Arthur Symons and his forgotten Tristan and Iseult
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 8)
By Alan M. Kent.
2021. ISBN 978-1-78201-303-7ß

Arthur Symons (1865–1945) was a British poet, dramatist and literary critic. He is now best known for his critical work, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899), and his role as a poet within the Decadent Movement. This volume makes a reassessment of Symons’ work and its relationship to Cornwall and Anglo-Cornish Literature. Though usually recognized as being Welsh (he was born in Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire), Symons had Cornish parentage and was fully aware of his ethnicity. Not only did Symons write a number of distinctly Cornish poems, but he also completed a largely forgotten symbolist version of the legendary story of Tristan and Iseult (1917) in the form of an innovative stage drama. The text is presented here, alongside a new critical study of Symons’ contribution to Anglo-Cornish Literature. Leading Cornish literary critic Alan M, Kent examines the historicist context of Symons’ work, linking him to figures such as Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats; and also examines the psychological make-up of the writer. Symons suffered a mental breakdown during his life, which culminated in the production of his dramatic imagining of the legendary Celtic love triangle.

Colloquial Doesn’t Mean Corrupt: Observations on contemporary Revived Cornish
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 7)
By Rod Lyon.
2019. ISBN 978-1-78201-246-7

William Scawen, writing in the seventeenth century when Cornish was still the vernacular, compares Cornish with other Celtic languages, and says that Cornish is “lively and manly spoken”. When we hear the majority of present-day Cornish speakers, however, this can rarely be said—particularly when considering the “lively” part. Rod Lyon believes that for a number of years matters have been getting worse. He therefore has undertaken some research to find out why this appears to be the case. Inevitably his research has led him to study in depth the traditional Cornish texts. Present-day teaching methods and a particular approach to the texts seem to be the main causes of the problem.

Cornish Solidarity: Using Culture to Strengthen Communities
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 5)
By Neil Kennedy.
2016. ISBN 978-1-78201-196-5

Can local cultures be used to strengthen community bonds, boost morale, and equip and motivate people socially and economically? This book reviews how Cornish cultures are marketed, portrayed, and imagined against the background of a tourism-led “Lifestyle Cornwall”, migration, deindustrialization, and deprivation. It links culture’s primary emotional and social uses with well-being, and considers intervention in practice and policy to tackle disadvantage and to build cohesive communities that can adapt to change. Cultural, social, symbolic, and human capital are related to local knowledge, to community narratives, to belonging, and to emotional prosperity. Demographic and economic transformations threaten the very survival of a Cornish tradition, but this discussion affirms an outward- and forward-looking vision that allows for Cornishness to evolve, to grow stronger, and to be passed on to new residents and future generations. It is meant to inform and provoke consideration by cultural practi­tioners, community activists, and policy-makers on how to maintain Cornishness in ways that favour the well-being of “One and All”. In particular, it addresses those who are aligned with a broad Cornish Movement of socially engaged, cultural, economic, environmental, and political action, and identifies them as having the potential to bring about change. Cornish­ness is discussed with reference to a distinct post-industrial inheritance, to the Cornish Language, and to Celtic Revivalism, and related to a common habitus that distinguishes it. Neil Kennedy is a Cornish speaker, university ESOL teacher, and former cultural studies lecturer, originally from Mid-Cornwall, who has been involved in the Cornish Movement since the 1980s.

Irish Heraldry: A Brief Introduction
First edition. By Nicholas Williams
2017. ISBN 978-1-78201-192-7

Few topics are as interesting as heraldry although it is necessary to learn a new vocabulary to enjoy the subject fully. In this book, illustrated by the author, the origin, development and particular nature of Irish heraldry are described; how heraldry was first brought to Ireland by the Anglo-Normans and gradually adopted also by the Gaelic Irish. When describing the various aspects of coats of arms the book almost exclusively uses Irish examples, both Gaelic and Anglo-Norman. The volume includes sections on the heraldry of Ireland itself and of the historic provinces. The arms of cities, towns, counties and dioceses are also discussed, as well as the arms of some notable Irish people. Later chapters deal with modern heraldic jurisdiction and why spurious “souvenir heraldry” is best avoided. The history of the Irish heralds and kings of arms is also described with as well as origins of the present-day Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland.

