Abstract

The centenary of Raymond Williams's birth in 2021 was marked at Swansea University by a series of international seminars – Europe, Brazil, Japan and China – from which the papers collected in this special issue of the International Journal of Welsh Writing in English are mainly drawn. Daniel G. Williams introduces the special issue by way of a re-examination of the cultural and political legacy of Raymond Williams through an intertextual framework that draws on psychoanalytic and theological readings, particularly those of Freud and Žižek. Through references to Elias Canetti and Freud’s Moses and Monotheism, the essay frames Williams as a Welsh writer whose cultural formation resists assimilation and enables a broader political vision. The significance of Williams’s Welsh identity (not at the expense of other aspects of his life and work) is now established and widely acknowledged and allows for a renewed understanding of Williams as a thinker of ‘militant particularism’ who continues to speak to both specific struggles and universal hopes. The article suggests that Williams, like Moses or Joe Hill, an American labour activist and songwriter executed in 1915, is kept alive through active remembrance and political re-articulation, making this collection of essays not merely a tribute but a reaffirmation of Williams’ enduring relevance.

Keywords: Raymond Williams, Militant particularism, Cultural memory, Psychoanalysis, Universalism, Particularism, Welsh intellectual history

How to Cite:

Williams, D. G., (2026) “Introduction: On the Death and Resurrection of Raymond Williams”, International Journal of Welsh Writing in English 13(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16922/ijwwe.13.1.1