The ‘coming of age’ edition of this acclaimed paperback series discusses contemporary Cornish Studies, as well the Cornish language, medieval and early modern Cornwall, the Duchy of Cornwall, the establishment of the Cornish diocese, Cornish folklore, Cornish wrestling and the Great Emigration, and the writers Arthur Quiller-Couch, Daphne du Maurier, and Jack Clemo, together with an overview of Cornish nationalism and a postscript on John Betjeman and Cornwall.
‘The twenty-first issue of Cornish Studies, the last under the editorship of Philip Payton, is a testament to the directions in which he has taken the series during twenty years at the helm. This ‘coming of age’ edition brings together essays by scholars from Australia, Ireland and Italy as well as the UK and continues Philip Payton’s on-going concern with Cornwall’s place in an international context. The contributions here speak to the genuinely interdisciplinary identity of a series which remains the definitive site for scholarship and debate about Cornish history, culture, politics and identities’.
Rachel Moseley, Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick
Philip Payton is Emeritus Professor in the University of Exeter and Professor of History at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and is the former Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies in the University of Exeter. He edited Cornish Studies, published annually from 1993-2013, the only series of publications that seeks to investigate and understand the complex nature of Cornish identity, as well as to discuss its implications for society and governance in contemporary Cornwall.
He has written extensively on Cornish topics, and recent books include A.L. Rowse and Cornwall: A Paradoxical Patriot (2005), Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia’s Little Cornwall (2007), John Betjeman and Cornwall: ‘The Celebrated Cornish Nationalist’ (2010), and (edited with Alston Kennerley and Helen Doe), The Maritime History of Cornwall (2014). He has recently been awarded South Australian Historian of the Year 2017 by the History Council of South Australia.