Dylan the Bard

Library Journal

This rewrite of the author's Dylan Thomas: No Man More Magical (1975) makes available information discovered about the Welsh poet in the last 25 years. Sinclair, who directed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the film of Thomas's Under Milk Wood, quotes an approving letter by Caitlin Thomas in his acknowledgements, confirming that this is an authorized work. Like the first, it resembles a meditation on the poet's life rather than the massively detailed tomes biographies are today. Although this new work has some chapter notes (the first had none), the careful reader may wish for more detailed sources. The account of Thomas's death now differs greatly from the 1975 version, owing to information unearthed by James Nashold and George Tremlett (The Death of Dylan Thomas, 1997), who blame mistaken medical treatment rather than drink. However, Sinclair does not cite them as a source. Also included are new photographs [not seen] and an appendix on "The Making of Under Milk Wood," but "Dylan on Dylan" from the 1975 volume is excluded. For Thomas completists and general readers who want an introduction; both George Tremlett's Dylan Thomas (St. Martin's, 1992) and Jonathan Fryer's Dylan (K. Cathie, London, 1993) are more scholarly and readable.--Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Sinclair (Death by Fame, 1999, etc.) scores—but just barely—with a rambling yet highly readable biography of the Welsh poet. Based on new research and access to unpublished letters and photographs, this is a revision of Sinclair's 1975 biography, Dylan Thomas: Poet of His People. After a brief synopsis of the Welsh poetic tradition (which could have been deleted with no detriment to the text), the author proceeds with his rousing history of the poet and his life. The prose is a model of lucidity and downright pleasantness: tidy descriptive passages link together vivid depictions of Thomas, his milieu, and his poetic accomplishments. The arc of Thomas's life—poor performance in school during childhood, the discovery of a more bohemian lifestyle, affairs and marriage, the sway of surrealism on his work and his struggle to find a distinctive voice, his famed broadcasts, and his alcoholism—combine like the refracted lights of a prism, each band distinct yet part of a unified whole. Thomas's notorious drunkenness offers some of the more amusing bits in his history—such as a meeting with Shelley Winters and Marilyn Monroe, which ended with the poet "watering" one of Charlie Chaplin's plants (without a garden hose). Although readers may both revel in the W.C. Fields—esque moments of Sinclair's biography and sympathize with the real pathos that underlies them, they should also be wary of the author's apparent hesitation to criticize his subject: he argues, for instance, that Thomas was not an alcoholic, immediately after describing the reasons for his "continual drunkenness." A brief appendix concerning Sinclair's filming of Under Milk Wood followsthebiography. Scholars should look elsewhere for the definitive word on Thomas's life and work, but cozying up with Sinclair's lucid prose and engaging style will provide ample amusement for the general reader. (16 pp. b&w photos, not seen) Taylor, Gary CASTRATION: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood Routledge (304 pp.) Nov. 2000