This pioneering book explores Emyr Humphreyss fiction from a range of contemporary critical perspectives and stresses its relevance to the 21st century. Through stimulating readings which highlight subjects such as gender identity, contested masculinities, problematic father and daughter relationships, war, pacifism, strangeness and otherness, and cultural discourse in complex linguistic environments, Linden Peach argues that Humphreyss work is best understood as dramatic, dissident and/or dilemma fiction. Generally rooted in north Wales, it is seen as providing fresh insights into modern Welsh history, Nonconformity and globalisation. The book will appeal to readers wishing to explore and understand the work of one of the most prolific and significant modern Welsh writers. This will be the first in-depth study of Humphreys described by R. S. Thomas as 'the supreme interpreter of Welsh life in English'. In it, Peach will discuss the principal thematic concerns of his writing and link his work to contemporary critical agendas.

It will offer readers the first discussion of Land of the Living and subsequent works such as Old People are a Problem . It will constitute a positive re-appraisal of Humphreyss work, highlighting issues that, as it happens, now drive contemporary critical agendas such as nation, nationhood and identity, religion and conflict, spirituality and socio-economic change, gender issues, the body, and the environment. It will highlight for the first time the strong psychoanalytic dimension of his work.