Dylan Thomas - The Pubs: 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 :
Dylan Thomas: The Truth about his Drinking and Pub Crawling One of the main experts on the life of Dylan Thomas, Jeff Towns, is launching a brand new and revealing book, Dylan Thomas: The Pubs Tired of the lazy clichéd description of Dylan as a Bohemian drunken poet, scrounger and womaniser, Jeff Towns and artist Wyn Thomas decided to investigate exactly what role pubs and alcohol had played in his remarkable life. Described by Cerys Matthews as “a literary lock-in”, the brand new book Dylan Thomas: The Pubs challenges the myths and legends that surround Dylan and drink, and offers a new and revealing insight into his life and work. Although it is impossible to take drink out of Dylan’s life story, it is possible to reposition it – to see it as nothing so extraordinary or shameful, and to prevent it from being a barrier between readers and Dylan’s real importance as a fine poet, story writer, broadcaster, reader and dramatist. “Believe it or not, Dylan Thomas didn’t delight in pubs for the booze,” explains author Jeff Towns, who is one of the world's leading Dylan Thomas experts. “In the book, I reveal the real reason behind Dylan’s love of pubs. After over forty years of research, I can conclude that Dylan saw the pub as a place of refuge; as a place of conviviality, warmth and shelter; as a theatre in which he could always be counted on to perform, and always be guaranteed an audience! “Much of his writing reflects the words, expressions and sayings he heard around him every day, especially so in pubs. Dylan was not only a good story teller, he was also a good listener. It was in these very pubs that Dylan would meet the people who would inspire so much of his work.” The book takes the reader on a poetic pub crawl around the pubs and bars of Wales, London and the USA visited and loved by Dylan Thomas. The journey begins in Swansea with the Kardomah Gang, a bunch of lively local artists, writers and musicians, before heading across west Wales via Laugharne and New Quay; it blazes through London's bohemian Fitzrovia with Augustus John before ending in America with the Beat poets, Stravinsky and Charlie Chaplin. Wyn Thomas’ illustrations bring the pubs to life. Dylan Thomas: The Pubs is a book for all: for the hard core Dylan anoraks, the literay readers, the casual fans, the pub lovers or the part-time poets.