Dylan Thomas - The Pubs

Table of Contents:
Swansea: The Uplands Hotel The Bay View The Three Lamps The No Sign Wine Bar The No. 10 The Queens The Bush Hotel Mumbles: The Mermaid The Antelope The Worm’s Head Hotel, Gower The Boars Head, Carmarthenshire Laugharne: Browns Hotel The Cross The Black Lion, New Quay London: The Fitzroy Tavern The Wheatsheaf Other The White Horse Tavern, New York The Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston The Players, Los Angeles

Review :
A Welsh legend A man of genius A man whose greatest friend/love was the pub And his worst enemy! There are few of us who have not heard of Dylan Thomass most celebrated piece of authorship, Under Milk Wood, and most of us will have read one or more of his poems. Born in Swansea in 1914, Thomas died in New York in 1953. It is fascinating to read Townss collaboration with artist Wyn Thomas on Dylan Thomas: the Pubs. And there are many of them! Gwen Watkins, a woman of considerable literary merit, and her husband, the poet Vernon Watkins, were lifelong friends of Dylan and his wife Caitlin and their family. And it is Gwen, with her true knowledge of the man, who has written the foreword to the book, and from whom the reader gains a new insight into the psyche of the poet. This is supplemented by an introduction entitled Dylan Thomas and Drink. The book spans 174 pages, and mentions six of Dylans drinking dens in Swansea, and numerous other hostelries in England and America. We appreciate that Dylan loved the social mix of camaraderie and alcohol. Caitlin, Dylans wife, was no mean imbiber herself. She used to reminisce that, he was always at the centre of a crowd and within two minutes he seemed to know everyone in the pub. By 1953, the year of his death, Dylan had the Inland Revenue hounding him and he was desperate for a backer. A helping hand came from Boston University, with an offer of $1,500, up front, to work on an opera with Igor Stravinsky. Sadly this collaboration never came to fruition. Wyn Thomass illustrations accompanying Jeff Townss text make this book well worth adding to your list of must-reads. Another famous illustrator, Sir Peter Blake, is currently staging an exhibition entitled Llareggub, a diplay of his own pictures of Under Milk Wood, at the National Museum in Cardiff. Norma Penfold It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council