Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd

"Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd" ("A Week in the Wales of the Future") is a science fiction novel in the Welsh language written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis and published by Plaid Cymru in 1957.

The narrator Ifan Powell (in the 1950s) takes part in a Time Travel experiment and lands in Cardiff in the year 2033. He is hosted by a family and for 5 days is taken in a journey around Wales. He finds that Wales has secured self government and is prosperous economically and socially harmonious and that everyone is completely bilingual in both Welsh and English. He falls in love with the daughter of his host family and when he returns to the Wales of the 1950s his longing for her makes him want to return to 2033. The scientist conducting the experiment cautions him against this but after Ifan begs him he agrees.

However when Ifan returns he fins a totally different Wales (even though the location and the time are exactly the same as before). The Welsh language has died out and all traces of Welsh identity have all but disappeared. Indeed even the country's name has been changed to "Western England". Violence and social tensions are also commonplace. Ifan only stays here for 2 days - that is more than enough for him.

After returning to the present for the second time, the scientist explains to Ifan that both scenarios that Ifan encountered are possible for Wales and that it is up to the Welsh people which one comes to pass. This converts Ifan into a Welsh nationalist (he had previously been opposed to nationalism) and he swears to do everything within his power to ensure that the Wales that he visited first is the one that will be realised.

The novel is significant in the history of Welsh Literature in that it was the first major science fiction work to be written in the Welsh languageFact|date=September 2008 but it has been argued that the fact that it is (on the author's own admission) a blatant work of political propaganda diminishes its literary value to an extent.Fact|date=September 2008

Literary assessments

"Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd" has been the subject of various academic articles:
*Schimanski, Johan: " _cy. Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd - unwaith eto " (A week in future Wales - once again), "Taliesin" 88,(1995), pp.24-30; published in English as "The Future on Repeat", "Skriftserie for litteraturvitenskap ved Universitetet i Oslo" 14, (1995), pp.40-48.
*Davies, Grahame: "Beginnings: New Media and the Welsh Language", "North American Journal of Welsh Studies", Vol. 5, 1 (Winter 2005) [http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~ellisjs/Grahame%20Davies.pdf]