Dylan Thomas

Booknews

The legendary Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is famous not only for his prose (A Child's Memory of Christmas in Wales, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night), but also for his wildly lived life (he died among debt and alcoholism). In this second edition of his biography of Thomas, Ferris (who has also written the only biography of Thomas's wife, Catlin) expands and deepens his coverage by drawing on over one hundred new letters by the poet. Much of the new material focuses on his marriage with Catlin, a relationship which Ferris determines was key to the breakdown and death of the poet. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Observer

Dylan Thomas's life and work have made him a legendary figure in the decades since his death, amidst alcohol and debts, in New York at the age of thirty-nine. At the heart of his achievement are a few dozen poems and stories which, together with his "play for voices," Under Milk Wood, haunt the imagination and give his writing a broader appeal than he could have envisioned in his lifetime. Consumed by his vocation as The Poet, ever doubting his own talent, Thomas spent much of life reflecting upon his own worth. But beyond his writing is the checkered figure of the man himself: often comic, at times in despair, always self-obsessed, in the end defeated by his own nature.