Japanese intellectuals will visit Swansea University to discuss the legacy and meaning of Welsh cultural critic Raymond Williams’s Long Revolution. 2012 marks 50 years since the publication of Raymond Williams’s seminal volume The Long Revolution (republished this year by Parthian Press).

The programme will include: papers on the significance of The Long Revolution by Fuhito Endo and Daniel Williams; Kieron Smith will discuss Williams’s ideas on broadcasting in relation to John Ormond; Yasuhiro Kondo will offer a reading of Williams’s novel Second Generation; Professor Dai Smith, Chair of the Welsh Arts Council and Raymond Williams Professor of Cultural History at Swansea University will chair a discussion on the meaning of Raymond Williams’s work to contemporary society.

‘The Long Revolution in Wales and Japan’ is the third collaboration between Welsh and Japanese academics. The first took place on October 16th, 2009, at a one day conference entitled ‘Raymond Williams in Transit: Wales – Japan’, arranged by CREW at Swansea University, and supported by the JSPS/MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.

September 25th, 2010, saw a follow-up event held at Japan Women’s University, Mejiro Campus entitled ‘Fiction as Criticism / Criticism as a Whole Way of Life’.  The event in Japan was hosted by the Raymond Williams Kenkyukai (The Society for Raymond Williams Studies in Japan), with the support of the Faculty of Humanities at Japan Women’s University, and the JSPS/MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.

According to Daniel G. Williams, Director of the Richard Burton Centre and organizer of the conference: "It's really exciting that academics from Japan are developing connections with Wales, and developing an interest in the work of Raymond Williams. The relevance of Williams’s The Long Revolution to us today in Wales will be discussed, and the international resonances of his work will become apparent in the discussions by academics and intellectuals from Japan.’’

The event is part of the Dylan Thomas Festival 2013 and is supported by the Richard Burton Centre at Swansea University. Tickets are free to Swansea University staff and students and £10 for others. They are available from the Dylan Thomas Centre or at the door. Full details of the conference can be found here: http://crewswansea.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/long-revolutions-in-wales-and-japan.html