Cornish Studies Volume 18
This is the eighteenth volume in the acclaimed paperback series...the only county series that can legitimately claim to represent the past and present of a nation.
"Cornish Studies" has consistently - and successfully - sought to investigate and understand the complex nature of Cornish identity, as well as to discuss its implications for society and governance in contemporary Cornwall. The article which provides the cover illustration is a fascinating account of the rise and importance of swimming matches in Victorian Cornwall. These demonstrated both the beneficial aspects of the sport, and the importance of swimming prowess in life-saving around the Cornish coast - an important consideration for the developing tourist trade - the latter providing a significant antidote to the simultaneous construction of maritime Cornwall by a range of English writers as a dangerous region inhabited by wreckers, smugglers and pirates. This latest and diverse collection also includes articles on mining in both nineteenth century and contemporary Cornwall, an exploration of identity using material gathered through individual interviews, an assessment of research into Cornish folklore, discussion of the modern growth of alternative 'Celtic spiritualities' in Cornwall, and a fresh perspective on the Middle Cornish language of medieval Cornish drama. Cover Illustration: Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890, it shows the start of a race from the 1896 swimming matches in St Ives.
Philip Payton is Professor of Cornish & Australian Studies in the University of Exeter and Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University's Cornwall campus. He is also the author of A.L. Rowse and Cornwall: A Paradoxical Patriot (UEP, 2005, paperback 2007), Making Moonta: The Invention of 'Australia's Little Cornwall' (UEP, 2007) and numerous other books on Cornwall and the Cornish.