Posted on 1 February 2012
Welsh Ballads of the French Revolution by Ffion Mair Jones
Little has been written about the Welsh reaction to the French Revolution or indeed the Welsh songs inspired by this politically tremorous event.
Published this month by the University of Wales Press, Welsh Ballads of the French Revolution (1793–1815) by Dr Ffion Mair Jones, is one of the first English language publications on Welsh-language balladry composed during a momentous period in the history of Western civilization.
The texts respond to the upheavals of the Revolutionary decade and its aftermath, as people in Britain began to react to the violent deaths of the French monarchs, to the danger of invasion attempts or imitative revolts in Britain, and to the challenge of mobilisation on a larger scale than ever before.
Parallel translations of the texts, together with copious contextualising notes, provide access for the first time to a corpus of ballads composed by a host of little-known authors.
The volume thus puts both Wales and the ballad as a genre on the map of British reactions to the Revolution in France.
Dr Ffion Mair Jones has been a Research Fellow at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS) since October 2001, working initially on the ‘Iolo Morganwg and the Romantic Tradition in Wales’ project and currently on the ‘Wales and the French Revolution Project’.
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Released: February 2012 ‘Welsh Ballads of the French Revolution 1793-1815’ by Ffion Mair Jones £24.99 | PB| 9780708324615| 234x156 mm | 464pp 4 illustrations plus Music scores
For more information on the University of Wales Press visit or to place an order: www.uwp.co.uk
For press and media information, please contact Tom Barrett, Communications Officer, University of Wales: t.barrett@wales.ac.uk 02920 376991