Caradoc Evans
Caradoc Evans was a Welsh writer born in 1878 in southwest Wales, originally named David. He faced significant challenges in his early life, including poverty after the death of his father when Evans was just four years old. His education was limited, and he was apprenticed to a draper before moving to London, where he married Rose Jesse Sewell in 1907. Initially writing for magazines, he gained attention for his collection "My People," which candidly depicted the harsh realities of rural Welsh life, challenging romanticized views of Wales. This led to mixed reactions, particularly from his Welsh readership. Evans's work often critiqued the exploitation within Welsh society and included satirical elements targeting figures like David Lloyd George. He also wrote plays and novels, with his first major novel, "Nothing to Pay," receiving praise from notable contemporaries like H.G. Wells. Despite facing personal struggles and a decline in literary success later in life, Evans's influence on future writers, including Dylan Thomas, remains significant. He passed away in 1945, leaving behind a complex legacy as a writer who explored themes of class, identity, and the human experience.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Caradoc Evans
Author
- Born: December 31, 1878
- Birthplace: Llanfihangel ar Arth, Carmarthenshire, Wales
- Died: January 11, 1945
- Place of death: Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire (now in Ceredigion), Wales
Biography
Caradoc Evans was born in 1878 in southwest Wales. He was christened David but the family gave him the name Caradoc before he started school. His father, William, was a tenant farmer; his mother was Mary Powell, the daughter of an influential landowner who disapproved of the marriage and disowned her. As William died at age thirty-two, when Caradoc was only four years old, the family of five children were left in poverty, Mary being left to work a mere nine-acre smallholding.
School was a dismal experience and the possibility of secondary education was denied Caradoc by the refusal of his wife’s family to help him. He was apprenticed to a draper in the nearby town of Carmarthen, later moving to London. In 1907, he married Rose Jesse Sewell, becoming a Christian socialist, and writing small pieces for T.P.’s Weekly, a magazine that carried Thomas Hardy and French and Russian authors. Another paper, Reynold’s Weekly, published a short story of his, and on the strength of this, he decided to become a journalist and writer. He joined the staff of Ideas, a popular weekly, becoming its editor from 1915 to 1917.
His first literary stories were published in a more literary magazine, English Review, in 1915. Entitled “Two Welsh Studies,” they were immediately attacked by Welsh readers. This was to be the pattern. His first collection of stories, My People, set in a small rural community in Wales, was well received in London but vehemently attacked by his own countrymen. He ruthlessly destroyed the romantic stereotype of rural Wales by reliving his childhood experiences of poverty, class division, tyranny by the religious ministers, and ineffectiveness of the teachers. His style was a new one: partly built on Welsh speech rhythms and phraseology, but accessible to English readers. In subsequent stories, such as Capel Sion, Evans tried to show that the worst exploitation of the Welsh was by the Welsh.
In his third collection, My Neighbours, he turned his attention to the London Welsh. Former British Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George, himself of Welsh descent, was covertly satirized, in his fondness for power, women, and intrigue—failings that Evans had depicted in previous stories. Even so, the power of talk in his worst characters gives them a depth of characterization that is memorable. In contrast, Evans own style was terse, leaving much to the readers.
Evans’s play, Taffy, was highly controversial. His first novel, Nothing to Pay, was published in 1930. It describes his experiences as a draper, and the novel was praised by H. G. Wells, a longtime supporter. By 1923, Evans was editor of T.P.’s Weekly, but it failed in the 1929 crash.
In 1930, Evans became involved in a tempestuous affair, was divorced and remarried, and moved away from London to Aberystwyth, Wales. Three novels emerged from this period, none successful. Two final volumes of stories helped rehabilitate his reputation, however. He died of pneumonia and subsequent heart failure in 1945. His influence on younger Anglo-Welsh writers such as Dylan Thomas was profound.