Getting close to Dylan
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I apologise for the flippant nature of my earlier review, realising now that it was not helpful. I can only plead that, in the excitement of reading, I felt moved to write something that one of his companions in Soho might have typed out, on the old Remington, late at night, after a chaotic evening in Dylan's presence.
The genius of Lycett's book, it seems to me, is that his research enables him to take us there, literally day by day, to follow an extraordinary life. Lycett also adds his own wry comments, never harsh but always illuminating, as though he, in fact, were one of that raucous, happy and sad crowd who knew they were experiencing a special, yet impossible being. Some of the stories about Dylan's behaviour keep me laughing out loud. The sadnesses move me to tears. And, above all, is the beauty of Dylan's words. My favourite poem in English, with plenty of runners up,(Donne especially, whom I think Dylan appreciated), has long been 'Fern Hill' and 'Under Milk Wood' can only grow upon one every time of reading, or, better still, listening. Lycett lets us know how these masterpieces came about. The photographs are also wonderfully revealing. Can you beat the one on the cover?
A further strength of Lycett's assessment is his placing Dylan in the contemporary and historical context of English poetry, something of which Dylan was very aware. Although, I hesitate at this point, because Dylan Thomas was not simply (?) a poet. Lycett shows how many talents he had in other fields, especially screen writing & broadcasting &, above all, his effect on others who were in his presence & who usually loved him.
As a family therapist myself, I also admire the way that Lycett has sought to reveal the influence upon Dylan of life at his parents' lovely address, over the years ... the teenaged Rimbaud.
We can all learn so much from this wonderful book.' ... though I sang in my chains like the sea'. David Irwin.
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Hard to imagine how it could be any better!
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I had read and admired Andrew Lycett's previous biographies (of Ian Fleming and Rudyard Kipling), and so when I was in London recently I went to hear him lecture, and I picked up a copy of this book, knowing it might take months for a US publisher to pick it up. I suggest they move fast, because this book is absolutely brilliant. Lycett understands and clarifies what seem to be the important components of Dylan Thomas's life - his "Welshness" (or not), his poetry, his relationships, particularly with Caitlin, his drinking, his sexual behavior (or not), and his response to America (and vice versa). And as with his previous masterworks, Lycett puts it all into its social and historical context. Even I - who has not, till now, been a great reader of poetry - found his analyses of the poetry highly seductive. And in so many ways Dylan Thomas comes across as a highly contemporary - and relevant - figure. This book is beautifully and fluidly written, and it puts Andrew Lycett in the very top class of biographers.
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In the greystained Soho streets ...,
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I plummetted and twirled, as ever green about the face amidst the red roaring girls and ranting poetical boys.
I heard tell of Lycett's book from one Dilys Pendragon, behind The Black Stoat, off Wardour Steet. I determined to read it, much to my delight, it being as careful and sweet a thing to peruse as ever accompanied me homewards, in these giddy, golden days, other than the Protheroe girl, last night.David Irwin.
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