PhD Research Bursary in The R.S. Thomas Study Centre (16)

Award

PhD Research Bursary

Supervisors/Schools:

Professor Tony Brown (School of English)
Dr Jason Walford Davies (School of Welsh)

Description of Project:

Established in 2000 as a collaboration between the School of Welsh and the School of English and housed in the Main Library, the R.S. Thomas Study Centre at Bangor is recognized internationally for its preeminent role in the study of R.S. Thomas. Its holdings include the most substantial collection of Thomas manuscripts and correspondence, including many unpublished poems, in any public collection, as well as a comprehensive collection of all of Thomas’s published work, including rare editions, critical material and broadcasts, video material etc. The Centre regularly receives enquiries via its website from scholars internationally, including Europe, USA, Japan and China, and we frequently receive visiting scholars.

The successful candidate will pursue a PhD project examining aspects of the writing of R.S. Thomas, drawing on the extensive material in the archive of the R.S. Thomas Study Centre. Applications are invited from candidates working in Welsh or in English. The specific topic for study will be arrived at in discussions between the candidate and the supervisors, but possible areas of study include:

a) The postcolonial R.S. Thomas.

b) The synergy of the writing of R.S. Thomas and the artwork of M.E. Eldridge (Elsi Eldridge, the poet’s wife, was a distinguished painter who had demonstrable – though hitherto unacknowledged – influence on Thomas’s work, and collaborated with him on some early projects. The Centre has a number of her sketchbooks and journals).

c) Textual study of R.S. Thomas (e.g. the study of the evolution of Thomas’s early work – the Centre possesses a typescript of his first, unpublished collection – or a study of the later unpublished manuscripts and typescripts).

d) R.S. Thomas and Welsh Writing in English.

e) R.S. Thomas and Welsh(-language) culture.

The two Co-directors, Dr Jason Walford Davies (Welsh) and Professor Tony Brown (English) are acknowledged as leading scholars on Thomas. Dr Davies’s R.S. Thomas: Letters to Raymond Garlick, 1951–1999 has just been published; his earlier book, Gororau’r Iaith: R.S. Thomas a’r Traddodiad Llenyddol Cymraeg (UWP 2003), is regarded as the definitive study. Professor Brown’s study of the poet was published by UWP in 2006 in their ‘Writers of Wales’ series. They are currently coediting for Bloodaxe Books a selection of the very substantial number of uncollected poems by R.S. Thomas.

For full details of the terms and conditions of this award see.

Queries prior to a formal application concerning this research project should be addressed to:
Professor Tony Brown, School of English, Bangor University; els015@bangor.ac.uk
Dr Jason Walford Davies, School of Welsh, Bangor University; wes009@bangor.ac.uk

Application:

The application deadline is noon on Friday 30 April 2010. For more information on how to apply, please visit here

Applicants will be contacted during the month of June 2010 with information relating to their submissions.