283:. Readers who, like Matthew, have migrated out of Wales frequently sympathise with his inability to escape the entrenched opinions and historical perceptions held by the villagers who remember his childhood and adolescence. Reinforcing the importance of borders to the novel, Matthew comes to notice a stark dividing line between his identity in Wales, where the locals continue to view him as his father's son, and that in England, where he enjoys his own successful academic career.
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290:'s own life and background. The Hogarth Press edition of 1988 catches the spirit of it with a front cover showing the signalman and his son, with the signalman's face recognisably that of Raymond Williams as he then was.
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Although the novel is often considered to be a hymn to working class South Wales, many readers consider parts of it to be an excoriating commentary on the static nature of life in the
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and its impact on a small group of railway workers living in a community made up mostly of farmers. It also describes
Matthew Price's decision to leave his own community, studying at
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It is not a novel of dramatic events, but rather one which offers an evocative sense of character and place. Matthew Price's life has many parallels with
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The novel describes the economic changes evident in South Wales through the middle years of the twentieth century, including the decline of
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communities of South Wales, the closure of the railways and the place of (and respect for) education in South Wales.
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series, having been out of print for several years. Written in
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Matthew Price, a university lecturer in economic history, returns from
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224:. His father had been a
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