The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas

The beauty and power of Dylan Thomas's voice are captured here in a stunning collection of letters to his wife Caitlin, as well as his various lovers and close female friends. With a style as grand and lyrical as his poetry, Thomas expresses his affection in letters that are sensual, uninhibited, romantic, funny and always loving.

The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas is a look at Dylan Thomas as a poet and as a man. The letters portray details of Thomas's personal life, showing him at his most open and passionate. At the same time, the brilliance of his words represents the breadth of his talent and the power of the lost art of letter-writing. This book is a tribute to the art of Dylan Thomas and an inspiration to lovers, poets and writers everywhere.


"I love you more than anybody in the world. And yesterday-though it may be lots of yesterdays ago to you when this wobbly letter reaches you-was the best day in the world in spite of dogs, and Augustus woofing, and being miserable because it had to stop. I love you for millions and millions of things, clocks and vampires and dirty nails and squiggly paintings and lovely hair and being dizzy and falling dreams."
-from a letter to his wife, Caitlin

Spiders from Mars"I'm just on the borders of DTs darling, and I've wasted some of my tremendous love for you on a lank redmouthed girl with a reputation like hell," writes Dylan Thomas to his first love, Pamela Hansford Johnson. Johnson ended their relationship soon after this revelation, but Thomas would write many more contrite letters in the course of his life, collected in The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas. Edited by Peter Lynch, the impassioned and often witty missives to Johnson; Thomas's wife, Caitlin; and other lovers eloquently document the cycles of dissipation and remorse that ended in the poet's death. (Sourcebooks, $14.95 128p ISBN 1-57071-873-3; Jan.)

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

A collector and dealer in letters and autographs, Lowenherz presents 50 of his favorite letters, chosen out of many hundreds. The letters span four centuries, including those from Henry VIII as well as numerous 20th-century figures, such as Harry Truman, Virginia Woolf, James Thurber, and an avid Elvis Presley fan. The letters are reproduced with spelling and grammatical errors intact. Most are by English speakers, and most are from the 20th century. Each letter is prefaced by a brief biographical introduction describing the context in which the letter was written. The letters represent love in its many varieties lover to lover, friend to friend, fan to idolized star and are grouped by type, such as tender, forbidden, passionate, or painful. They all provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of well-known men and women. Recommended for pubic libraries. The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas has greater literary significance and will be useful to students of this Welsh poet. In his letters, Thomas comments on his writing, works by other people, and his feelings about events in his life as they affect his writing. Lynch presents a variety of letters written to the various women Thomas loved, including his first love, the women he developed relationships with during his marriage, and his most enduring and passionate love his wife, Caitlin. Brief prefaces sketch Thomas's relationship with the letters' recipients. Thomas's Letters to Vernon Watkins is also available but is more specialized. Recommended for public and academic libraries, especially those that do not own the out-of-print Collected Letters or Selected Letters. Shana C. Fair, Ohio Univ. Lib., Zanesville
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.