Measuring the Distance: Politics and Community in Raymond Williams’ Border Country (1960)

The publication of Border Country in 1960 marks the expressive culmination of the theoretico-political project of the early Raymond Williams, as it is articulated in his seminal works Culture and Society and The Long Revolution. This semi-autobiographical novel presents a socio-historical horizon of contrasts and limits or "borders" (between a metropolitan modernity and a rural "margin" openly marked by class circumstances) organised around the concept of community. Through Matthew Price's spatio-temporal (but also emotional and political) journey to his native village of Glynmawr, in the border region between Wales and England, Williams analyses historical fractures and ideological distances whilst simultaneously exploring the emancipatory potentialities of a decidedly collective and "ordinary" social experience. Keywords: Community; border; Wales; culture; class Titulo en espanol: Midiendo la distancia: Politica y comunidad en Border County (1960) de Raymond Williams Resumen: La publicacion de Border Country en 1960 constituye la culminacion expresiva del proyecto teorico-politico del primer Raymond Williams, tal y como queda denido en sus dos trabajos criticos seminales, Culture and Society y The Long Revolution. Esta novela semi-autobiogra ca presenta un horizonte historico y social de contrastes y limites o "fronteras" (entre una modernidad metropolitana y un "margen" rural abiertamente marcado por las circunstancias de clase) articulado en torno al concepto de comunidad. A traves del viaje (espacio-temporal, pero tambien emocional y politico) de Matthew Price a su pueblo de origen en la region fronteriza entre Gales e Inglaterra, Williams analiza fracturas historicas y distancias ideologicas al tiempo que explora las potencialidades emancipatorias de una experiencia de lo social marcadamente colectiva y "ordinaria". Palabras Clave: Comunidad; Frontera; Gales; cultura; clase