Morlais

Morlais is Alun Lewis’s unpublished novel from the late 1930s. Miner’s son Morlais Jenkins is already being educated away from his background at grammar school when he is adopted, on the death of her own son, by the wife of the local local colliery owner. Morlais’ parents recognize the opportunity for their son to make a better future, but they must all pay a great price. Stifled by middle class life, his adoptive mother recognizes that Morlais will be a poet and encourages him to be neither working class or middle class, but true to his talent.

Alun Lewis (1915-1944) was born and brought up near Aberdare. He transferred to the South Wales Borderers and eventually travelled to the war in India and Burma, where he died on active service in March 1944. Raiders’ Dawn, a collection of poems, appeared in 1942, and early in 1943 The Last Inspection, a book of stories was published. John Pikoulis was a Senior Tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Cardiff University. His books include a critical study of William Faulkner and a biography of Alun Lewis.