Background to Dylan Thomas, and other explorations

the long version

These twelve essays and addresses range widely from consideration of the nature of Anglo-Welsh literature to incisive commentary on critical approaches to the European novel. Authors such as Dylan Thomas, Richard Savage, and Caradoc Evans ('the best-hated Welshman of them all') come under the author's sympathetic scrutiny; there is a trenchant analysis of the Heroic poetry of the Welsh, Norse, and English peoples. Here too are some reflections on Viking themes, an area in which Gwyn Jones has established a world-wide reputation. Gwyn Jones's critical insights and literary judgements are constantly enlivened by his genial personality and a gift for vivid description, expressed in prose that is at once thoughtful and unsolemn. These explorations are the witty and lively writings of a man whose heart is in Wales, but whose head allows him to range freely across the wider world.