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Dylan: The Nine Lives of Dylan Thomas
Book by Fryer, Jonathan
- GenresBiography
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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October 12, 2023MyNextRead
October 31, 2023
A concise & well written biography of the great Welsh poet. Disappointing to discover the extent of Dylan Thomas' selfish, immature & self-indulgent behaviour. His best 5 poems, a few wonderful written stories & a magnificent radio play are his legacy which will be celebrated for ever. As a person however, he was tragically flawed and quite a pathetic figure to be honest. I prefer to read the poems and marvel at the originality & innovative language, often in awe of the natural world and celebrating the joy & pain of living surrounded by such beauty & complexity.
June 3, 2021
When a biographer begins his foreword, “I doubt whether Dylan Thomas and I would have got on. He had a lofty contempt for Oxbridge intellectuals, not to mention globe-trotting aesthetes. And I loathe pubs, drunks and people who wander around with a smouldering cigarette hanging from a corner of their mouth,” one has to question the biography's impartiality. Thomas is portrayed as a boozy, lazy, impecunious liar, thief and sponger capable of charming the gullible with an overrated poetic genius.
The author insists that, in his opinion, Thomas was “far better as a prose writer than as a poet” yet he gives precious little evidence to back that up. While he is very fond of remembering titles of poems, articles and essays and saying that he likes or dislikes them, he rarely goes further. I was really disappointed that, despite his expressed opinion on Thomas' prose, he describes the radio script on the Llangollen International Eisteddfod from 1953 as one that “fails to come alive.” Almost everyone else – and that includes me – regards it as an exemplar of essay writing which should be forced on adolescents to read before they are even allowed to pick up a pen and affront an examiner with their whimsy.
If even half of what Fryer writes reflects the truth I would have been appalled at being in Thomas' company in a pub. I have long been fond of an occasional glass or three but even in my younger days I would have weighed my embarrassment of being in the company of an inebriated, clownish, attention seeking man-child against the knowledge that this was a drunken poet I could not even come close to emulating when he was sober. I would probably have hung around away from the bar until he had calmed himself and then bought him another drink in the hope that he would have a further tale to tell, ignoring that I was contributing to the destruction of a genius.
The author insists that, in his opinion, Thomas was “far better as a prose writer than as a poet” yet he gives precious little evidence to back that up. While he is very fond of remembering titles of poems, articles and essays and saying that he likes or dislikes them, he rarely goes further. I was really disappointed that, despite his expressed opinion on Thomas' prose, he describes the radio script on the Llangollen International Eisteddfod from 1953 as one that “fails to come alive.” Almost everyone else – and that includes me – regards it as an exemplar of essay writing which should be forced on adolescents to read before they are even allowed to pick up a pen and affront an examiner with their whimsy.
If even half of what Fryer writes reflects the truth I would have been appalled at being in Thomas' company in a pub. I have long been fond of an occasional glass or three but even in my younger days I would have weighed my embarrassment of being in the company of an inebriated, clownish, attention seeking man-child against the knowledge that this was a drunken poet I could not even come close to emulating when he was sober. I would probably have hung around away from the bar until he had calmed himself and then bought him another drink in the hope that he would have a further tale to tell, ignoring that I was contributing to the destruction of a genius.
February 13, 2015
A very interesting insight into the life of Dylan Thomas both as a poet and as a husband and father. Fryer has obviously spent a lot of time studying both Thomas's life and work as he delves into the entertaining chaos of Dylan's life and his ultimate death. Fryer shows every side of Dylan from the good to the bad and all that falls in between while still producing a readable account of his life. This is a very candid book and one that held a few surprises concerning Wales' favourite poet.
September 24, 2014
Dylan Thomas was an angel with words and a devil in almost every other way. I knew this before but learned a few more sordid details from this book.
July 6, 2016
An amazing story written by a man with flair. I heartily recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews