A lovely tribute to Wales. I have not traveled very much oversees but did have a lovely trip to England and Wales with my parents about 15 years ago. I fell in love with the country via Sharon Kay Penman and visited a few Llewellyn the Great sites along with the coffin of Joan, his wife, in Beaumaris, Anglesey. (There are questions about whether it really IS Joan in the coffin that was once used as a watering trough.)

Jan Morris's book The Matter of Wales has been on my shelf since then...I think I bought it in Hay on Wye. I read it slowly and savored Morris's intricate prose, part history, part travelogue, all written with a love and respect for the Welsh people. It is an old-fashioned kind of travel book, I think, and, of course, somewhat outdated as it was written in 1985. I noticed there is a revised edition from 2000 so that would help with some of the political and economic information. There was a sense that Wales had a high point in the past, perhaps, and was struggling to maintain its identity at the time of publication. I have a sense that is changing. ( )

Free Cymry!

Since Jan Morris/TREFAN MORYS 1984 edition,
Wales has again moved in its misty direction of independence from England.

Heroes include: Owain Glyndur, Wilfred Owen, Lloyd George, Morgan Rees, Dic Penderyn and Iolo, then on to George Powell, Shakespeare, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

With its "...grandeur tinged with melancholy...", with its love of nature -
its newly healthy soil,
rivers, bogs, and waterfalls,
mountains, valleys and the Sea,
with Border Collies and Welsh Corgis,
with freedom and knitting, folklore and King Arthur,
its singular language, customs, and fizz,
and odd eastern neighbor, Wales stands alone.

(New map would be welcome - directions from text hard to follow.
Updated photographs would also be great. "Squaws?"

DNA could now work to determine Indian and other ancestry.

A sequential, rather than theme-based, history would organize events.
Chapter Lead-ins are memorable! ) ( )

History, culture, natural history and animals, music, writing, national character - Morris covers it all in this evocation of Wales. One of my grandmothers, Helen Lambdin, was of Welsh extraction and I've always been interested in that mystical kingdom. Morris is also Welsh and passionate about Wales. Very entertaining and interesting, especially the chapter about being a tiny neighbor of England and how it's shaped the Welsh. ( )

I should say that I read the original edition published in 1985 and there is a new edition (2000) that will probably deal with the only issue I have with the book, some of the information is out of date. That is things have changed in Wales in the intervening years, there is now some self government (the Welsh Assembly) and also Welsh language schools.

That said this is still a good overview of what it means to be Welsh, or to live, in this small country which has been dominated by a more powerful neighbour for centuries. The history, language, landscape and people are all well described by Jan Morris. A good introduction to any one who is at all interested in Wales and how it survived with its own character despite the efforts of England. ( )

Jan Morris's devotion to her adopted country shines through the prose in this beautifully-written book. She brings to Wales to life - not just the people and the history, but the landscape itself, shining a light into every nook and cranny of the nation. Virtually every legend, tale, myth and historical anecdote finds a place in her writing and there is a surprise on almost every page. "The Matter of Wales" is a wonderful eulogy to a small country and, as an expat Welshman, I am not ashamed to say I found Morris's book very moving. Highly recommended. ( )