Troi Dalen ‘Arall’: Ail-ddehongli’r berthynas rhwng cymunedau Cymraeg a Saesneg de Cymru mewn dwy nofel ddiweddar yng ngoleuni ffigwr yr ‘arall’ (Turning an-‘Other’ Page: Re-interpreting the relationship between south Wales’s Welsh- and English-speaking communities in two recent novels in light of the figure of the ‘other’) (2017–19 Gwerddon Award Winner)

This article analyses the relationship between Welsh and English speakers in pub scenes in two contemporary novels set in south Wales, namely Y Tiwniwr Piano by Catrin Dafydd (2009) and The Book of Idiots by Christopher Meredith (2012), in light of philosophical theories about the ‘other’ and otherness. The development of the concept of the ‘other’ is traced by considering the work of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Georg Hegel, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha. Turning to the work of Charlotte Williams and Simon Brooks, the article argues that both Welsh and English speakers in Wales can experience otherness, and the novels are then analysed to explore how this is reflected in contemporary fictional texts. The article draws conclusions about the significance of otherness to contemporary Welsh imagination and identity and suggests how other philosophical ideas could help us find common ground between Wales’s two main language communities.