웨일스 영문학과 신여성: 에이미 딜윈의 초기 소설

Abstract

This thesis proposes to re-read early novels of Amy Dillwyn(1845-1935) in the context of the tradition of Welsh literature in English. Recent trends of viewing Welsh history as ‘postcolonial’ is utilized to reveal the disparate forms of representations which circulate across the barrier between colonial rule and Welsh nationalism. Dillwyn’s first novel Rebecca Rioter explores and re-evaluates the historical significance of Rebecca Riots, in which her father and uncle, then the local magistrates, ambushed and arrested the Rebeccaites. Dillwyn controverts the derogatory view of the contemporary parliamentary report on the Rebeccaism, creating a fictional, sympathetic autobiography of a ‘rioter’. Rebecca Rioter and other early novels show that Dillwyn is keenly aware of the intricate class structure and of her family’s situation in Wales and UK society, especially after the Industrial Revolution and the advent of financial capitalism. She deals with the problems of class, money, crime and gender against the background of the rapidly changing Welsh countryside. Although she has been regarded mainly as a business woman and later an activist for woman’s rights, Dillwyn and her novels are worth revisiting, as a major turning point in the history of Welsh women’s literature in English, as well as a significant reference for rewriting the Welsh history.