The psychological influences that have shaped the consciousness and worldviews of seven Welsh authors are traced in this pioneering work on 20th-century Welsh autobiographers. The autobiographies include humorist Gwyn Thomas, whose comic exuberance is shown to have bleak origins; B. L. Coombes and Ron Berry’s depictions of a now bygone valley society; feminist Lorna Sage’s caustic eye on her border upbringing; Margid Evans's view on the different phases of life; Rhys Davis's manipulation of his own history; and R. S. Thomas’s engagement in a searingly honest search for self.