Otherworlds: Images of Transformation in Cornish Culture
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 6)
By Brendan McMahon.
2016. ISBN 978-1-78201-187-3

Otherworlds attempts to explore the key stories which have given Cornish culture its distinctive character over the centuries and explain how they have pointed the way to new ways of understanding and transforming the world, both for individuals and for the Cornish people. This process has ranged from the aristocratic stories of Arthur and of Tristan and Iseult, to the humble folktales told in the cottages of the far west and collected by Robert Hunt in the nineteenth century. These stories still possess the power to change minds and perhaps even history.

Science and Séance: A discussion between a Parapsychologist and a Clairvoyant
Ciarán O'Keeffe and Billy Roberts.
2016. ISBN 978-1-78201-183-5

A fascinating discussion between two experts on different sides of the paranormal debate. Dr Ciarán O’Keeffe, a sceptical expert who has appeared on the British television series Most Haunted and Jane Goldman Investigates, exchanges questions and answers with Billy Roberts, one of the UK’s leading stage psychics. Themes covered by the Parapsychologist and the Clairvoyant are quite varied: Defining the Paranormal, Mediumship and com­municating with Spirit, Ghosts and “Things that go bump in the night”, Perceptions of the Spirit world, the Truth about Mediums, Divination methods like Scrying, the Ouija Board, Astrology, topics like Meditation, Superstition, and Spiritual Healing. First published in 2008, the authors have contributed new essays for this edition. The truth is out there—but finding it is not always so easy!

Gathering the Fragments: Storytelling and Cultural Resistance in Cornwall
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 4)
By Brendan McMahon.
2016. ISBN 978-1-78201-168-2

The central theme of this book is the importance of the act of shared memory in reconstituting identity in every generation. This is particularly so where the traditional culture of the community has been under threat from a powerful neighbour, as is the case in Cornwall, and this is why the same pattern tends to recur, not because of direct cultural transmission, but because the same problems evoke similar responses. In such a context, storytelling becomes an act of cultural resistance. This book is predicated on the importance of story­telling. We use stories to make sense of our lives and our world,where we came from and where we might be going. These stories deal with personal experience, though they also incorporate historical and cultural experience which indicates where our experience might intersect with that of others. On an individual level, stories can help us cope with developmental issues which we all face, but they also bind us together in a shared understanding of who we are. Language is central to this and the struggle to reclaim its ancient language is an important theme in recent Cornish history and in this book. Brendan McMahon is a retired psychotherapist and university teacher living in Derbyshire. He has pub­lished widely on the psychodynamics of Celtic myth and legend. His book The Princess Who Ate People, appeared in 2006 (Heart of Albion Press), and his book A Wreck upon the Ocean appeared in 2015 (Evertype).

Spedestä Säätiöön – kolme esseetä populaari­kulttuurista
Three essays on popular culture in Finnish by Panu Petteri Höglund.
2018. ISBN 978-1-78201-116-3

Spede Pasanen oli vuosikymmenten ajan Suomen tuotteliain viihdemies. Olisiko nyt lopultakin aika pohtia myös Speden ansioita suomalaisen komedian uudistajana? John Carter oli Tarzanista kuuluisan Edgar Rice Burroughsin toiseksi tunnetuin seikkailijahahmo, joka sai uutta kuuluisuutta taannoisen suurelokuvan ansiosta. Miten apinamiehen luojalta onnistui tieteisfantasian kirjoittaminen? Isaac Asimov oli yhdessä Arthur C. Clarken ja Robert A. Heinleinin kanssa yksi klassisen angloamerikkalaisen tieteiskirjallisuuden kolmesta suuresta. Hänen ensimmäisiä voimannäytteitään oli Säätiö-trilogia. Oliko Säätiö kovaa scifiä vai pelkkää avaruusoopperaa?

