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Dylan Thomas: A New Life Audiobook
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(3.03) - 59 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In this authoritative, fresh, and compelling account of the extraordinary life and enduring work of Dylan Thomas—author of Under Milkwood, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Adventures in the Skin Trade, Portrait of the Artist As a Young Dog, and numerous poems and stories—Andrew Lycett peels back the layers of story that have accumulated around this extraordinarily talented writer, one of the most celebrated and contradictory literary figures of the twentieth century.
Lycett uses as his overwhelming motif the deeply ambivalent forces in Thomas’ life—“I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me” said Thomas—that allowed him to be a wild boy in public and a poet of deep sensitivity in private, and helped him to bridge the gap between modernism and pop, the written and the spoken word, individual art and performance art.
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"Have become enamoured with biography, and this is certainly among the best (especially since Thomas is such a colourful person). Very honest, though another (short) biographical account I have read was a bit more sympathetic and endearing. "
— Jens (4 out of 5 stars)
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“A colorful and poignant tale.”
— Time -
“A disturbing and impressive book about a sad man, a tragic man, a drunkard, a lovable cad, a Welshman, and a poetic genius…Lycett approaches the task with thoroughness, scholarship, and true humanity.”
— New Statesman (London) -
“An absorbing page-turner.”
— Herald -
“Astonishingly detailed, deeply and expertly researched, and captivatingly written…Lycett’s biography is, frankly, stunning.”
— Literary Review (London) -
“Lycett’s new biography…[is] told here with thoroughness and impartiality.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Lycett takes just the right tone in this vital and penetrating portrait of the quintessential bad-boy poet, the passionately brilliant and fatally boozy Welshman Thomas, by eschewing reverent mythologizing for respectful accuracy…Incisive…Masterful…Lycett’s engrossing biography illuminates the paradoxes of Thomas’ life and recognizes the ‘indefinable spark of divinity’ that drives his vigorous and transcendent writing.”
— Booklist
Dylan Thomas Listener Reviews
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" "Never date an alcoholic poet" "
— Yooperprof, 9/10/2011 -
" Have become enamoured with biography, and this is certainly among the best (especially since Thomas is such a colourful person). Very honest, though another (short) biographical account I have read was a bit more sympathetic and endearing. "
— Jens, 5/30/2008 -
" DT's life was not boring, and I was sometimes bored by this book-- the author wants to share all the details he's relished in at the books disadvantage. <br/>Accompanied me on the Pembrokeshire coast trail.:) "
— Sara, 11/21/2007
About Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett received a history degree from Oxford University before becoming a journalist at the Sunday Times (London), where he served as a foreign correspondent in Africa and the Middle East. He has written acclaimed biographies on Ian Fleming, Dylan Thomas, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Muammar Qaddafi, and Rudyard Kipling. He lives in London.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.