Dylan the Bard: A Life of Dylan Thomas

by Andrew Sinclair

Fifty years after his death, many consider Dylan Thomas to have been the greatest lyric poet of his age.

Andrew Sinclair, in this masterly biography, explains how Thomas attracted a new mass audience, and discusses the influences on his work that stemmed from the divisions and tensions of the poet’s Welsh heritage.

Sinclair captures the tragic and exuberant story of Thomas’s personal life, his vision of Wales and the writing of his masterpiece, Under Milk Wood, the brawling and boozing in Fitzrovia during the 1930s and 40s, and the last American tour of the 50s, that ended with his death.

‘Dylan the Bard’ is the definitive biography of this great poet.

‘Mr Sinclair writes beautifully and analyses the poet’s development with clarity and humour.’ KEITH BAXTER, Daily Telegraph 

‘Sinclair shares with his subject a lively, paronomastic prose style, and his account of an instinctively respectable psyche afflicted with the frightening gift of poetry makes fascinating and most enjoyable reading.’ SEAN MACMAHON, Irish Independent

‘You have picked the plums and touched the living quick of the Dylan situation with penetrating insight … What baffles me is from whence first did your passion and your understanding of your subject come?’ Caitlin Thomas 

Andrew Sinclair is a novelist, historian, critic and filmmaker. He was a Founding Member of Churchill College, Cambridge, and has taught and travelled across the world. He made the film, now regarded as a classic, of Under Milk Wood. His recent film, Dylan on Dylan, of the life of the poet will be released on DVD with Under Milk Wood in 2003. He lives in London and is married to the writer Sonia Melchett.

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Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Andrew Sinclair was born in Oxford in 1935 and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. After earning a Ph.D. in American History from Cambridge, he pursued an academic career in the United States and England. His first two novels, written while he was still at Cambridge, were both published in 1959: The Breaking of Bumbo (based on his own experience in the Coldstream Guards, and later adapted for a 1970 film written and directed by Sinclair) and My Friend Judas. Other early novels included The Project (1960), The Hallelujah Bum (1963), and The Raker (1964). The latter, also available from Valancourt, is a clever mix of Gothic fantasy and macabre comedy and was inspired by Sinclair’s relationship with Derek Lindsay, the pseudonymous author of the acclaimed novel The Rack (1958). Sinclair’s best-known novel, Gog (1967), a highly imaginative, picaresque account of the adventures of a seven-foot-tall man who washes ashore on the Scottish coast, naked and suffering from amnesia, has been named one of the top 100 modern fantasy novels. As the first in the ‘Albion Triptych’, it was followed by Magog (1972) and King Ludd (1988).

Sinclair’s varied and prolific career has also included work in film and a large output of nonfiction. As a director, he is best known for Under Milk Wood (1972), adapted from a Dylan Thomas play and starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Sinclair’s nonfiction includes works on American history (including The Better Half: The Emancipation of the American Woman, which won the 1967 Somerset Maugham Award), books on Dylan Thomas, Jack London, Che Guevara, and Francis Bacon, and, more recently, works on the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

Sinclair was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1972. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mmm. Andrew Sinclair's biography of Dylan Thomas is colourful and interesting, certainly not dry, but half of the time Sinclair seemed to be delighting in his own prose, which got in the way of me actually retaining facts. He'd jump about, too, always foreshadowing the end of Dylan's career -- which makes sense, in one way, but which got in the way of what I really wanted to know about, Dylan the man. In the end I feel as though I have a blurry image, the public image of Dylan, and very little of the private man. Like his whole life was an act.

[Caitlin Streit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine work

I have read many a book on Dylan Thomas .this one by far is excellent.beautifully written it wraps you warmly in the poets work his tumultuous life and recounts his sad end. I highly recommend this read .

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable, well-researched and compelling biography of Dylan Thomas. Written in a lively and accessible style with well-chosen extracts from the poet’s work, and demonstrating an affinity with and an understanding of the troubled and self-destructive poet.

[Michael Bully · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally absorbing work , the author gets the balance between examining Dylan's poetry, setting in a wider literary context , with the ever increasing chaotic and dissolute life. The contrast between the poet's Swansea background set against the Fitzrovia pub circuit, London during the Blitz, and Thomas' work for the BBC during World War 2 , are all highlighted well.
Dylan's considerable talent is depicted well whilst the more unpleasant character traits are not romanticised in the least. His perpetual scrounging from friends and other contacts, his cynical attempt to become a Conscientious Objector before gaining an exemption, are detailed in this biography.
There are some superb passages in the biography
"His (Thomas) romantic revolt unleashed a certain coarseness and richness of language, a revelling in comedy and bawdy, an affirmation of the holy myths rather than a snivelling at God, and orgy of the irrational as opposed to the careful classification of what was meaningful or significant. ."
And
"These were the contradiction of the man who was the finest lyric poet of his age. He had one foot in Eden, the other in Babylon. He had one hand on the Bible, the other under the bedclothes. His heavy head was lifted to the sky, his feet were set on the bar-rail."
The section on Thomas and Welsh poetry is particularly fascinating. Interesting to see that Welsh nationalists felt, perhaps with some justification, that Dylan Thomas neglected the Welsh language.It would have been good to develop this line further, Dylan is portrayed as feeling no obligation to political causes , though showed great commitment to his own art, even destroying some of his poetry during World War 2. This detachment adds to the artistic strength of his work.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this book because I love reading books about writers, not because of any affinity for Dylan Thomas. However, I am very glad that I read it. It was an enjoyable and easy read. I am familiar with U.S. History, but I very much enjoyed Sinclair's history of the poet and of Dylan Thomas. I was unfamiliar with a lot of this material. I also enjoyed how so much of Thomas' poetry is included throughout the book and we see how an artist was inspired to write that poetry by the people around him and the things that were occurring around him. Very enjoyable.

This galley was provided to me by NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Eileen Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant biography of Dylan Thomas!
His drinking and carousing is well documented and his death in America poignant.
A great read!
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.