A Wreck upon the Ocean: Cornish Folklore in the Age of the Industrial Revolution
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 3)
By Brendan McMahon.
2015. ISBN 978-1-78201-098-2

In the nineteenth century the small nation of Cornwall underwent profound social and economic change. It became one of the first European regions to industrialize, and exported tin and copper to the world, along with the engineers and miners who extracted them. But bust followed boom, and emigration became high. Mortality rates and famine took their toll on a small community which had recently lost its language and was struggling to maintain its identity in the face of growing encroachment from across the Tamar. In the 1840s, driven by a growing sense that modernity was driving out the old folkways and beliefs, two Cornish scholars, Robert Hunt and William Bottrell, began to collect the ancient Celtic stories of pisgies, mermaids, and giants which had been passed down by generations of fisherfolk and tinners since time immemorial in the far west. Though many stories must have been lost with the passing of the Cornish language, those that survived enabled the community to articulate its sense of loss, and its anxieties about identity.

An introduction to the Laws of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and Devon
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 2)
By John Kirkhope.
2014. ISBN 978-1-78201-072-2 The author of An introduction to the Laws of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and Devon is a lawyer, not a historian, although he has a passion for history. As a lawyer he takes a special interest in those laws which are particular to Cornwall and, to a lesser extent, to the Isles of Scilly and to Devon and are still capable of application in the twenty-first century. It is noteworthy that certain ancient laws and customs, in particular Stannary Law, although not as relevant today as once they were, are still part of the law of England and Wales. They continue to give rights which are capable of being exercised. This is not meant to be legal textbook; that would be very dull. It is instead intended to initiate the reader to a fascinating topic. In particular there has been a growth in the number of people interested in studying the history and culture of Cornwall. This work is intended to cast additional light on an aspect of the legal history of Cornwall. It is hoped that it will encourage the reader to research still further; to that extent a lengthy list of additional reading is also provided.

Towards a Cornish Philosophy: Values, Thought, and Language for the West Britons in the Twenty-First Century
(Studies in Cornish Language and Culture; 1)
By Alan M. Kent, with a foreword by Mathew Staunton.
2013. ISBN 978-1-78201-045-6

Since the inception of Cornish Studies, the matter of Cornish Philosophy has suffered considerable neglect. Philosophy is a field in which humanity investigates problems connected with reality and existence; in so doing, investigating values, thought and language. Like other minority communities and peoples across the globe, the Cornish should be asking what makes them who they are. In this vital corrective, Towards a Cornish Philosophy, Alan M. Kent offers an initial study of the basic beliefs, attitudes and concepts belonging to the Cornish over time. Not only is the relationship of Cornish Philosophy to Celtic Studies examined, but so is its relationship to Romanticism, and the Enlightenment, culminating in observations on the philosophy of the Cornish language, Cornu-English, and the West Britons' obsession with memory, place and stone.

Bodily Harm: Symphysiotomy and Pubiotomy in Ireland 1944–92
By Marie O'Connor
2011. ISBN 978-1-904808-75-6.

Symphysiotomy and pubiotomy carry more risk than Caesarean section: the surgery unhinged the pelvis and often led to walking difficulties, bladder problems and chronic pain. One baby in ten died. Ireland was the only country in the Western world to practise these 18th century operations in the mid to late 20th century. The revival of the surgery in 1944 raises serious questions. Was it the norm for difficult births from the 1940s to the 1980s? If not, why was it done? Bodily Harm examines the exhumation of these covert operations, reveals the circumstances under which they were carried out, documents the lived experiences of mothers, considers the surgery from a legal perspective, analyses its implications for maternity care and presents survivors’ case for truth and justice.