has been used in Welsh fiction and how the folklore of Wales has influenced the larger subgenre. Through this, she explores Welsh history and the relationship between Wales and England, providing detailed context surrounding the Gothic tales she discusses.
Aaron makes the argument that Welsh Gothic has been overlooked and ignored, despite offering a unique view on both the country and the genre. The first part of the book outlines the different trends through time, using writing both by Welsh and English authors, and in both languages. There’s a difference in how the Welsh write the Gothic, and how the English do, especially when it relates to Wales, and it’s interesting to see the views – how the Welsh are perceived and how we view ourselves – side by side.
One of the running themes throughout is how Wales is a land steeped in superstition, but the way this is portrayed varies from one writer to another. The second part explores four figures from Welsh folklore who have become key parts of the genre and, in some ways, representative of Wales itself; witches, druids, the cwn annwn, and the sin-eater. The way these have shifted, changed and endured is really fascinating to read, especially as Aaron traces their lineage back as far as possible. It’s also probably the most comprehensive writing around the concept of the sin-eater that I’ve seen.
In recent years, we’ve seen the Gothic reclaimed more and more by writers from colonized countries, and Aaron suggests Wales has a unique place within the genre for similar reasons. As a country, Wales has had its language, culture and traditions stripped by its neighbour, but that does not place Wales or the Welsh without blame, and some of the earlier texts have various representations of the Welsh past haunting the present day. There’s a sense of writers figuring out their own national identity in these works, while across the border the English were portraying Wales as a wild, backwards, remote place. There’s also a sense of guilt running through the gothic writings of Wales, an acknowledgement that the relationship with England is more complicated than that of coloniser and colonised (and there are large debates around even labelling Wales a colony), and Aaron lays out how this sense of guilt and complicity feeds into the gothic in Wales.
It's a fascinating look at both the country and the genre, with a unique view on both and providing enough historical context that one doesn’t have to be overly familiar with Welsh history to get it, while also not being too repetitive with the history for those more versed in it. If you have an interest in the Gothic genre, I really do recommend this one.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
www.elleturpitt.com
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