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Kate Roberts a'r Ystlum : A Dirgelion Eraill

In his substantial body of postmodernist fiction Morgan experiments with fictionality, playfulness, and the subversion of expectation. He also explores the possibilities of intertextuality and investigates challenging themes of otherness and difference, mainly in terms of sexuality, mental health and social exclusion. The short stories in this collection propose quirky and challenging alternatives to the accepted narratives and canonical readings of Welsh literary history and its pantheon of writers: ‘Mihangel Morgan yr academydd sydd yma felly, ond nid yr academydd swyddogol chwaith, oherwydd nid teithio ar hyd y priffyrdd a’r caeau y mae, ond ar hyd trofâu culion y llwybrau diarffordd a dryslyd nad yw academwyr fel arfer yn eu troedio.’ Each fictional story explores research questions outlined in the opening sentences of this declaration. For example, the story ‘Caradog Prichard a’i Gi yn y Parc’ is extrapolated from Morgan’s revisionist work on Caradog Prichard and dementia published in 2000. Similarly, the eponymous story in this collection draws on Morgan’s academic articles on Kate Roberts and fictionalizes certain elements: ‘Kate yn y Cwm’, Cwm Cynon, ed. H.T. Edwards (1997) and ‘Distawrwydd Enbyd Kate Roberts...’, Llên Cymru, vol. 30 (2007). In ‘Ar Hyd y Caeau’ Morgan creates an entirely new text by conflating his reading of Frances Cornford’s well known poem, ‘To a Fat Lady Seen from a Train’, with Islwyn Ffowc Elis’s iconic Welsh novel, Ffenestri Tua’r Gwyll (1953).