Resistance in the ‘Oppressor’s Tongue’

This volume presents a comparison of Welsh writing in English and Catalan writing in Spanish, and analyses the work of selected authors from each literature: Harri Webb, R. S. Thomas and Rhys Davies from Wales; Albert Sánchez Piñol and Eduardo Mendoza from Catalonia. From a resistance literature perspective, the author asks whether it is possible for a literature of national resistance to exist in a language that is not the national language. Traditionally, Welsh literature and Catalan literature have been defined as literatures written in Welsh or Catalan – while positions are shifting, the idea that there could be national resistance literature written in other languages remains novel. Resistance literature is not an approach previously applied to study either Welsh writing in English or Catalan writing in Spanish, and this book argues that the writings under consideration have produced varying degrees of ‘resistance literature’.