A Dylan Thomas Companion: Life, Poetry and Prose (Literary Companions)

'...continuously illuminating and a real pleasure to read...John Ackerman provides what must be the most comprehensive and balanced account of the man and his work.' John Haris, Planet 'As nature is all we have, and all I am is a man, I'm quite interested in man and nature' declared Dylan Thomas in 1952, and the role of nature is the major focus in the interpretation of the poetry in this book. Nature is seen as crucial both in determining his poetic originality and the pantheistic vision of his later work. The book provides the first detailed account of Thomas's career and development as a prose writer, commenting on his work in films, on radio, as well as his stories and letters. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Dylan Thomas’s Life....Pages 3-54 Front Matter....Pages 55-55 The Early Notebooks and other Manuscript Verse....Pages 57-74 18 Poems....Pages 75-90 Twenty-five Poems....Pages 91-98 The Map of Love....Pages 99-105 Deaths and Entrances....Pages 106-129 Collected Poems....Pages 130-154 Unfinished Poems....Pages 155-162 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 Introduction....Pages 165-165 The Early Stories....Pages 166-179 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog....Pages 180-199 Adventures in the Skin Trade and The Death of the King’s canary....Pages 200-203 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Introduction....Pages 207-207 Film Scripts and other Prose Items....Pages 208-215 Broadcasts....Pages 216-229 Last Stories....Pages 230-237 The Collected Letters....Pages 238-240 Under Milk Wood....Pages 241-265 Back Matter....Pages 266-309 Opening with Thomas's life, the book offers vignettes of Swansea in the 1920s and 1930s, pre- and postwar Laugharne and rural West Wales, wartime London and New York City in the early 1950s, seen through the poet's eyes. Thomas's political views are focused on, as well as his social and cultural attitudes - all evidenced in his letters, comments, criticism, sketches and stories, as the singer of the self looked at the world around him. John Ackerman is the author of "Dylan Thomas: His Life and Work", "Welsh Dylan", and editor of "Dylan Thomas: The Film Scripts" and "The Image and the Dark".