Dylan Thomas His Life and Work
`That brilliant commentator on Dylan, John Ackerman' - Andrew Sinclair, Dylan Thomas: Poet of his People John Ackerman's highly acclaimed study of the poems and prose works of Dylan Thomas traces his development as a writer, linking this for the first tim
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Also by John Ackerman WELSH DYLAN THE IMAGE AND THE DARK (poems) CATALOGUE OF DYLAN THOMAS EXHIBITION *A DYlAN THOMAS COMPANION DYLAN THOMAS: The Film Scripts (editor)
*Also published by Palgrave Macmillan
Dylan Thomas at nineteen
DYLAN THOMAS His Life and Work
JOHN ACKERMAN
Third Edition
© John Ackerman 1964, 1991, 1996 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road. London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition (Oxford University Press) 1964 Reprinted 1965 (twice) Second edition (Macmillan) 1991 Third edition (Macmillan) 1996 Published by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills. Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-63404-2 ISBN 978-1-349-24366-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24366-2 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 05
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Published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-12903-3 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-312-12905-7 (paper)
TO MY MOTHER
CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
II
viii
PREFACE, 1996
ix
INTRODUCTION, 1990
xv
THE WELSH BACKGROUND
1
THE INTRUDERS: INFLUENCES AND RELATIONSHIPS
14
III
EARLY YEARS
23
IV
18 POFMS
38
TWI,NTY-HW,' POFMS
62
'11-11,' MAP OF I.OW
73
VII
A PROSE INTERLUDE: THE EARLY STORIES
90
VIII
PORnlArr OF 'IH" ARTIST AS A YOUNC DOC
104
J)J,'A'IHS AND
115
V VI
IX X XI
I~NnlANC/~~
COU.H;nv POI,'MS
138
THE ARTIST IN COMEDY
162
NOTES
185
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
191
INDEX
195
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Grateful acknowledgements are due to the following: David Higham Associates Ltd. and J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd. for permission to quote from Dylan Thomas's published works and from Caitlin Thomas: Leftover Life to Kill; New Directions Ltd. (Dylan Thomas: Adventures in the Skin Trade); Atlantic-Little, Brown and Company (1. M. Brinnin: Dylan Thomas in America); Faber and Faber Ltd. (Vernon Watkins: The Lady with the Unicorn, The Death Bell, Letters to Vernon Watkins); Random House, Inc. (Karl Shapiro: In Defense of Ignorance); quotations also reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp., U.S.A.; and the Times Publishing Company (Dylan Thomas Obituary Notice).
ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece
Dylan Thomas at Nineteen (Br killd !,ermiHioll "I the lute
MISS PAMELA HANSFORD JOHNSON)
Working sheet F. I of 'Poem on his birthday'
150
(By killd !,f'I"lIIilliOIl oj DAVID HIGHAM ASSOCIATES LTD.)
Worki
