Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works: Adam Naming and Aesop Fabling PDF
Preview Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works: Adam Naming and Aesop Fabling
Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works Adam Naming and Aesop Fabling Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works is an exploration of the rich but relatively neglected prose works of Dylan Thomas. Ann Mayer examines the changing conceptions of language and the creation of meaning evident in Thomas's numerous self-referen- tial acts of writing and telling. Through an analysis of the artist figures in Thomas's early ex- perimental prose, Portrait of the Artist as a 'Young Dog, Adven- tures in the Skin Trade, and Under Milk Wood, Mayer shows how Thomas continually explored and reevaluated his vocation, the nature of his chosen medium, and the world itself. She links Thomas's prose works to his poetry through the blending of lyric and narrative strategies and examines Thomas's self-conscious concerns for his relationship to his modernist contemporaries. Mayer goes beyond the traditionally New Critical approaches that dominate Thomas scholarship, using contemporary critical theory to offer new insights into the complexity and ambiguity of a major twentieth-century writer. ANN ELIZABETH MAYER is assistant professor of English, Uni- versity of Western Ontario. This page intentionally left blank Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works Adam Naming and Aesop Fabling ANN ELIZABETH MAYER McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo © McGill-Queen's University Press 1995 ISBN o-7735-13o6-x Legal deposit third quarter 1995 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press is grateful to the Canada Council for support of its publishing program. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Mayer, Ann Elizabeth, 1960- Artists in Dylan Thomas's prose works: Adam naming and Aesop fabling Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o-7735-13o6-x 1. Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953 -Prose, 2. Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953 - Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PR6039.H52Z77 1995 828'. o8 C95-900479-3 912 This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition Inc. in 11/13.5 Sabon. Contents Acknowledgments vii List of Abbreviations ix Introduction 3 1. The Written World 13 2. Solipsistic Adam 54 3 Portraits of the Artist 8 5 4 Under Milk Wood 136 Notes 171 Bibliography 181 Index 189 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Don McKay, whose guidance and inspiration during the preparation of the book and afterwards have been invaluable. I am also grateful to Stan Dragland and Patrick Deane for their continued advice and support. Thanks also go to Sheila Rabillard, Don Gutteridge, and Tom Dilworth for their comments and suggestions, and to Marnie Parsons, David Bentley, and Sheila Deane for their valu- able advice. As well, I am indebted to Walford Davies of the Uni- versity College of Wales, Aberystwyth, John Ackerman, Ralph Maud, and the entire class of the inaugural year of the Dylan Thomas School, Summer 1988, for stimulating discussions and memorable visits to Thomas's haunts. Grateful acknowledgment is made to J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., New Directions Publishing Corporation, and the Trustees for the Copyrights of late Dylan Thomas for permission to quote from the works of Thomas: Collected Poems 1934-1953 (i993), ed- ited by Walford Davies and Ralph Maud; Dylan Thomas: The Collected Stories (1986); The Collected Letters of Dylan Tho- mas, edited by Paul Ferris (1987); Under Milk Wood (1954). This page intentionally left blank Abbreviations CL Collected Letters CP Collected Poems cs Collected Stories QEOM "Quite Early One Morning" UMW Under Milk Wood
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