Making the private public: (life) writing, shame and the abjection of homosexual sex in Wales

Abstract

This literary analysis explores shame in Wales’s queer community through the literary works of John Sam Jones. By examining the intersections of homosexual shame, public sexual spaces and sexual trauma in contemporary Welsh literature, this study analyses queer narratives in Jones’s literary works that centre around public spaces. Serving as a critical reflection upon homosexual expressions and explorations in Welsh literature through reference to the short stories of Caradoc Evans and Rhys Davies, John Sam Jones’s literary predecessors, chapter one comments upon religion in Wales, tracing it through rural communities and patriarchal ideals that underpin Welsh society. With its past and present embedded in cultural, colonial and religious battles, this paper looks to examine the ways in which shame is forced upon the queer community and employed as a means of gendered social control. This is done by situating shame and trauma within toilets and the Welsh rural landscape. By looking at both his short story collections and novels, Jones’s literary spaces of homosexual shame are narrated through the critical lens of queer, shame and spatial theory. The Welsh landscape is examined within chapter two in light of its links of folklore, myths and legends, drawing clear parallels between the mythical spatiality of Wales’s past and the queer reclamation of the natural world as a site of sexual contact. Chapter three concerns itself with the micro-politics of both public and private toilets, tracking Jones’s positioning of his characters within the detritus of the space, highlighting the shame that shrouds toilets, homosexual sex and the positioning of the queer community within these spaces. This paper argues that these public spaces, often associated with clandestine sexual encounters, become arenas where shame and desire intersect, reflecting broader social attitudes toward homosexuality. John Sam Jones’s life writing works shed light on the complexities that surround possession of religious, homosexual and Welsh identities. This study contributes to a deeper understanding regarding public and private spaces in Wales, both of which are transgressed in Jones’s works, and their subsequent intersecting with queer identities and experiences. This research underscores the critical importance of exploring Welsh literature as a means of highlighting the specificities of queer experiences in Wales, which are often overshadowed by broader UK narratives. By engaging with these texts, this paper contributes to the wider discourse regarding sexuality, shame, trauma, and cultural identity, advocating for greater recognition and inclusion of Welsh perspectives in queer literary studies.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Nicholas Dunlop (Supervisor)